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Sauerkraut is a tasty and healthy product. It contains a lot of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Thanks to this composition, it can be eaten by almost all people. For many diseases, it can serve as a tasty medicine. It will be of great help for various problems with the stomach and intestines. Regular consumption of this dish can even cure dysbiosis and significantly reduce blood sugar in diabetics, and relieve constipation from a lazy intestine. The high content of ascorbic acid, which does not decrease during storage, together with vitamin A, makes this dish indispensable for maintaining immunity at the proper level, which is important in winter. Those who regularly consume sauerkraut are much less likely to get colds, and the flu also avoids them.
When fermented, the sugar contained in cabbage is converted into lactic acid. Not only is it an excellent preservative and prevents the product from spoiling, but it also has beneficial properties.
Each housewife has her own family recipe for preparing this delicious product. The main ingredients are cabbage, carrot and salt. Even this cabbage will be tasty and healthy. Many people sauerkraut with various additives: caraway seeds, cranberries, beets, apples, guided by your taste.Sauerkraut turns out very tasty if you add sweet pepper to it. Sauerkraut with bell pepper is very healthy. In this preparation, all vitamins are completely preserved, and there are a lot of them in pepper.
You can prepare sauerkraut with bell pepper in different ways. The recipe that is closest to the classic product is one in which the cabbage releases its own juice. Neither water nor vinegar are added to it. There is a natural process of lactic acid fermentation.
Cabbage, pickled with bell pepper
To prepare you will need:
- 5 kg cabbage. The most delicious fermentation is obtained from juicy heads of cabbage with a high sugar content.
- 600 g sweet pepper. If you want the final product to look more beautiful, it is better to take peppers of different colors, but be sure to be ripe.
- 400 g carrots. It is better to choose sweet, brightly colored carrots.
- 4 tbsp. spoons of salt.
- Fans can add spices: mustard seed, cumin.
This product is very easy to prepare. We clean the heads of cabbage from wilted leaves. We cut them into thin strips.
Three carrots. If you wish, you can grate it into thin strips, as for cooking in Korean. Remove the seeds from the pepper and cut into strips. Mix the vegetables in a large bowl, adding salt.
Place the cabbage in the bowl in which the cabbage will be fermented in parts, carefully compacting each layer with a wooden mallet. Dense compaction creates anaerobic conditions in which the formation of lactic acid organisms goes better. Place a plate on top and place a weight. A liter jar of water will do just fine.
The correct temperature is very important for fermentation. This process takes place in two stages.
- At the first stage, juice is released into which the extractive substances of the vegetable pass. Due to the high salt concentration, microbial activity is not yet possible. Gradually, salt penetrates into the cabbage and its concentration in the brine decreases, which serves as a signal for the start of microbiological processes. At this stage the yeast is active. They cause strong gas formation and foam.
To prevent sauerkraut from spoiling longer, it is necessary to remove the resulting foam, which may contain pathogenic microorganisms. To get rid of gases that give the final product a bitter taste, the fermentation should be pierced a couple of times a day with a wooden stick to the very bottom of the dish.
The first stage should end as early as possible in order to achieve rapid formation of lactic acid, a preservative for the fermented product. The temperature of the first stage is 20 degrees. - At the second stage, lactic acid bacteria are activated, they decompose the sugar contained in the vegetable into lactic acid. The fermentation process takes place directly. The release of gases ends. Fermentation requires a temperature of 20 degrees. It ends completely in 10 days. The concentration of lactic acid will reach 2%. This cabbage will be too sour. It is considered optimal if the lactic acid in the product is no more than 1%, so a couple of days after gas formation stops, the workpiece is taken out into the cold to slow down fermentation. Cabbage must be taken out to a cold room on time.If you do this too early, the fermentation process may simply not occur and the product will quickly deteriorate. If you are late, the fermentation will sour.
Among the various recipes for making sauerkraut with pepper, there are many unusual ones. For example, you can ferment it with celery root and parsley. These additives will give the product a special spicy taste.
Sauerkraut with celery, sweet pepper and parsley
This cabbage is fermented in a jar. It’s not worth storing it for a long time, and it won’t work. This delicious dish is eaten very quickly.
To prepare you will need:
- 2 kg of late varieties of cabbage;
- 600 g carrots;
- 400 g bell pepper;
- 1 medium sized celery root;
- 100 g salt;
- a large bunch of parsley;
- bay leaf and peppercorns to taste.
We clean the heads of cabbage from the top leaves, wash and chop. Wash all the other vegetables, peel them, wash them again and cut them into thin strips, finely chop the parsley. Place all the vegetables in a bowl, add salt and mix well.
After the juice has been released, transfer them to a jar, compacting them thoroughly. Spread the spices on top and cover with a cabbage leaf. Close the lid and install the weight. After the fermentation process is completed, and this will be in about 5 days, we transfer the jar to the cold, where we store it. Before using the fermentation, the top layer with spices must be removed.
There is more than one sauerkraut recipe with added sugar. It speeds up the fermentation process and gives the product a pleasant sweetish taste. Along with carrots and sweet peppers, onions are added to the cabbage.
Sauerkraut with onions and sweet peppers
The technology for preparing this fermentation is slightly different from the classic one. You will have to prepare the brine first. It will require:
- not cold water – 800 ml;
- salt – 2 tbsp. heaped spoons;
- sugar – 1 tbsp. heaped spoon.
Dissolve salt and sugar in water.
Preparing vegetables:
- finely chop a large head of cabbage;
- Cut 3 peppers into strips, 2 onions into half rings;
- we combine the vegetables in a large basin, seasoning them with grated carrots, you need to take 3 of them;
- add 5 peas of allspice, 10 of bitter pepper and a couple of bay leaves.
After mixing, place the vegetables in jars, not reaching the top a little, and fill with the prepared brine.
After fermentation is complete, place the jars in the refrigerator.
There are many recipes for sauerkraut with bell pepper. Through testing, each housewife chooses one that will serve her for many years, delighting her family with tasty and healthy fermentation. This preparation is good fresh; you can use it to prepare cabbage soup or a side dish. An inexpensive and tasty product will decorate any table, both everyday and festive.
