My morning has gone something like ‘cross me the wrong way and you may lose your life…’
Seriously, If it’s not the asshole forgoing the use of blinkers, then it’s my dog peeing on the floor (he’s potty trained…wtf…. ). Insert: hilarious internal (sometimes external in the case of driving) dialogue here. Really, It’s like Chelsea Handler takes over my body and out comes the profanities. Which, in the case of road rage, is quite amusing given that I drive a Prius. In case you’re out of the loop, road rage + a Pruis = an entertainingly odd duo.
Any who, the light at the end of the tunnel in all of this, is that I have a brand new batch of fermented sauerkraut waiting for me back home. Even better, I photographed the whole process, so visually, I could break it down for you all.
If you’re not familiar with fermented vegetables, then I suggest you do some reading up, as they provide the body with wonderful amounts of good bacteria. Since consuming fermented foods (about 5 months now) my skin has gone from breakout central to perfectness. Which, I attribute greatly to the mass amounts of friendly bacteria in my homemade sauerkraut – that I consume almost daily, I should add.
As far as taste goes with fermented foods, well, let’s just say it’s acquired. I’m not going to lie, it took me a good week or two to enjoy the somewhat sour taste. However, over time my body began to crave not only the flavor, but just the food in general – It’s true folks, your body is smart enough to know what’s good for it! Same with green juice, consume it enough, you’re body will crave it. Any who, while I’ve tried a few different recipes, I continue to go back to a simple cabbage based one. Sure, I alter the recipe a bit here and there, but nothing too drastic, as I’ve found the simpler the better.
So, without further ado, here we go.
Before beginning, you will need:
1 Large Stainless Bowl (thanks to Tina, I found mine at Sams for 10 bucks – and, it’s huge!!!)
Glass jars with a good seal (see images below)
1 Packet of Donna Gates veggie culture
sea salt
honey (or any sweetener – only if you aren’t using a sweet vegetable, again, see below)
Blender (nothing fancy, just a standard blender should do)
vegetables of choice
Step One:
Gather vegetables of choice
For this sauerkraut, I’m including both white and red cabbage + beets.
Step Two:
Peel cabbage and save about 20 leaves. Trust me on this one, it’s better to have too many than not enough! Set outer leaves aside.
Step Three:
Set one cabbage aside… then proceed.
Shred cabbage. Ok, this is where I’m a nazi. See, I hate (read: HATE) fermented vegetables that have been made with an ‘S’ blade in a food processor. Sure, it’s easy, but I feel like I’m eating baby food! And, I ain’t no baby 
So, I manually (and somewhat painstakingly) use a mandoline to shred all of my cabbage. This way, I end up with nice and long pieces – Just like traditional sauerkraut. If you’re thinking – ‘why not just use your shredding attachment on your food processor?’ Well, I hate that as well, as the pieces still end up fairly short and small. Like I said people, it’s a textural thing – so if time’s an issue, then use your food processor!
Step Four:
Peel beets.
Again, the cutting Nazi (me), does most everything by hand! I like my beets to be perfect julienne cuts, so again, I forgo the use of my food processor. Instead, I slice the beets using my mandoline and then cute lengthwise using a knife.
Out of all the random purchases my mom has made, I have to say the pack of 700 latex gloves comes in great hand when dealing with beets! They will stain your hands… just to warn you.
Step Five:
Set vegetables aside.
In a blender combine: One cabbage (chopped), .5 onion (optional, but I really like the flavor it adds), 1 tsp of sea salt, about 5-6 cups water (maybe more), and a tsp of honey. Please note, that if you end up using beets, you will not need this additional sweetener. Donna Gates suggest using a sugar of some sort to give the bacteria something a little extra to feed off of.
Blend all contents on high for a few minutes (until slightly warm, or around 90 degrees).
Once warm, add veggie culture starter and blend on low for a few seconds (just enough to mix everything around).
Step Six:
Pour blender contents over shredded vegetables and mix well.
Step Seven:
Pick your poison.
There are many types of seal-able jars that can be used, as demonstrated below. I used to use many smaller jars, but since I’m the only one eating it, I found it much more convenient to use a couple large jars and a couple small (smaller jars are great for traveling).
Pack your veggies. No really, pack them goooood! With clean hands (make sure to keep hands very clean during this process) fill jars and use fist and/or a wooden spoon (mouth of jar depending) to pack the vegetables as you fill each jar.
Stop about 1″ shy from top of rim. Here is where those cabbage leaves come back in play. Fold one or two leaves and stuff in top of jar. You’ll find this provides enough pressure to keep the veggies down.
Step Nine:
Seal veggies and store in a dark room temperature environment for 5 days (or longer). I use my hall closet, as it’s a convenient and dark place to keep them while fermenting.
Step Ten:
Eat!!
Open fermented vegetables carefully – there will be some pressure that has built up. Discard top cabbage leaves.
My favorite way to eat fermented sauerkraut is with fresh avocado and a bit of sea salt. So good, and, so good for you.
Enjoy!
Some additional notes:
After about a week or two, place fermented veggies in refrigerator to slow down the fermentation.
Refrigerated Fermented Veggies will keep for a long time once fermented. Seriously, I’ve had some kimchi (that’s still fresh) for about 5 months.
Start out small and gradually increase consumption overtime. You can really @#$%^ up your insides if you consume too much at one sitting! The bacteria is so powerful, you really shouldn’t consume more that a couple tablespoons in one sitting in the beginning.
You know the advertisements for ‘Activia yogurt’? Well, this is like Activia times 200 for your digestive system!! Seriously, I think activia is horrible for the stomach (especially given the amount of sugar and lactose – not to mention, the ethical implications of yogurt), but fermented veggies provide the stomach with all the friendly bacteria, no sugar, annnd, no lactose – Score!
It does take some work to prep all the vegetables for the fermenting, which is why, I recommend fermenting a crap ton of cabbage at one time! Since it last indefinitely, you might as well do it all at once and get it out of the way.
Don’t be scuuurd Seriously, it’s far less intimidating than it looks. I took me a long time to ferment due to intimidation, but once I dove in, I realized ‘hey, this isn’t so bad!’
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And that’s it! Hope you enjoy!
