Kraut is one of the best starting points for trying your hand at fermentation because it's one of the simplest, since you can make it with nothing more than cabbage and salt. Once you get the hang of it, it's not much of a leap to try pickles, like kimchi, that include a larger number of ingredients.Sauerkraut fermenting in a Mason jar with a three-piece fermentation airlock lid.
First, we add enough salt to make life difficult for competing microorganisms. If this were a football league, it'd be likeof all the players, except the ones on the team we want to win. When it comes to kraut, a level playing field is not what we're after. This salty environment is just dandy for the lactobacillus, though, paving the way for its total domination over other bacteria.
The main enemy throughout is oxygen, which is why you want to keep your cabbage submerged in the brine the whole time. Sometimes molds can form on the surface of the brine, especially in the early stages, when the cabbage hasn't fully acidified yet; mold on the surface isn't ideal, but it's not a sign that your kraut needs to go in the trash, either. Just carefully scrape it off and proceed as normal.
The downside of a large crock is that, well, it's big, and it requires ample storage space. If you're not ready for that kind of commitment, I'd recommend fermenting in half-gallon Mason or Ball jars instead. They're smaller, but also more versatile, since they're useful for holding plenty of things besides fermented foods.
If you're using a large ceramic fermentation crock, you can add the shredded cabbage directly to it, sprinkling the salt on and mixing it in intermittently as you fill it up. If you're using a glass Mason jar, start with the cabbage in a large mixing bowl, sprinkling it with the salt and mixing it well.
If you're using a Mason jar, now's the time to transfer the cabbage and its brine to the jar. Try not to pack the jars or crock more than two-thirds full, since the contents tend to bubble up during fermentation. If the vessels are too full, they may overflow.Push down on the cabbage to compress it; this should force the brine up. If you're lucky, there will be enough to cover the cabbage by about an inch or so. If not, you'll need to make some extra brine .
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