Fermented Whole Cabbage Heads

Elena Butuc

This recipe was automatically translated from Romanian. View original here

There are recipes that take me a day to make and show them to you, others a little more, and there is another category of recipes that I am testing so far - it takes up to 1 year to solve them completely and perfectly.

One of these is the sauerkraut recipe, I didn't just take a few pictures and leave it like that. I really wanted to see the result and it would be a recipe that would come out safe - so, last fall we bought barrels, cabbage, I studied the sources (mother, friends, google, etc) and I started working.

After about a month and a half, at Christmas, I had the best fermented cabbage ever eaten - perfectly sour, no external odors, salty enough - not a simple sauerkraut, but as my father says "real medicine". This year I am already strong and I am very happy that I can show you beautifully, with pictures, how to make a pickled cabbage recipe perfectly.

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Ingredients

Metric US

●

White cabbage

15 kg

about 10-12 pieces - medium size and not too hard to press - good autumn cabbage

●

Bloomed dill

4 pieces

●

Dried corn kernels

500 g

●

Horseradish

5 pieces

can be even more

●

Quince

5 pieces

for flavor, optional and apples

●

Pickling salt(no iodine)

20 tbsp

proportion is 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 liter of cold water, plus a little more salt, see in the recipe

●

Water

20 l

depends on the size of the barrel

Step by step

Prepare all the ingredients for the recipe - cabbage cleaned of dirty leaves and washed, dill cut into shorter sticks, as well as the other components.

In the clean barrel I put a third of the amount of dill, corn, horseradish, apples and quince.

The cabbage is grown on the back and about 1cm from the back is dug a little with the knife.

In that depression at each cabbage I put 1 teaspoon of salt once (for pickles).

Put the cabbage in the barrel, make sure it is upside down, so that the salt does not flow.

Alternate the layers of cabbage with apples, quince, dill, horseradish and corn.

When the barrel is filled with cabbage and the rest of the ingredients, cover it with a lid and leave for 7-8 hours, or overnight. During this time, the cabbage softens and absorbs salt well - a tip learned from my friend Maria, a wonderful and experienced housewife.

After this time, make the brine and pour it into the barrel - the quantity varies depending on the size of the barrel, the cabbage, etc.

For each liter of water (I put it from the tap) put 1 tablespoon of salt as in the picture. Mix well and pour into the barrel as needed.

When the water covers the cabbage well, put the lid on and leave it overnight or 1 day.

And after 1 day comes the procedure with aeration (pitrocite) - carefully insert a rubber hose (you can put from the beginning, when you arrange the cabbage) to the bottom of the barrel and every day for 1 week it is blown into the brine. I blow for about 5 minutes - this procedure speeds up the fermentation process and prevents the formation of "flower" on the brine.

You can see in the picture my installation - for 1 week I kept the barrel of cabbage in the kitchen, pressed with a jar (the jar sits on a plate), hose and I did breathing exercises every night :)

This is how the brine was made after 1 week of aeration and I stayed in the kitchen.

I took the barrel out on the balcony or in the cellar (for those who have it), I made sure that the cabbage was completely in brine (I put a heavy stone on a plate to press the cabbage) and I threaded the lid on the barrel.

Be careful to be cold outside on the balcony, about the beginning of November, so that it doesn't ferment too hard.