GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: how to make sauerkraut

  • New Years, Growing mushrooms, Aquaponics on GF Radio

    New Years, Growing mushrooms, Aquaponics on GF Radio

    Eric and Mike start off their new years day show with Chris Brogan and his 3 words for 2012, Eric suggests not going to Times Square for New Years Eve, you probably wont like it, its very crowded.

    Fireplace safety comes up next, Eric suggests everyone have glass doors or a wire screen over their wood burning fireplaces.

    Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors have an effective life of 8-10 years, according to FEMA, and don’t cheap out when buying new ones, you get what you pay for. Its also important to follow the installation instructions you get with the detectors, smoke detector placement is very important.

    Eric tells of his visit to a green home supplier that sells kitchen cabinets from deconstructed renovations. One of the projects will involve creating an opening between two rooms by cutting an opening a load bearing wall, which will be a future GardenFork video.

    Sauerkraut fermentation times are discussed again, with more comments on Eric’s How to make sauerkraut video. Eric knows that yes, he did not let the cabbage ferment long enough.

    Viewer mail takes up a lot of the show.

    Eric talks about how to grow mushrooms and inoculate wood plugs with mushroom spore, and inoculating logs with mushroom plugs and spore. All about mushroom spawn.

    Rick will be back on the show to talk about aquaponics and aquaculture , and Eric of chicago writes us about his tires being cupped.

    Eric still plans on having breakfast with executive coach Rich Gee, and Radio Rick thinks it was the best interview we’ve done.

    Eric talks about building his portable wood fired pizza oven, which will be a how-to pizza oven video for the show.

  • How to make Sauerkraut Kinda Sorta – GF TV

    How to make Sauerkraut Kinda Sorta – GF TV

    We made a sauerkraut how-to video today. Fermenting green or red cabbage into sauerkraut is an easy recipe to make, and the possibilities are endless. Fermentation and fermented foods are on the rise, with their probiotic organisms and all around healthy food reputation. Making sauerkraut should be on the to do list of all urban homesteaders, and i imagine most homesteaders already make sauerkraut.

    Inspired by Daniel Gastieger, author of Yes You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too, we make a simple sauerkraut recipe that is the basis for all sorts of combinations. Daniel was on GardenFork Radio, you can hear his interview here.

    If your idea of sauerkraut is that greyish stuff you see in the store, try making sauerkraut yourself. Take red or green cabbage, or a mix, add salt and go from there.

    Basic Sauerkraut Recipe

    this is based on Daniel’s Yes You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too book.

    1 head of green or red cabbage

    pickling or kosher salt

    Glass, plastic, or ceramic fermentation container

    Remove the outer leaves from your cabbage, just the dinged up ones.

    Chop up your cabbage, you can do this by hand or use the food processor to coarsely grate the cabbage.

    Put the cabbage into a clean large bowl. Add a teaspoon of salt for each pound of cabbage.

    Use your hands to mix the salt into the cabbage, you want to crush and crinkle the cabbage.

    Put the cabbage into a fermentation container, mash the cabbage down and put a clean plate or something similar on top of the cabbage to keep the cabbage down in the container.

    Cover the top of the container with a plastic grocery bag and put the container in a dark cool area.

    Check the sauerkraut after 24 hours, there should be enough brine to cover the top of the cabbage. If there is not, boil a quart of water, add to it 1.5 tablespoons of salt. let the salt water cool, the  top off the sauerkraut so the cabbage is covered.

    Ferment the sauerkraut for at least 5 days, you can go a month if you want to. any mold that forms should be skimmed off.

    When you are happy with the fermentation, put the sauerkraut in a clean closed container in the fridge. ©2011 all rights reserved

     

  • Fermentation Sauerkraut How To update

    Fermentation Sauerkraut How To update

    Inspired by Daniel Gasteiger’s new book Yes, You Can! and Freeze and Dry It too book on canning, freezing and more, we are now fermenting cabbage into sauerkraut.

    And we are shooting a video on how to make sauerkraut. Above are the two jars we are fermenting for the video. I did one batch with just green cabbage, carrots and caraway seeds, and started a second batch of sauerkraut with a mix of red cabbage and green cabbage. From what i’ve read, it seems best to use an earthenware crock or plastic container; i used two large glass canning jars.

    we are fermenting cabbage into sauekraut and making a how-to video on making sauerkraut

    The fermentation jars are covered with a towel and sitting on the kitchen counter, I check them every day, and watch these bubbles come out from the cabbage. You can see some bubbles in the jar of red cabbage in the above photo.

    I asked on our Facebook Page for suggestions on what ingredients to put into sauerkraut, and got some great responses:

    Thom: I make two types, one with just cabbage,onions and salt and the other a spicy type with cabbage,onion,garlic,carrots,radish or daikon,pepper flakes,fresh ginger,dill and salt.

    Dennis: love making sauerkraut, apple and cumin is a good combo!

    Woodwife: Green Just cabbage and salt.

    Josh:  cabbage salt and sugar to sweeten it up a bit

    Michael:  Juniper berries

    Joe:  I all ready made mine for the year its canned and put up. I canned 12 quarts I use just salt and a little sugar and a few apples.

    Janet: I haven’t made sauerkraut yet, but I plan on it. I listen to your radio show podcasts on Itunes and recently purchased the book “Yes You Can”. I can’t wait for it to come in the mail. Thank you for everything that you do!! It is truly inspirational and entertaining. Keep up the good work!!! 🙂
    Sunday at 6:41pm ·  1 person

    Claudia:  you wanna get Gundelsheim or Midlessa Sauerkraut, put a McIntosh apple (cut up), bay leaves and Juniper berries as well as sugar and a beef boullion cube and let it cook for about an hour, Oh yeah, cut up an onion and put it in there as well
    Sunday at 10:58pm

    Gerald:  We do 3# cabbage to 1 tbsp salt. Pack it down til brine forms (maybe top off) Weigh it down so the cabbage stays under the brine. Cover and wait. Sometimes we add caraway seeds, but plain ol’ kraut is best. This year we used 80# cabbage total.
    Monday at 8:02pm

    Gerald:  I have also used the lacto-fermented brine in your artisan bread to make it sourdoughish.

    Neat, all sorts of ideas here. next batch will have apples in it. I’m curious about canning the sauerkraut afterward, does that reduce its health qualities? Let me know what you think below: