• Home
  • Furrow Archives (2009-2010)
  • Farmbedded Archives (2008)
  • Photos
THE FURROW: The online newsletter of Howell Living History Farm

Fermented Cabbage

7/30/2014

0 Comments

 
A report from Farmer Rob on recent sauerkraut making activities:

Cabbage is shredded and packed in quart jars with one tablespoon of salt per jar.  Other optional ingredients like carrots and juniper berries can be added, too.  The cabbage is bruised to release liquid by pounding and pressing with a wooden pestle.  

The jars are covered with lids, but not too tightly, so that the carbon dioxide gas given off by the lactobacillus bacteria can escape.  After a few days to a week of vigorous fermentation, the lids can be tightened. It is best that the jars be kept in a tub or other container that does not react with salt during this phase, as some brine will escape.

The salt and exclusion of air provide an an environment that favors the lactobacillus bacteria.  The bacteria consume sugar and give off lactic acid which pickles the cabbage.  

Lactic acid fermentation is very trendy, and very traditional.  Sauerkraut has long been recognized as a winter source of vitamin C, and more recently is getting recognition for being a probiotic, providing organisms that are beneficial to our guts.

Sauerkraut is German for "sour cabbage".  During WWI, sauerkraut was dubbed "Liberty Cabbage", and during WWII, "Victory Cabbage" when Germany and things German were not in favor.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About

    The Furrow is the online newsletter of The Friends of Howell Living History Farm. We will be updating this site about once a week with crop reports and other insights into life on a horse-drawn living history farm.

    Howell Farm is owned by Mercer County and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission.

    Funding for the Howell Living History Farm Furrow is made possible in part by an operating grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. 

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.