Probiotic Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
Humans have fermented their foods for centuries. It keeps summer vegetables fresh for the long winter, makes them easier to digest and add some precious Good Bacteria to our tummies!
As such, I'm very excited to share this simple and cheap homemade sauerkraut recipe with you! You can have more red cabbage than white, hence I've used red here.
Accordingly to Monash 1/2 cup is lowFODMAP. However, as this is a process down to nature and therefore a little unpredictable, I'd try a smaller amount first and see how you go.
[Prep Time: 30 mins + daily pressing. Fermentation time 2-3 weeks]
INGREDIENTS
1 big red cabbage head
1 level tbsp salt* (ideally without iodine, e.g. Kosher)
*For best result weigh your cabbage first and use 2% of its weight for the salt, i.e. for every 100g of cabbage use 2g of salt.
INSTRUCTIONS
Sterilize a large jar, preferably one you can reach your hand inside! Do this by thoroughly washing it, and baking it in a hot oven for 10 minutes. Let cool and it's ready to go.
Remove any damaged outer leaves of the cabbage, weigh it to know how much salt use.
Thinly slice the cabbage into strips. The thinner the better!
In a large bowl, sprinkle the cabbage in the salt and use your clean hands to roughly massage it.
Continue to squeeze, press and crunch the cabbage for at least 15 minutes until it's totally wilted down, with juice pooling at the bottom. It's tiring work, so get help or do it a couple minutes at a time.
Once you're happy it's as pummelled as possible, start transferring it into the jar. Press in as much as you can, pushing it down so there are as few air pockets as possible.
Tip any remaining cabbage-juice into the jar and pop on the lid.
Store on the counter, or somewhere you'll be reminded to regularly press: every day or two you'll need to press the cabbage down inside the jar, letting the fermentation gasses escape.
After 2-3 weeks it should have become recognisable as sauerkraut! Congratulations!
I prefer to remove the very top layer of cabbage and sample the sauerkraut underneath. If it tastes good, store it in the fridge and add to your meals!
You can watch the recipe being made below x
