Further adventures in lactobacilli...
Another batch of DIY sauerkraut bottled, patted down and refrigerated for many happy ever-afterings. Without getting into additions (and recipes can become quite exotic) I rely on the core basics using salt and whey -- and it's fascinating how the taste nuances change and develop.
I'm bottling up early in the ferment -- 10 days this time -- but hope to explore longer times before refrigeration slow downs the activity. Being a humid Summer in the sub tropics I don't have the ambient temperature advantages offered to sauerkraut production in temperate zones so I'm trying to see what I can do under conditions of a faster ferment.
Besides I like crunch.
Besides I like crunch.
Slow ferments enrich the sauerkraut flavours but here I'm risking evaporation and you need the cabbage to be always submerged in liquid.
Once my chokoes fruit again I'll try another batch of choko sauerkraut .
Since I have planted more cucumbers I may ferment those : Lacto Fermented Cucumbers.
Out there waiting for me is an even bigger world dedicated to lacto fermentation.
But why bother when you could buy some of these preserved foods at the local supermarket? [Asks he with a mouth full of morsels from my two latest sauerkraut ferments. De-lish-us.]
You bother because aside from the taste you can engineer yourself when you make your own, bought product is likely to have been pasteurised before sale thus killing the lactobacilli.
It's bug murder! Imagine if they pasteurized yogurt after it was made? But if you wanted to ship, warehouse and shelf life sauerkraut in a can or jar the liklihood is that it would be heated to at least 67-72°C for at least 15 seconds to ensure that all the bacteria were dead. Good or bad it wouldn't matter at that temperature.
But why bother when you could buy some of these preserved foods at the local supermarket? [Asks he with a mouth full of morsels from my two latest sauerkraut ferments. De-lish-us.]
You bother because aside from the taste you can engineer yourself when you make your own, bought product is likely to have been pasteurised before sale thus killing the lactobacilli.
It's bug murder! Imagine if they pasteurized yogurt after it was made? But if you wanted to ship, warehouse and shelf life sauerkraut in a can or jar the liklihood is that it would be heated to at least 67-72°C for at least 15 seconds to ensure that all the bacteria were dead. Good or bad it wouldn't matter at that temperature.
