Sauerkraut / KimChi / Pickle Recipes
To start, you will need a harsch crock pot or a sauerkraut / kimchi / pickle jar.
Click Here for the complete instructions for the Sauerkraut / KimChi / Pickle Maker Jar.
For recipes, I highly recommend the book "Wild Fermentation"
I recommend following the recipe on the instructions first, then experiment with different recipes.
Below are some of my favorites.
Real Pickle sRecipe from Wild Fermentation
This is a good one for KimChi:
www.treelight.com/health/nutrition/UltimateKimchi.html
These are ingredients I used for the last few batches of kraut:
1) Cabbage, celery, wakame, hijiki, dulse, small piece of horseradish, ginger, Celtic sea salt.
2) Cabbage, bok choy, celery, daikon radish, horseradish, ginger, Celtic sea salt, hot pepper
3) Cabbage, bok choy, celery, daikon, horseradish, galangal root, ginger, turmeric, hot pepper, Celtic sea salt
4) Cabbage, celery, horseradish, ginger, dill, Celtic sea salt
I also use carrots, beets, burdock root, etc... and grate them up in a food processor.
I recommend using a high quality salt for the kraut / kimchi.
Some good salts are:
Celtic Sea Salt:
http://curezone.com/foods/saltcure.asp
Real Salt:
http://www.realsalt.com
Himalayan Salt:
http://www.americanbluegreen.com
http://www.mercola.com/forms/salt.htm
Check out this neat article on sauerkraut by Dr. Andrew Weil
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Best Regards,
Mike Snyder
503-771-3904
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Hot and Spicy Kim Chee
From 'Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine'
by Gabriel Cousens
4 Cups green cabbage, shredded (save 3-4 outer leaves)
2 Cups Napa cabbage, shredded
2 Cups carrots, grated
1 Cup Daikon radishes, grated
Mix vegetables in a large bowl
4 jalapeno chilies
2 Tablespoons ginger, grated
1 Tablespoon Miso, any type (I prefer the brand South
River Miso) www.southrivermiso.com
or use a teaspoon of probiotics, or use a previous batch of sauerkraut as a starter
Blend Chilies, ginger, and miso with 2 Cups water and stir into mixed vegetables.
Spoon mixture into crock or gallon glass container. Pound mixture to release juices and remove all the air.
Top off (to cover cabbage) with a little water if mixture is dry. Cover with outer cabbage leaves to create a tight seal with edge of container. Set a plate on top of cabbage leaves and weight down with suitable-sized rocks (or other object). (The small lid in the Kraut jar takes the place of the heavy weight).
Leave Kim Chee in warm (60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit) place for 5 days. Do not uncover during this period.
After 5 days, remove covering, scraping away top layer of vegetables (do not be concerned if you see mold; remove top layer and the rest is good to eat).
Kim Chee will become acidic as it ferments, but it takes on a sweeter smell and flavor when it is ready to eat. If you have never tasted Kim Chee, Rejuvenative Foods sells a raw version that you might want to try to help you determine when your own batch is done.
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Pickled Vegetables
From Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine
by Dr. Gabriel Cousens
4 Carrots, cut into rounds
4 whole dried chilies
2 zucchini, cut into rounds
2 Cucumbers, finely chopped
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic
3 sprigs fresh oregano
2 Tablespoons coriander seeds
2 Tablespoons cumin
2 Tablespoons fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tablespoons Celtic Sea Salt
Raw apple cider vinegar
Add all dry spices to a gallon jar and place vegetables on top. Fill the jar two thirds full of apple cider vinegar (I like the Braggs brand).
Fill the last third with water and close the jar; shake well. Keep in the refrigerator, shaking every day for at least 1 week before eating.
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The text below is quoted from "The Lovers Diet" by Victoras Kulvinskas, page 163 .
This is where I learned about using E3 Live food probiotic supplements with the kimchi.
Acidophilus, Bifidus, and Probiotics: Internal Enzyme Factories
Over 25 years ago at the Hippocrates Health Institute I pioneered the fermentation process. I not only based it on totally non-animal milks but also found ways to accelerate the fermentation.
In the past, to get successful results, one had to add salt and ferment the cabbage for weeks. With my system, the kraut are ready in 2 to 3 days, and salt is unnecessary.
By starting a batch of the following recipes with 1 teaspoon of pro-biotics (friendly bacteria), you will be giving your intestinal bacteria a major boost. In a matter of 1 hour, 1 bacteria becomes two, within another hour it becomes 4.
If this is allowed to keep on for 8 hours, the total bacteria count in a preparation increases by 256 times.
Remember though, that the fermentation process produces a high lactic acid content, so you do not want to over-use fermented foods in your meal plan. Experiment with a few tablespoons or more; find out what works.
Because of the acid component, the ferments are NEVER to be combined in the same meal with starchy foods such as bread, rice, and other grains, root vegetables, ect.
Although sunflower seeds (which I find the most delicious of the lot) are most often used for cheese or yogurt, you could just as well use almonds or a mix of sesame with sunflower (comes out quite sharp), pumpkin, cashew, tofu, ect."
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Live Sauerkraut Recipe
by Elaina Love
5 cabbage (red or green)
(You may also substitute some of the cabbage for other vegetables such as carrot, daikon radish, beets, sea vegetables, bok choy, turnips, a small piece of horseradish or ginger, or other hard root vegetables.)
Optional: 1/2 to 1 tsp. Himalayan Crystal Salt or Celtic Sea Salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 Tbs. dried dill or
1/2 cup fresh dill chopped
2 Tbs. caraway seeds
4 to 8 cloves garlic, crushed
Equipment required:
- Harsch Kraut pickling crock pot with weighting stone,
0r
- 1 gallon glass sauerkraut kimchi jar.
- Also helpful is either a food processor or wooden box mandoline slicer from Germany for slicing cabbage.
1. Slice the cabbage using the 1mm setting on a mandolin or food processor, or cut paper thin with a knife. Discard the outer leaves.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and massage it with your hands. Continue to work the cabbage until the liquid starts to release. You may need to let your hands rest, so leave the cabbage sitting and come back to it every 1/2 hour until when you press on the cabbage, liquid rises to the top. [If you have a Harsch Kraut pickling crock pot with weighting stone, you just have to mix thoroughly, and the stone will do the rest.]
3. Place the kraut in a 1 gallon glass sauerkraut kimchi jar.
Press the cabbage down until the liquid rises above it about 1/8 inch. The juice may sink back down a little and that is okay.
4. Place a lid on the jar and let sit for 1-4 days, depending on desired sourness.
5. Once the sauerkraut is ready, place it in the refrigerator.
Sauerkraut will keep for up to 8 months in the refrigerator.
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Quoted from
Making Sauerkraut is Easy!
Sandor Ellix Katz, the creator of this site and the author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods (Chelsea Green, 2003) has earned the nickname "Sandorkraut" for his love of sauerkraut. This is Sandorkaut's easy sauerkraut recipe, one of more than 90 ferments included in his book.
Timeframe: 1-4 weeks (or more)
Special Equipment:
Harsch Ceramic Fermentation Crock Pot or a Sauerkraut / Pickle / KimChi Maker Jar
Plate that fits inside crock
Ingredients (for 1 gallon):
5 pounds cabbage
3 tablespoons sea salt
Process:
1. Chop or grate cabbage, finely or coarsely, with or without hearts, however you like it. I love to mix green and red cabbage to end up with bright pink kraut. Place cabbage in a large bowl as you chop it.
2. Sprinkle salt on the cabbage as you go. The salt pulls water out of the cabbage (through osmosis), and this creates the brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting. The salt also has the effect of keeping the cabbage crunchy, by inhibiting organisms and enzymes that soften it. 3 tablespoons of salt is a rough guideline for 5 pounds of cabbage. I never measure the salt; I just shake some on after I chop up each cabbage. I use more salt in summer, less in winter.
3. Add other vegetables. Grate carrots for a coleslaw-like kraut. Other vegetables I've added include onions, garlic, seaweed, greens, Brussels sprouts, small whole heads of cabbage, turnips, beets, and burdock roots. You can also add fruits (apples, whole or sliced, are classic), and herbs and spices (caraway seeds, dill seeds, celery seeds, and juniper berries are classic, but anything you like will work). Experiment.
4. Mix ingredients together and pack into crock. Pack just a bit into the crock at a time and tamp it down hard using your fists or any (other) sturdy kitchen implement. The tamping packs the kraut tight in the crock and helps force water out of the cabbage.
5. Cover kraut with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly inside the crock. Place a clean weight (a glass jug filled with water) on the cover. This weight is to force water out of the cabbage and then keep the cabbage submerged under the brine. Cover the whole thing with a cloth to keep dust and flies out.
6. Press down on the weight to add pressure to the cabbage and help force water out of it. Continue doing this periodically (as often as you think of it, every few hours), until the brine rises above the cover.
This can take up to about 24 hours, as the salt draws water out of the cabbage slowly. Some cabbage, particularly if it is old, simply contains less water. If the brine does not rise above the plate level by the next day, add enough salt water to bring the brine
level above the plate. Add about a teaspoon of salt to a cup of water and stir until it's completely dissolved.
7. Leave the crock to ferment. I generally store the crock in an unobtrusive corner of the kitchen where I won't forget about it, but where it won't be in anybody's way. You could also store it in a cool basement if you want a slower fermentation that will
preserve for longer.
8. Check the kraut every day or two. The volume reduces as the fermentation proceeds. Sometimes mold
appears on the surface. Many books refer to this mold as 'scum', but I prefer to think of it as
a bloom. Skim what you can off of the surface; it will break up and you will probably not be able to remove all of it.
Don't worry about this. It's just a surface phenomenon, a result of contact with the air.
The kraut itself is under the anaerobic protection of the brine. Rinse off the plate and the weight. Taste the kraut. Generally it starts to be tangy after a few days, and the taste gets stronger as time passes.
In the cool temperatures of a cellar in winter, kraut can keep improving for months and months. In the summer or in a heated room, its life cycle is more rapid.
Eventually it becomes soft and the flavor turns less pleasant.
9. Enjoy. I generally scoop out a bowl- or jarful at a time and keep it in the fridge. I start when the kraut is young and enjoy its evolving flavor over the course of a few weeks.
Try the sauerkraut juice that will be left in the bowl after the kraut is eaten. Sauerkraut juice is a rare delicacy and unparalleled digestive tonic.
Each time you scoop some kraut out of the crock, you have to repack it carefully. Make sure the kraut is packed tight in the crock, the surface is level, and the cover and weight are clean. Sometimes brine evaporates, so if the kraut is not submerged below brine just add salted water as necessary.
Some people preserve kraut by canning and heat-processing it. This can be done; but so much of the power of sauerkraut is its aliveness that I wonder: Why kill it?
10. Develop a rhythm. I try to start a new batch before the previous batch runs out. I remove the remaining kraut from the crock, repack it with fresh salted cabbage, then pour the old kraut and its juices over the new kraut. This gives the new batch a boost with an active culture starter.
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Fermented Dill Pickles (by the gallon)
Use the following quantities for each gallon capacity of your container.
4 pounds of 4-inch pickling cucumbers ( enough to fill jar to top )
2 Tablespoons dill seed, or 4 to 5 heads fresh or dry dill weed **
2 dried red peppers (optional)**
2 teaspoons whole mixed pickling spices (optional)**
3-6 Tablespoons salt (3 T to every 2 cups water)
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar (5 percent)
8 cups water and one or more of the following ingredients:
2 cloves garlic (optional, but yummy)
**You can also substitute the 5/8 oz packaged pickling spices that contains pepper and bay leaves for the dill, peppers and pickling spice (usually found in the Mexican spice section- it's much less expensive too!) Divided in half per instructions below.
Wash cucumbers. Remove blossom end and discard, leaving 1/4 inch of stem attached if you can.
Place half the dill and spices on bottom of a clean, suitable container. Add cucumbers, remaining dill, and spices.
Dissolve salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers. Add suitable cover and weight.
Ferment pickles for 4 full days in Pickle Maker.
Fermented pickles may be stored for about 4 to 6 months in the refrigerator.
Enjoy your sauerkraut and kimchee!
Best Regards,
Mike Snyder
posted by Michael at
3:20 PM
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