My Fermentation Fetish

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning. I picked up my good friends, Vivian and Mark, and we sped off to the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s market. We had a big day ahead of us. Mark and I planned to make several varieties of lacto-fermented vegetables. At first I think Vivian was happy to have an excuse not to join us. She has heard me complain before of the drudgery of slicing the truckloads of cabbage necessary to fill a crock in the making of sauerkraut. And the constant pounding. I’m sure she had visions of Lucy and the Italian lady in the wine-stomping barrel coming to blows as the inevitable result of mindless work in close quarters.

But Mark and I were giddy and as we shuffled from stall to stall. As we talked fast and furiously of the list of fresh ingredients we needed to round up, Vivian trailed us with a half-grin shaking her head. I think she was starting to have regrets about not joining in on the experiment.

Mark and I decided that we would make sauerkraut (red cabbage only!), cucumber pickles and dilly beans.

I have made naturally fermented (sans vinegar) sauerkraut on several occasions (recipe here). This was a no-brainer as I had experimented with different salt solution ratios and pounding times so that I could produce a perfectly crisp, not-too-salty, deliciously tangy and probiotic-filled kraut. The cukes and beans, on the other hand, made me a little nervous. I had a recipe from Sandor Katz’s book, Wild Fermentation but I still couldn’t believe that you could get tart, tangy cukes without vinegar. Neither could Mark. He asked me several times, “Are you sure we shouldn’t use vinegar?”. I love tangy, vinegary pickles, but I was hell-bent on doing it the old fashioned way, mostly because I was interested in culturing the good bacteria that is so lacking in most foods today. (My doctor actually recommends that I eat a few tablespoons of kraut after every meal. I haven’t quite submitted to kraut at breakfast time, though.)

So I have a question for our studio audience. Has anyone tried to naturally ferment (without vinegar or heat) cucumbers and beans? We used the exact proportions specified by Katz on page 51 in his Sour Pickles recipe, using horseradish leaves which add tannins to keep the pickles crunchy. I wanted grape leaves which are Katz’s first pick for tannin-rich leaves but we couldn’t find them at the farmer’s market. We did, however, find horseradish leaves from the fig guy. So we used those instead.

So far the cukes and beans look great (with bright dill, horseradish and the spices lining the jar) but I guess I’m not a believer yet. If the pickles come out half as sour as my kraut usually is, I’ll be thrilled. The recipe says it takes 1-4 weeks so we’ll see what happens! Please chime in with your non-vinegar pickling experiences!

(Science and Health Note: Brine serves as a protection against the growth of putrefying microorganisms and favors the growth of desired strains of bacteria, Lactobacilli. Fermentation breaks nutrients down into more easily digestible forms. For example, Lactobacilli transform lactose, the milk sugar, into easier-to-digest lactic acid. These cultures also create new nutrients – B vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin. Lactobacilli create omega-3 fatty acids, essential for cell membrane and immune system function. Some ferments have been shown to function as antioxidants, scavenging cancer precursors -free radicals- from the cells of the body. The bottom line is this, people: Fermentation makes food more nutritious.)

Comments

[claire]

Carla, love this blog idea! I made dill pickles for the first time, but think we used the wrong kind of cucs? I let it sit on the counter for 3 days then in the fridge for a month. I think the herbs need adjustment too, I used the recipe from NT, dill and mustard seed. I think the brine from the pickles at Rainbow has garlic in it...... Would love to hear what kind of cucs and herbs work best!

[Carla]

Greetings, Claire! Thanks for the comments. I used these fantastic cukes from the little man two stalls down from Mariquita. They are super crunchy, small and have no seeds. I could live on these things, they're so good. I did use garlic. I hope this works because it would be a terrible waste of these beautiful cukes. I will keep you posted!

[Carla]

Ok, I have bad news to report. The sauerkraut is mushy. I am wondering if we over-pounded it or if there's something about red cabbage that doesn't take well to fermentation. The cabbage was crunchy going in even after the pounding so my thought is that it wasn't the pounding. Anyone ever tried a red-cabbage-only kraut?

the only other thing i can think of is that a long cool fermentation cycle is better than a warmer shorter one. For the first time, I left my crock in the kitchen and not on the porch. The porch is cooler. Mark, what were the conditions on the jar you kept at your house and how is your kraut doing?

[Andy]

I just want to say that I am now dying to know how Mark's kraut is doing. Mark?

[Bonnie]

I wonder if maybe our weather has something to do with this. When I make 1/2 green and 1/2 red kraut, it is always crunchy. I usually let it sit for about 4 weeks. This time though, I used even LESS red kraut than usual and let it sit for 6 weeks in my crock. (Just a regular crock) This time, its much softer than its ever been. Could be the longer fermentation, or maybe just warmer in general. I can't think of anything else I've done differently...BTW I use the course grind salt always - no problem.

Bonnie

[Anna]

well i'm not using a crock - just quart mason jars. but i just opened my first red cabbage kraut tonight and it was mushier than any of the green ones i've made before. it was still tasty and edible, just softer. so maybe that is a characteristic of red kraut.

is there anything to add to kraut to retain the crunchiness?
Anna

[Leo]

I will not be able to answer your question for six weeks or so, as I have just filled my 10L Harsch crock with about 23lbs of vibrant red cabbage. I can only hope and pray that your 'mushiness' story is an isolated one....this was my first attempt at sauerkraut, and it was no cakewalk! Serious learning curve, and everybody thinks I'm kookoo for making my own sauerkraut in the year 2006, to boot.

Did you use a Harsch crock? How long did you ferment? Did you use only salt, or did you add whey?

I used Celtic sea salt w/o whey. I went with the coarse grey variety. Anyone know if I blew it going w/ coarse Vs fine salt? I hope not,as my hands are purple from the cabbage, and a bit sore, too. I better get some kraut outta this...

[Leo]

Does anyone have any guidelines (from experience)with regard to 'kraut fermentation temperature...esp. in relation to using a Harsch crock. I can't seem to find a cool place in the house, so I have the crock at about 70 F. Don't want to put it in the garage or cellar for fear of ants?critters etc. The crock has a 'water seal' around the top that is exposed, and may attract unwanted 'visitors.' a)Will the sauerkraut get ruined if I keep it at 70 degrees for 6 weeks?
B)Any suggestions for critter free cool storage? Thanks! Leo

[Carla]

Leo,
This is a good question and i think the key to these problems. Especially after reading the comments above. Thanks everyone for contributing.

I did a quick search and found, of all things, the FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS. There's a document on their site called FERMENTED FRUTIS AND VEGETABLES. A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE...

Here's a clip:

5.5.1 Temperature

Different bacteria can tolerate different temperatures, which provides enormous scope for a range of fermentations. While most bacteria have a temperature optimum of between 20 to 30ºC, there are some (the thermophiles) which prefer higher temperatures (50 to 55ºC) and those with colder temperature optima (15 to 20ºC). Most lactic acid bacteria work best at temperatures of 18 to 22ºC. The Leuconostoc species which initiate fermentation have an optimum of 18 to 22ºC. Temperatures above 22ºC, favour the lactobacillus species.

Now it's interesting that they don't mention the salt concentration. It seems like salt concentration is a variable that needs to be accounted for. In any case, this is helpful information. If someone has the time to convert these Celsius temps to Fahrenheit, that would be great as I have to run out.

[Carla]

In my search, I also found http://www.sauerkrautrecipes.com. I didn't search around for answers to the temperature question but I thought the site might interest some of you.

[Carla]

OK, it's been exactly 2 weeks and my dilly beans and cukes are done! They're very good. Tart and crunchy. For maximum crunchiness, I probably could have put the cukes in the fridge a few days earlier. All in all, I'm pretty happy. If I do it again, I'd make the brine a bit less salty.

Time to have people over for bloody marys with a dilly bean topper!

[Pebbles]

2 kraut questions:

How can the Sally Fallon recipe, which calls for only 3 days at room temp, produce somethiing akin to traditional kraut, left out for weeks? If it really works, why would anyone use the more time -consumng, moldy and smelly traditional open-crock method?

Does anyone know a way or a technology to make kraut without the awful smell. I live in a tiny space, and the one batch i made, which took 4 weeks and came out fine, produced some god-awful emanations at times.

Pebbles, Berkeley CA

[Deb]

I hope this still of some use for you all:
Carla and Anna: For crunch maintenance add grape leaves (the old way) or alum to your dilled veggies.
Claire: Ukrainian pickles have dill and garlic plus crunch preservative (as above). Also, fresh cukes are essential.
Pebbles: Harsch Crocks produce only CO2: no smell, no slime.
Bonnie and Anna: I read somewhere that iodized salt makes for softer pickles; could that be it?

[Kathy]

Do the grape leaves have to be fresh?

That's a good question. I'm not sure, Kathy! Try checking Sandor Katz's site. You could submit a question if you can't find the answer in his book or on his site.