A word in favour of fermented food and sauerkraut recipe.

 Wow, it's been 3 years since I added to the food blog. I microblog a lot of my recipes as @omotforest on twitter so it's time I added something important.

You know that thing "what would you tell your 18 year old self?" well for me one thing would be "eat more fermented food." It's great for your gut health. Pretty well everything we eat is pasturised, sanitised and otherwise purified. And sometimes our gut bacteria need a refresh. Especially if you have been taking antibiotics. Last year I had 3 weeks on Doxycycline and I felt like shit even after stopping taking them. I put some of that down to my gut flora having been destroyed. 

So how do you maintain a decent flora? Top up with loads of lactobaccillus. I drink at least a glass of home made live chefir (or Kefir) every day. I like mine very fermented (minimum 7 days) and I try to have one fermented vegetable product (soured - not picked) gherkins or unpasteurized sauerkraut each week. It's difficult to find live saurkraut in the UK (in The Netherlands it is zurrkool uit 't vat on the market.) In Romanis some supermarkets have a pickle barrel with salted (not vinegared) vegetables (muraturi). I especially like the whole green tomatoes like  

Because everything here is pretty sell sterile I've stared making my own today I'll do sauerkraut (varza acra, zuurkoool etc) I'm sure there are many other variations.

What you need:

• Cabbage. White or red it doesn't matter but it should should be a hard cabbage.
• Salt (rock salt or sea salt. Table salt has additives to help it flow you want close to 100% NaCl.
• Optional spices (caraway, mustard seed, coriander seed, peppercorns)
• A big bowl (I use a large ceramic mixing bowl for the fermentation and a plastic washing up bowl for mizing the salt.

What you need to do:

• Wash all your utensils and containers. We want the lactobaccilli in the cabbage to multiply, that also gives the ideal conditions (except the salinity) for other nasty bacteria to multiply.

• Get rid of any discouloured outside leaves. Try and keep as much as you can because the bloom on the outside are the organisms that will start your fermentation. This is clearely visible on a good red cabbage.)
• Slice thinly, a mandoline is useful but I get more pleasure using a very sharp knife. Use a big knife at least 1.5 time the thing you are cutting. For me that's a 12" blade Pacific Professional kitchen knife, this knife's big brother, freshly sharpened. I teach knife skills and it is surprising how many people have to be shown how to slice or pare. Clue: It's not a straight push.
• Take your time. Make it a moving meditation.
• Put the cabbage in the big bowl with 2 tablespoons of salt. I add a 50cc of water to help the mix if I'm using very coarse rock salt. This salt quantity is based on about a kilo of cabbage.
• Add any spices you like. I like mustard seed and coriander seed (about a heaped tablespoon of each) 
• For red cabbage I add a small amount of vinegar, no more than a dessertspoon (cider for preference) it improves the colour.
• Get your hands in it. Tumble the cabbage in the salt squeezing and turning it over.
• Keep going, after some minutes the cabbage will soften and collapse. You should be able to get it down to about half its original volume and a there will be a pool of liquid. 
• Transfer everything to the fermenting vessel. For me this is a big ceramic mixing bowl.
• Put a plate on top and weight it down. I use a second large bowl full of water.
• Cover with a towel. It's pretty important that the cabbage can breath as we are looking for an aerobic fermentation.
• Leave it at room temperature for at least 5 days. Every time you think about it give it an extra press down. I use a potato masher. After a couple of days the liquid should be covering the cabbage. If it isn't at the end of 5 days add a little light brine (1 tablespoon salt to 500cc water)
• It may bubble. That's good. Wait until it stops.
• Bottle it up. Pack it in jars. Don't put tight lids on. I use kilner jars with no seal or other glass jars with doubled over cotton cloth tied on. It needs to breath. It's alive.
• I like to keep min 4 months before eating it. Some recipes say it is ready in 3 days and then has to be refrigerated and it only keeps a month. Bollocks.
• . 

Some things might scare you:

• It might develop a white bloom - if it doesn't smell rotten it's fine.
• It might bubble - if it doesn't smell rotten it's fine.
• White cabbage discolours a little to a light straw colour - if it doesn't smell rotten it's fine.
• If it smells rotten it's not fine.

How to serve it:

• Basically on the side of anything.
• I like mine just with a bit of smoked sausage (knackwurst, bockwurst or one of the polish smoked sausages.
• You can fry some onions until soft and add the cabbage to warm it. I prefer nbt to over cook it or you have killed the lactobaccillus you are after.