Testing Sauerkraut is it Bad or Safe to Eat?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- How to tell if my sauerkraut or fermented food is safe to eat or has gone bad? In this video, I explain my methods of smell and taste to test sauerkraut and I also show bottling of the ferment into jars.
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A chemical or acetone type smell is usually from a foreign microbe that is growing in it. Might be best to stick with using bags rather than having any organic material sticking up above the water like when using a cabbage leaf as a weight. The salt in the water usually keeps other nasties from growing but the whole batch can be contaminated if there is stuff poking up about the brine.
sunlight may play a roll in the flavor. i ferment in the dark.
Yes, that is exactly what happened.
I was going to say the same thing
I will be using regular cabbage in mine, and I can't wait to use it for the first time. It's so much easier when you can see someone use it and HOW to check it too. When you know nothing about making sauerkraut it sure helps to SEE how it's done, and how to test it too. Thank you! Bless, Sheila
Good luck with yours Sheila - it's really easy to do and I'm glad you're sticking with regular cabbage first off because it's the original and probably the best. Cheers :)
Self Sufficient Me Thank you, and I know your going to enjoy your sauerkraut, and from the look on your face when you tasted it, your going to enjoy every bite! LOL Sheila
That's interesting, Mark! I always ferment my sauerkraut in quart mason jars, with just a loose lid jar and ring! The only thing I do different than you is I salt, and brine mine in a large bowl, let it sit for an hour or so, and message until it is covered with its own juice. I then pack it into the jar, put a large cabbage leaf on top, put on the lid, and ring, loosely, and put it into the pantry while checking the lid tightness every day until it's ready. I don't have any idea what may have caused the weird problem that you had!
I should try your method of salting in a large bowl next time Keith - sounds like an easier way actually! Cheers :)
That's similar to kimchi making
18C or 65 F is about right to ferment. I didn't have a wine fridge to do it in, but I did have an AC monitor from Hunter that I put the sensor in the fridge and turned on the dorm fridge at 67 F.
One extremely important fact is. Do not ever use a metal utensil in it until you are going to eat it completely. By using one you are causing a chemical reaction in the mix between the metal and acid which is what vinegar is. Use a plastic wooden or a metal pair of tongs that have a silicone finish on the tips, but never put it deep enough to touch the metal potion in the mix. Love your site! You are the bomb at gardening. My daughter always says are you watching your boyfriend again?
It's just how she teases me. I told her you are on the other side of the world. We or in Phoenix AZ.
I made green cabbage sauerkraut in a 2 gal ceramic croc and after several days it didnt smell right. I had a large plastic bag with brine in it to weigh a plate that i used to keep the kraut under the liquid. I believe like Anita Thomas's comment that plastic bags may not be good for what ever reason and threw it out..what a waste of food but when in doubt... The point of tasting something that your not sure about is pretty bold! I couldnt even try tasting the kraut, you were gutsy.
Mark I think you need to fill the jars right up to the top to reduce spoilage in the jar. A fresh clean fork would have been preferable to the rinsed one as you don't need cross contamination. The bad fermentation may have become butyric like a bad silage fermentation. Moulds in silage also have a distinctly unpleasant smell, and the mycelium goes far beyond the obvious mould. I used to buy sauerkraut in air excluded polythene pouches.
Thanks Wendy! Well yes this was rather unpleasant although it didn't taste horrible it wasn't enjoyable... You gave me an idea - shrink wrapping the kraut in a pouch could work ok :)
I’ve been doing sauerkraut for the past 12 years and with all that experience under my belt, ..... I still throw away more than half of my batches .....I ferment using a German stile crock as well as glass jars with 4 types of airlock !!!!!! I believe sauerkraut at it’s best never taste great anyway, but yes sauerkraut can spoil easily much more than other vegetable like fermented cucumber for example, I don’t know exactly why, but pls do not hesitate to throw away any batch that doesn’t smell or taste right .....don’t feel bad about it, it’s a part of the wild fermentation process
Throwing away more than half with 12 years of experience?! Please elaborate because that is a terrifying statistic. How many batches are you doing in a year? Why are you throwing away the batches? Have you tested different ways of making your kraut to troubleshoot? What specific criteria are you using to determine a batch must be thrown out? Very interested in these answers.
ok Master
My first batch ever of kimchi was so successful. I am making sauerkraut. It's been 3 days and they form mold so i throw them out and added water+salt. N they kinda smell off. I opened it coz the water was so low. What should i do? Should i wait n see the next 2 weeks or just toss it out?
haven't tasted a red cabbage sauerkraut before. I wonder how it tastes. Must be delicious, more potent tasting.
I have same problem with my sauerkraut .The smell was like a paint thinner, I trow it all 10 kg to a garbage
btw I never used any plastic bag I used natural stone like you did it the other one
I would suggest before making your own sauerkraut do more studying on what happens through the process, so you understand fermentation in different jars and heat conditions to be safe,
its normal for that smell of egg as its going through fermenting stages , it goes through 3 processes , the smell diminishes slightly , the cabbage releases that smell , but as the other bacteria comes in to play the good macrobiotics come in,
By the sound of that crunch you have not left it to long for fermentation enough, smell alone is not enough to tell whether its bad,
Some people eat after PH dropped in about 5 days ,some eat after 20 days some eat a lot longer as it keeps fermenting,different microorganisms will be produced as time left longer.
PH tester is a great way to test for fermentation , Most bad bacteria cannot grow in acidic environment,
Black or red or pink mold then throw all away don`t risk it,
But white yeast mold wont hurt but remove any with paper towel, if you want remove it, ,and funny looking cabbage leaves remove if a lot darker than others,
Keep everything below the juice,
PH below 4.5 is good but for better bacteria 3.6 or below.
Keep clear glass jars out of direct sun light as UV can destroy good bacteria,
Do not use metal to store this in it corrodes and dangerous, do not use tap water if yours contains high chlorine or (chloramine can't spell that word)
Yours taste better in crock pot as sunlight as not destroying the growth of good bacteria,
Bags for weighting down are okay but can trap air and part of sauerkraut out of its juice and spoil,
If like you say taste , smell, look, and if not sure then throw , but read more upon the fermentation stages don`t let smell alone make your mind up, as it may off been going through the change,
I have the same problem with mine right now. My reaction using smell and taste is the same. My guess...and it's only a guess...is that I weighted the cabbage with a rock in a plastic bag, and even though the plastic is supposed to be "food safe" I suspect the smell and flavor, which I describe as "chemically", is coming from the plastic. I ate some and didn't get sick from it, but I couldn't get rid of that taste in my mouth for hours. Would like to hear what you and others think about this.
Should have shown a top-down look at the white mold straight on to look at
The mold is harmless and forms all the time when fermenting.
Very interesting! A friend tried fermenting carrots recently and had a similar result. We ate it all anyway and had no problems (what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right?) so very interesting you had a similar thing happen. This batch had quite a lot of salt in it, so perhaps too much salt can cause this artificial taste?
I have a feeling you're right about the over salting... just a hunch, but I can't specifically recall if I salted the glass jar more than the crock - it's quite likely I did though. Thanks :)
maybe its the sunlight/light? Its supposed to be placed in a dark location, is what ive heard.
Interesting. Thanks.
I wouldn't have believed it if didn't happen to me recently. Some gunky crap suddenly appeared on the surface, I removed it but it reached well below the surface, sliming the kraut (about 1 to 1.5 inches below the surface), after removing that it had a slightly off smell and taste. I ate it for a couple of days (because of all the work put into it and a lot of denial) but finally decided enough is enough and threw it out. The only thing I can think of to avoid such a catastrophe is to at least once a week stir the brine or flip the top inch of kraut, that way the airborne bad bacteria won't have an opportunity to get a foot hold. ... but that notion, that the rule is 'under the brine everything fine' is a myth. No. Bad bacteria can reach far deep into the brine.
I love fermented foods. Cheers!
Thank you! Yes so do I :) Cheers mate
Awesome and thank you for sharing have a blessed day
Thank you very much Linda and you have a blessed day too! :)
Mine doesnt smell bad and the taste is not to bad but it is slimy!!The same with the apple cider vinegar they are both slimy is it normal?
Does the top layer of cabbage sometimes appear darker?
I am definitely no expert but when i was brewing beer sometimes you would get a beer that smelled metallic. There didn't seem to be any reason for it . All you could do was sterilize really well and start again.
Yes Tony metallic was the smell!!! That's what I was trying to explain with the "paint thinners" remark. Well, that's very interesting... thanks mate :)
Awesome job and info , thanks for sharing
Thank you! :)
Lol, I salivated, just before you said it, about the crock method. I do crock. Thanks for mentioning to refrigerate and how long! Many people miss that important info. Blessings 🙏
Sniff and taste. The perfect tests for ferments mate.
Well you'd know Andy that's for sure! Cheers :)
I'm gonna get me one of those crocks. Appreciate this upload.
I love this crock yes go for it! Thanks :)
thanks for the share, rather safe than sorry. Take care
Thanks, yes better safe than sorry! Cheers :)
My first sauerkraut from cabbage smells a bit bad, but tastes good. Should I throw it away?
I'm wondering if that plastic bag, even though food safe, had leached into the saurkraut. The color differences are probably due to sun exposure.
well i have made sauerkraut from green it turned out brown and when i oppened jar it exploded with liquid and turned colour to pale brown , taste like wine , should i throw it away ?
I eat the kahm yeast 😋
Was your juice thick? In the batch I'm not shure about (my 3rd batch only) it is, in my successful batch it wasn't.
Once the fermentation is done, can I just leave it in the crock and store it in the fridge while eating from it daily?
+Akuma yes you can no problem with that at all if you don't need the crock to make something else it can be stored in the fridge :)
+Self Sufficient Me You're the best man, thanks.
I had a sauerkraut go bad and it smelled like diarrhea.
this is my first time fermenting. I underestimated the amount of cabbage needed to fill the jar and its less than half full. Is this a problem?
very interesting, but i have to ask, where does the lactobaccilus come from to begin with? from the cabage itself, and further grown in the container?
Marcus Mckenzie yes it is found on the plant. The salt brine encourages the good, and keeps the ph wrong for the unwanted bacteria.
Ahhh TYVM Rich Lau, i had thought that might have been the case but wanted to confirm :) Much appreciated!
I tired making sauerkraut and it smells and tastes very salty. Did I do it right?
You may have either used too much salt or not left it to ferment long enough to eat the salt. Making sauerkraut can be trial and error to get it how you like it... don't give up. :)
Mark have you ever processed your sauerkraut
If you had it sitting in that clear glass jar there in the bright kitchen, then you probably don't know what you are doing. It is best to always cover clear containers! Some bacteria can tolerate the light better than others. The reason they taste different is because the bacteria that does not like light did not grow like it did in the dark crock, so of course they are going to taste different. There are several different varieties of Bacteria in Sauerkraut and anytime something throws off one of more of them, the Kraut will taste and even small differently.
Hii :) my cabbage has been sitting for 4 days. Now it has slime or mucus slippery kinda thing not just juice. :/ it has never been like that before but i also put more salt previously. It does not discolouration and really rotten smell, but this slime confuses me allot. Do you think it is still ok. Also since it has been under pressure and under the juice of it, i did not expect it gone with mucus
Did you toss it??
Purple kraut smells and tastes different, that was probably fine.
Ok, thanks for your input! :)
Good to know! Thanks! I wasn't super thrilled with my purple batch. It just seemed kind of off. Like a very very slight spoiled smell, but I knew it isn't. Still very edible. I kept eating more. Lol
Could the bad taste or bacteria had maybe come from the plastic bag sitting on top?
It's not too bad? What does that mean? Is it good or bad?
Howard Johnson You just have to learn through experience.. When it happens, you'll understand 'Exactly' what he's talking about..
Definitely think it was the plastic bag that altered the taste - why did you use plastic? You can use a stone (boiled) or a glass jar lid or something. No, not plastic!
IMHO, there's nothing wrong with plastic, as long as it's food grade, if that's all you have on hand. I've been fermenting for a number of years and I've often used Ziploc bags filled with brine to weigh down contents of the jar. I have not had any issues with plastic bags to-date. I did have one batch of sauerkraut go off when I used an old plate once, though. Yes, it was cleaned before use, but I suspect that there may have been "nasties" lurking in the cracks of the plate's finish, or it just didn't do an adequate job of keeping everything submerged
So, if your nose is all F@#@K up from stupid surgery and can't smell jack; go with taste?
Yes taste is ok - just a little on the tongue and you will soon taste if it is bad or good. Plus texture, it should never be slimy... good fermented vegetables will be crisp and watery but not slimy. :)
WAY WAY TOOOOOOOO LONG PAL
I bought some glass weights for the jars. They were pretty cheap but I think keeping everything submerged is key. I'd bet anything that the leaf on top caused the problem. You can always find a nice rock and boil it a long time and use that too.
Good on ya mate! I've gone through several iterations of a sauerkraut fermenter and have finally settled upon the perfect one. I now use a glass jar with a lid. In the glass lid, I have drilled a hole where I have installed a rubber bung with a small, very low pressure check valve. The lid is sealed to the jar with a homemade silicon o-ring. The lid is held tight against the o-ring with the use of a dual spring/wooden yoke apparatus. This system keeps out oxygen and keeps CO2 in. I get no mold whatsoever. I normally ferment my sauerkraut for 4 weeks, and when I take it out, it looks like the day I put it in, except it smells great and is fermented. I'm gonna have to make a video of it and upload.
have you done the video?
Will a wine kit do?
Temperature is very important in lacto-fermentation. Around 18c is pretty ideal. The warmer it gets the faster the fermentation. I had a batch in stoneware crock that was too warm with too much temperature fluctuation that was quite off. Sunlight on the glass jar could also play a part in the problem, as could contamination from the plastic bag? We use glass weights in our mason jar batches. We also start by mixing in a large tub. 3tbspsalt/5lbs cabbage. It will start to make it’s own brine even before punching it down in the crock. We make our red with caraway. Our favourite green kraut is with dill. Recently we’ve made a couple of small batches with curry and garam masala. It disappeared pretty quick! Lol. Really like your small crock and absolutely love that stove😲❤️. Loving your channel Mark!
I think I ruined my first batch with warmer temperature. Will try again soon.
QUESTION: If my sauerkraut passes the smell and taste tests, can I be confident that I’m getting the right kind of bacteria for my micro biome?
LOL that's the first thing I said when I was watching the video was where did he get that awesome stove and then I see your comment
The batch may have been ruined by the cabbage leaf you mentioned which got a bit of mold on it. I always try to make sure that everything is completely submerged.
Hi Mark. I just watched this and I suggest that the main difference between them was the plastic bag as the chemicals can leak from the plastics.
I was going to say ones in the dark, and ones in the day light. I don't overly worry about plastic, not much different than having a glass of coke that's been sitting in a plastic bottle for 4 5 6 months. Thats jmo, wonder if light has any bearing on mold 🤷.
I made some red cabbage sauerkraut which had a similar smell and taste to yours Mark slightly unnatural. I removed the top layer of kraut and put the jar in the fridge and have just tasted it 2-3 weeks later and it is just delicious. Hopefully if it tastes good it is good! By the way I really enjoy your videos. I live in the southwest of WA so maybe some of your successes in the garden will be harder to achieve in my garden, but your videos inspire my to ‘have a go’. Thank you.
Your reactions after tasting crock kraut, seems to show you got it RIGHT! Appears to be crunchy, juicy, and sauer...
Always a delight to see you at work, Mark!! The thickness of the stoneware keeps the fermentation stable, ceding depth of flavour. My grandmother in East Prussia had an amazing larder! She sterilized the Sauerkraut bottles, and after filling them canned them, and I think rarely had any spoilage.
I've looked at the work of the German physician Dr Eichholtz on Sauerkraut; translated he writes the following: _The cabbage was cut, planed or finely crushed with the addition of salt, juniper berries, caraway, dill, vine leaves or the like and placed in wooden barrels, which according to reports from the 13th century were present in the cellar of every household._
The only thing wrong with canning them is it destroys all the good bacteria. Other than that your granny sounds like an expert!!
Mine was smelling wonderful, then the plastic bag somehow broke or dissolved, flooding it with water. I tried adding salt to replicate a brine, but it never quite smelled right again. I won't use a plastic bag next time.
I appreciated your description of "just not quite right"
because that's all I had to go on, and dumped mine too.
A Kraut says hi to great looking Sauerkraut!
How did you geht to holes in the glass jars? Did you know: You do not
need a hole in these type of jars (Flip-Top-Jars). Just close the lid -
because of the pressure and the rubber there will no oxygen come into
the glas. And the pressure from inside can go easily outside by lifting
the lid itself - I tried it and it worked well.
I did not understand why you put the Sauerkraut out of the barrel (which is perfekt to keep your sauerkraut fresh and good for a lot of months) and into glas jars.
Is there a video from you how you made the Sauerkraut?
Best regards, FLorian, the self sufficient Kraut from Bavaria :)
Hey Florian! The Weck jars (with the glass lids) do manufacture the fermenting lids with the hole specifically for the airlock I purchased mine online.
Yes I understand you do not need a hole for this type of jar because the rubber allows the buildup of pressure to escape but it's less messy to use the airlock in my humble opinion anyway.
The reason I moved the sauerkraut out of the barrel was to store it in our fridge easier in jars than the big crock because we live in a subtropical climate it gets too hot and the kraut will keep on fermenting otherwise. Also, I'm giving some to family and friends, plus, I need to use the fermenting crock soon again for my dill pickles!
Yes the video of making the kraut is here: th-cam.com/video/XxMm0iyX158/w-d-xo.html
All the best and thank you! :)
Hi Mark, you are right - it's a bit messy when the pressure from within the glas squeeses some of the sauerkraut juce outside. I'm working a lot with Weck-glases but I haven't seen the lids with the hole in it here in Germeny before (where the Weck-glases originally come from). Do you have a link to a shop in Australia (I assume this is where you are living?)?
Thanks a lot for your feedback! Your'e doing a great job!
Florian
***** Yes Florian, I got mine here goo.gl/uWkEpD to save money you could drill your own holes in an existing lid (if you were careful) then just buy the grommet - I haven't tried this yet but I'm thinking I might... Cheers :)
thank you for your help! I had a look for those lids with a hole in it here in Germany but coud not find them - so I will try to drill a hole in it by myself...I'll let you know how it works :)
All the best,
Florian
The lids and other pieces are available on-line like ebay.
there is one type of bacteria predominant in week one and a different type in week two....so....you may have inoculated your jar at the start with week two bacteria. This would prevent week one bacteria from ever predominating and so the sequence of bacteria is ruined. Best to sterilize any container that previously held kraut and would contain week two bacteria predominating/// The week one bacteria comes in on the cabbage leaves naturally.
I don't know if you mentioned it at the beginning of the video...how long did you let it ferment...I do two weeks then taste it and it's usually great....maybe the red didn't go long enough.
Love your videos. I have fond memories of sneaking into my German grandmother's root cellar to sneak handfuls of her sauerkraut. I also love pickling the patty-pan squash (that I saw on your counter) when they are tiny and pickling those. Super yummy!!!
ever have to worry when trying it? like would botulism be a concern?
Oh sheesh. I am just getting started fermenting and boy am I learning. I've done carrots, onions with carrots, cabbage, broccoli, celery. I instinctively knew the smell of "bad or off kraut" and good or fresh smelling kraut for example. I've had to discard just two jars of kraut until I discovered just this evening that Pickering salt has nitrites in it! Ugh. Well into the compost it all goes. I've managed to find sea salt finally and looking forward to starting again.
Damn, I didn't know that! I have stockpiled some pickling salt and am sorry to hear this :(
It is probly the metel lid on the jar... I found out the hard way myself... use a plastic lid with your air lock an it should fix the problem.
Agreed. Metal around ferments is bad. So is sunlight.
I'm curious if light exposure would play any role in the ferment.
Yes it's possible, but from my experimenting I haven't seen light exposure (or lack of it) make much difference. I've made good sauerkraut and other ferments in the same container before under the exact same conditions. I can't rule it out though... thanks :)
You made the second one with an airlock so the fermentation process is creating alcohol rather than vinegar... cabbage alcohol probably isn’t a very nice drink.
If you leave it open to the air the alcohol should convert to vinegar and it will come back to what you expect
once you can see the mold, it has gone all through, the red flag
Maybe it was the plastic bag that gave it it an off flavor?
Sometimes plastic can leach some of their components in thing like salty and acid things
just a guess..don't really like storing thing long term in plastic
Anita Thomas That was my guess. Also maybe the light had something to do with it. The crock kept the light out, the jar obviously would not.
Yes, I agree because he said it had an artificial taste to it....
Anita Thomas. Thank you. I've made Kimchi a dozen times with no problems. This week I tried sauerkraut for the first time. The smell was off. I had used a plastic bag on top filled with salted water to keep the cabbage below the water level in the tall jar since I had more jar than cabbage. My wife says the kraut smells disgusting and said who would eat this stuff. I have to agree. Does not smell good. Is only the fourth day in and it stinks. So my guess the plastic baggy caused problems. Thanks for pointing that out. Won't be doing that again :(
Sounds like you had a yeast / alcohol fermentation competing with the lactobacillus / lactic acid fermentation - opening the jar to remove the cabbage leaf added a bit of surface oxygen and brewed yourself some red cabbage "vodka" as you described the taste! Assuming it's just got that musty and alcoholic smell then it's perfectly fine to eat after scraping off the yeast head, just more alcoholic and fizzy with a different taste.
Now that we're going on to 4 years later, what are your thoughts on this and have you made any changes in your process? Many thanks. I've never tried this, have only tried making curtido Salvadoran style following Simply Mamá Cooks on TH-cam, but that isn't fermented.
Thanks for taking time to experiment with different methods to get the right flavours...👍☺
If you don't have enough brine left over to fill all the jars to the top then make up some more. 1 Tablespoon per quart of water. Then you can store them out of the fridge with no problem.
Hi Deb, thank you for the tip on using extra brine! Cheers :)
Summer of '22 I opened a jar of chopped fermented cabbage leaves that had been in my fridge for more than 7 years. The Bulgarian who made the sour cabbage, using her parents' recipe, was on hand to taste it. She said "Flavor wise, it's still nice. The texture? It's gotten softer than I like." I happily ate it all.
I'd never thought of using a water filled plastic bag for a weight. Brilliant!
I, too, have had a similar result . Never did figure it out. Another common problem that I do know the cause of is called over-ripe. That's where the fresh sauerkraut is already soft, like it has been cooked, and not crisp and crunchy. It's caused by letting the kraut ferment at too warm a temperature, for too many days. Nothing wrong with it, but if you're expecting that crunch, it can be disappointing. I disagree with filling the jars all the way up, you need to have a little headspace to allow for expansion. Keeping the brine about an inch above the cabbage seems to keep the kraut safest. If you don't have enough brine, boil water, add salt, let cool, then top off the jar. Proper brine depth prevents a lot of problems. Thanks Mark! ...and I have loved your chicken feeder....although I added the center tube like UK Here We Grow....best feeder ever!
Thanks for all your tips William. I'm surprised I haven't experienced a batch of over-ripe kraut yet but since I live in the subtropics it's bound to happen to me someday... I'm glad you liked the chicken feeder and yes the centre tube modification by UK Here We Grow is a rippa idea! Cheers :)
I've made a few batches with no problems but this latest one just isn't fermenting. It bubbled for a couple of days then seemed to just die. There's no visible mold or anything else... just red cabbage. I opened her up for a taste and it's like a cross between very mild Sauerkraut and regular red cabbage. Maybe it just needs more time but it's been weeks without any change. Is it possible there just wasn't enough lacto on the vegetable to start the fermentation?
😂do you worty about botulism from the one bite lol? I should not say lol because I had botulism at 3 from mayonnaise at a hamburger stand. I remember how very sick my father and i were. Now, I am scared about most canned and jarred foods. Smell and look first.
Is store-bought sauerkraut from a factory basically the same?
Like, probiotics etc
There's so much conflict between whether cabbage and saurekraut are good for you or bad for you if you have IBS or anything similar.
If you are fermenting it on the window ledge I would suspect that will be your problem . Ferments should always be kept in a shaded or dark area with a stable temp
any sunlight including indirect light can cause problems , this is the main reason for using a crock to keep light from the ferment
I sort of re-inoculated mine with the stronger culture. Drained off the liquid from the batch I didn't like, took some liquid off the batch that was perfect and used that to top it off. After a week of letting the bacteria settle into their new home both containers smelled and tasted delicious.
I always finely slice the cabbage and massage 2% of weight in salt into the cabbage so it is all covered in salty brine, for 10 minutes or so (1 kilo of cabbage needs 20g of salt or 1 slightly heaped tablespoon....it never seems enough salt but the longer you massage the cabbage the more brine you produce).....no need to add water as cabbage is high in water content anyway (80 to 90%?)....pack it tightly into jars and ram it down with a wooden meat-tenderiser to remove air pockets (1 kilo of cabbage should fit into a litre jar) and I use a heavy shot-glass, slightly smaller than the mouth of the jar to keep floating pieces beneath the surface, add a touch of water inside the shot glass if necessary to stop the glass floating. I leave the lid off the jar for the first few days until I see bubbles being produced, drape a tea-towel over everything to deter fruit-flies.
Watching your vid, my guess is the plastic bag has contaminated the batch, or the mouldy top piece that was above the liquid layer or the salt-brine mixture has not penetrated evenly the shredded cabbage ......good vid.
I definitely want to get me one of those crock-pots! Thanks for sharing your adventures with it ;)
My kraut smells like farts.
Since I am highly allergic to molds, I would never have tasted your one kraut.
I prefer kraut made in only brine.
I tried plastic (freezer bags don’t have BPA) the 2nd time....my 1st time was awesome.....I truly feel the plastic altered the process, created slime and flavor was off
Your enzymes died as you said, the Koreans add chill is and more vinegar and bury the entire crockery in the garden for six months, it'll mellow with age.
I'm pretty new but I've made at least 5 batches and read that if you leave some of the brine from previous batch it can accelerate the fermentation process from 2 weeks to between 3-7 days.. did it with my last bath but due to the start of autumn I left the pot outside to get some more heat.. in only 4 days it was well past the first few attempts in fermentation and almost over done.. Had a slight alcohol smell and some white bubbly patches on top. I scooped them off and underneath was fine so the "mother" type of fermentation does make it all work faster but next time I'll limit my outside time so as to not over do it again. Also a small amount of sugar helps accelerate the fermentation too... I'm only saying this because I can't seem to make it as fast as I eat it so if you're like me and can't wait two weeks the faster way does work if you can spare that small amount of brine that boosts the initial fermentation.
Your crock is better than glass at controlling bacteria.Also light going through clear glass that is not sterilized is kinda risky.Sugar would make it worse also.I love your channel.Thank you for sharing your journey!👍🏻
Sunlight definitely effects the ferment. Please redo this entire video with the glass jars not only covered by a cloth, but a 100% darkening cloth. Almost like rubber on one side.
The sunlight in the glass jar would probably be the reason why that kraut was lighter in color, sunlight can break down antioxidants in the purple color, but it wouldn't be the reason why a bad type of bacteria or mold ruined the flavor.
we make kraut often and we tried making some purple cabbage into kraut, and it didn't taste good either so maybe there is more to it than just the color, the regular kraut is good, we try not to cook it so we make small batches so we can keep it in the fridg, so as not to kill the good bacteria in it.
Yes maybe, thanks for your thoughts... but, the other batch does taste very good - just as good as the regular kraut we make for standard cabbages so I think the bad batch is something else. Cheers :)
Red cabbage saurkraut always smells terrible ugh
Is it safe to save the brine from a previous processing and use on a present processing?
Generally yes Barry, in fact, the old brine can help speed up fermentation by transferring some of the lactobacilli to the new ferment. Just be aware though that the old brine is somewhat transformed from salt water to a fermenting mix and some of the original salt will have been consumed by the bacteria. Therefore, adding some old brine to a new batch of brine in order to speed up the growth of good bacteria is the reason people do it and it's not necessarily done as a frugal measure. Cheers :)
Thank you for this video. I just made some and I’m worried it’s gonna make me sick because some of it floated up above the water for about a day or two.
I lost my sense of smell for 21 days because now because of covid so I can’t smell. Gonna have to get some crushed garlic handy for any possible nausea when I do my taste test....
Try not using the plastic bag on top. Use something more natural for a weight.😝
sitting in the light will change the taste a dark place or cover it with a dark cloth.
great video and editing. Connie western Montana, USA
Make sure when it is fermenting keep it in a cool dark place it does not work well if it is left to ferment in the sun
some good bacteria die in sun light
Yes that's true - perhaps it did have something to do with the batch going off... Thanks :)