When, after this post, it is silent for a very long time, then you know it all went wrong.
Remember I started making my own sauerkraut (Out of the Blue)? Well, that first attempt wasn’t really successful. Not having the right equipment, and not treating the white cabbage the right way, I ended up with a jar of very dry, cut cabbage. So I decided to buy a fermentation crock.
This time I cut the cabbage as thin as possible, and mistreated it the right way.
One of the ingredients for home-made sauerkraut is patience. The crock has to be in a warm place for about four or five days, and after that, it wants to be in a cool place for two to eight weeks. And one is not supposed to lift the lid and have a look, because that might attract the wrong kind of bacteria.
I placed the crock in the well deck, and every time I had a smoke it was tempting me.
Yesterday I finally gave in. It had been fermenting for three weeks. That is, apparently, the minimum time, so I should either have a crock full of unwanted bacteria, or full of sauerkraut in it’s early state.
Yes, I had sauerkraut!!!
First Home Made Sauerkraut
It tasted ‘young’, so to speak. Like a young wine. But it certainly was sauerkraut. So I took out 300 gram of it, and put the crock back in the well deck. The sauerkraut I took out, went in the fridge. And I tried to stay away from the fridge; I could have eaten it all…
No, don’t worry, I behaved, so today we’re having our favorite sauerkraut dish: a barley-sauerkraut gratin.
But, although the amount of salt one uses should keep the unwanted bacteria away, in case they are present, I won’t be able to see them.
So, if this is the last post on the blog, then you know: we’ve died of botulism.