Dissolve salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers. Add suitable cover and weight. Fermenting pickles cure slowly. Check the container several times a week and promptly remove surface scum or mold. Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the original container for about four to six months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly. Canning fully fermented pickles is a better way to store them.
Pour the brine into a pan, heat slowly to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes. Filter brine through paper coffee filters to reduce cloudiness, if desired. The following method may be used to process fermented pickles. Then add hot water to a level 1 inch above jars.
Prepared by Martha Zepp, extension project assistant; Andy Hirneisen, senior food safety educator; and Luke LaBorde, professor of food science. Let's Stay Connected. By entering your email, you consent to receive communications from Penn State Extension. View our privacy policy. Thank you for your submission!
Let's Preserve: Fermentation - Sauerkraut and Pickles. Fact sheet in the Let's Preserve series detailing how to safely can and preserve sauerkraut and fermented pickles.
Photo credit: Steve Williams, Penn State. Fermentation Fermenting is the process in which beneficial bacteria break down food components under controlled, anaerobic conditions to produce acids. Containers for Fermenting Stone crocks are the traditional fermentation container; however, other containers, such as glass or food-grade plastic containers, may be used. Covering To avoid surface mold growth, keep the cabbage or pickles submerged at all times. Quantity A pound bag of fresh cabbage makes 16 to 20 quarts of sauerkraut.
Quality To make good sauerkraut, use disease-free, firm, sweet, mature heads of cabbage from mid- and late season crops. Preparation Work with about 5 pounds of fresh cabbage at a time. Filling and Packing the Container Place 5 pounds of shredded cabbage in the fermentation container and thoroughly mix in 3 tablespoons of canning or pickling salt.
To Make a Hot Pack Bring sauerkraut and liquid slowly to a boil in a large kettle, stirring frequently. After Processing After processing is complete, remove the canner from the heat and remove the canner lid. Photo Credit: Bigstock Table 1. Style of pack Jar size Process time in minutes at altitudes of , ft Process time in minutes at altitudes of 1,, ft Process time in minutes at altitudes of 3,, ft Process time in minutes at altitudes of Above 6, ft Hot Pints 10 15 15 20 Quarts 15 20 20 25 Raw Pints 20 25 30 35 Quarts 25 30 35 40 Small-Batch Fermentation Sauerkraut may be fermented in small batches in quart or half-gallon jars.
Procedure Five pounds of cabbage makes about two 1-quart jars or one half-gallon jar. Quantity An average of 4 pounds of 4-inch pickling cucumbers fills a 1-gallon container. Quality Cucumbers should be fresh, firm, and free of rot or disease. Preparation Select 4-inch cucumbers for fermenting. Style of pack Jar size Process time in minutes at altitudes of 0—1, ft Process time in minutes at altitudes of 1,—6, ft Process time in minutes at altitudes of Above 6, ft Pack Pints 10 15 20 Raw Quarts 15 20 25 Procedure Wash cucumbers.
Storage Fully fermented pickles may be stored in the original container for about four to six months, provided they are refrigerated and surface scum and molds are removed regularly. Low-Temperature Pasteurization The following method may be used to process fermented pickles.
Martha Zepp. Your job is to provide the right home for them. The hardest part? Waiting seven days to first taste the transformation from salty cabbage to the tangy crunch of sauerkraut.
Grab what you have and get marking. I note the flavor of sauerkraut I made and the date I started fermenting it. Some keep this in a separate notebook. Some just add more tape to the jar with extra notes. Imagine entering your kitchen. It is one day into the fermentation process. You see brine oozing across your counter and dripping onto the floor…. The first set of Mighty Microbes to go to work for you are the gas-producing Leuconostoc Mesenteroides.
These bacteria do most of their work during the first days, producing acids, alcohols and…. Fermenting within this temperature range allows the three bacteria strains necessary for fermentation to ferment your cabbage in the proper sequence. For example, the L. Where your ambient room temperate is within this range will determine the rate at which fermentation happens. The lower the temperature, the slower the fermentation. The higher the temperature, the faster the fermentation unfolds.
Nothing to get overly concerned about, but helpful to know if your fermentation is not progressing as expected. The temperature you are fermenting at will help you decide how long to ferment. Some even use a min-max thermometer. It keeps track of what the highest and lowest temperature has been until you reset it.
Quite handy. Though not ideal, many do successfully ferment in hot weather. I like to be able to keep an eye on my ferments. There is so much to watch and learn from which is why fermenting in a glass jar is so practical.
I keep all my ferments in my kitchen on the counter and out of direct sunlight, but still illuminated by indirect light. The high levels of ultraviolet radiation in direct sunlight can destroy or inhibit the bacteria that will be working for us and can also diminish nutrients in the food that is being fermented. So, find a spot out of direct sunlight. If you are concerned about any light destroying the bacteria, feel free to cover your jar with a towel.
Some like to keep their ferments in kitchen cupboards. This allows time for each of the three successive colonizations of hard-working bacteria involved in fermentation to perform their magic.
If your climate is exceptionally warm, the bacteria will progress through these stages much more rapidly and you may find 10 days to be plenty; taste at about Day 5. If your house is extra cool, it may take weeks for your sauerkraut to fully develop; taste around Day Ideally, you are not opening your jar numerous times and disturbing the friendly, hard-working bacteria.
I further discuss adjusting the length of fermentation to your home environment and your taste buds below. The fermentation of sauerkraut is an anaerobic process. This means your mixture of sauerkraut needs to remain below the brine by using a fermentation weight of some sort. Even if you are using a lid with some type of airlock , your fermenting sauerkraut mixture still needs to be below the brine. Most books and articles on fermentation — including myself — are quick to have you mix up additional brine and pour this into your jar of packed sauerkraut if there is not enough brine to cover it.
A year or so ago, I found in my favorite fermentation book, Fermented Vegetables — reviewed here , that authors Kirsten and Christopher Shockey recommend against adding brine claiming doing so results in discoloration and mushy sauerkraut. NOTE: Tips 15 and 16 suggest adding brine during fermentation as a last resort. And, in Tip 17, I suggest adding fermented brine before storing your sauerkraut.
The jury is not out yet, but I just started eating one of the jars I did that to last winter. I was not all happy with the results: mushy texture, watered-down flavors. Not what I was expecting.
Game changer! Once your jar of sauerkraut is safely packed and sitting in the right spot, your work is nearly done. Prepare yourself now for a long watch-and-wait period while our wonderful world of microscopic friends goes to work for you. You may be a bit nervous just leaving that jar alone on its own. It will not putrefy and turn to poison. Your jar should be sitting in a small dish to catch the brine that typically overflows in the first few days.
Check your dish daily during the first week. Empty and toss brine as need be. Ideally, you do not want to lose this precious brine. It helps to keep your ferment anaerobic and provides moisture in your jar of finished sauerkraut. Brine overflow is caused by:. If you are using an airlock, brine can flow up into the chambers. If this happens, wait until the bacteria at the early stages has finished creating the high levels of CO2 that cause the brine to move up — around Day 5 — then pop off the airlock, wash well and replace.
If, however, small bits have somehow found their way into the airlock and it looks clogged, go ahead and take care of that right away. If you are using a lid with some type of airlock, gases will escape as need be without any intervention by you. As stated before, other factors also affect the rate of fermentation. Also, a too high fermentation temperature can change the texture from crispy to mushy and limp. In summer months or warmer climates, fermenting for too long can lead to an unpleasant, acrid, and vinegary taste.
You may have to rinse the kraut under running water before consuming it to reduce the acidic, sour taste. Ideally, allow the fermentation to take place in the crock for about weeks. During this period, do not disturb the crock or open or move it. Your cabbage will be ready for consumption in about 2 weeks. You can taste your cabbage and if necessary, leave the crock out for a few more days.
Watch out for the formation of mold during this period. The kraut should not turn pink, green, or grayish-black. If this occurs, discard the kraut right away.
There, I have given a detailed recipe for making sauerkraut in crocks along with the best crocks to buy. Crocks have many benefits in that; they come with fermentation weights that help you press down the kraut deep into the brine. Crocks also come with a water channel or a moat that, when filled with water, seals the ferment from dust, flies, and microbes and also keeps out air from entering into the crock.
The channel also releases built-up gases that form during fermentation, and this helps prevent undesirable molds from forming on top. Most vegetables like cucumbers, beans, and beets are ready within weeks.
You can taste the vegetables to check the texture and flavor. If they are not sour or tart enough to your liking, you can keep them for a few more days before transferring them to the refrigerator. In summer months, do not ferment too long. If you leave your kimchi , sauerkraut, or other ferments outside for too long when the ambient temperature is very warm, then you might nearly gag from the vinegar overload.
But even if that occurs, all is not lost. You can save the batch by washing it with plain water to remove the excess sour brine. The remaining kraut can then be salvaged by adding to stews, soups, broths, and other sauerkraut recipes. Check out some delicious ways to use sauerkraut. How long to ferment sauerkraut is a question many people ask when they are new to fermenting foods.
The fact is: there is no definite answer. Some people love their kraut the very next day! Fully fermented kraut may be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for several months or it may be canned as follows:. Reviewed March How do I? Table 1.
Recommended process time for Sauerkraut in a boiling-water canner.
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