On 4/1/2010 9:35 AM, zxcvbob wrote:
> Wilson wrote:
>> sometime in the recent past George Shirley posted this:
>>> On 3/28/2010 11:38 AM, ellen wickberg wrote:
>>>> George Shirley wrote:
>>>>> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
>>>>> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
>>>>> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
>>>>> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of
>>>>> my four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
>>>>> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
>>>>> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>>>>>
>>>>> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
>>>>> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
>>>>> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
>>>>> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
>>>> George,
>>>> I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
>>>> enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
>>>> thanks, Ellen
>>>
>>> I thought I had saved it to MC 7 but didn't. Basically you thinly
>>> slice the cabbage, pack it tightly in a quart jar, put three
>>> tablespoons pickling or kosher salt on top, cover with boiling water.
>>> Put the ring and lid on and do not tighten completely, leave enough
>>> room for the fermentation to swell and it will leak out. Always put
>>> it in a bucket, tub, or something that will catch the leakage. Bob
>>> Baron did the original math for dividing the salt up but I
>>> guesstimated it at 3 tbs per quart.
>>>
>>> Only got one and a half quarts of kraut fermenting. Finally did it
>>> this morning. Keep it in a room temperature place with no light
>>> hitting the jars. You will know when it is done. After it has
>>> fermented I always BWB mine for the time limit shown in many
>>> preserving books and it keeps a long time then.
>> Never tried it with boiling water, always used cold. Variation: pack
>> jar tightly 1/2 full with cabbage, add 1 Tbs. salt, finish packing jar
>> add 1 Tbs more salt, fill with cold water & top-off with cold water
>> daily for about 7 to 10 days @ 70F or so, then tighten rings & store.
>> Even at 2 Tbs. of salt, I pour off all liquid when I use it, otherwise
>> it's too salty.
>>
>> Jars will be under pressure when opened and over time, the cabbage
>> will become more translucent and soften, but oh so good.
>>
>> We try to get the cabbage on sale after St. Patty's day, but that
>> seems to be a thing of the past. Damn little on sale these days.
>>
>
>
> That sounds like way too much salt. Are you sure it wasn't 3 tsp? (I'll
> have to go look up the original post.) If you have an accurate kitchen
> scale, it's 1 pound of salt to 50 pounds of cabbage (or 10 grams of salt
> to 500 grams of cabbage.) You can pack a lot more cabbage in a quart jar
> than you might think if you really punch it in with a hammer handle.
>
> I don't think it matters whether the water is boiling or not because so
> little water will fit. I used boiling water so it would dissolve the
> salt better, since it wasn't mixed thoroughly with the cabbage.
>
> Bob

I have a purpose made kraut pounder. Took a piece of one-inch quarter
round about a foot long, rounded the corners on the handle end so I
wouldn't damage my hand. The rounded side of the quarter round fits the
round jars perfectly. Pounded the kraut tightly and then went from there.

I ust inspected der kraut, ist bubbling nicely, sitting in the dark
pantry in its tray.