Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Speaking of sour things, can anyone recommend a good book on fermenting foods? I find that I definitely feel better when I eat fermented things, but I no longer have a Korean grocery around the corner and the grocery here is just never going to stock artisanal sauerkraut.

JessBelle, what differentiates artisanal sauerkraut from homemade?

I heard about this on the Splendid Table. Sounded like what you are looking for.

http://www.splendidtable.org/story/how- ... ted-drinks

Fuzzy, I'm not sure what kombucha tea you've tasted but mine is great. I make it with hibiscus and green tea.You can brew it as sweet or sour as you like. I like mine a bit on the sour side. The commercially bought ginger one is really good too.

Ya got me. I was mostly differentiating it from the usual supermarket fare. Here in Southwest Michigan, I can get shelf-stable jars of sauerkraut (blech) or plastic pouches from the cooler (meh). When I lived near Detroit, I could get stuff made in small, numbered batches, full of live micro-organisms and other yummy things. click! Hence the desire to learn how to make it myself.

It tastes a lot better?

Homemade, or artisan, sauerkraut is made using a natural fermentation process which induces fermentation by a surprisingly large variety of lactobacillic bacteria. Factory-made sauerkraut is sometimes made that way, and sometimes its souring is "sped up" by using vinegar and/or citric acid. More importantly, even the better-quality factory sauerkraut has to be pasteurized to ship it, which kills all of the bacteria which the doctors now think are good for us. Also, the pasteurization process generally involves adding brine, and cooking the kraut, which washes out a lot of the flavor.

I agree that homemade is better. I made some last year and it was pretty good, though I think it would have been better if I had followed directions LOL. One problem was that I started it and then had to go to FL, so DH was supposed to take care of it. By the time I came back, it was not the consistency I wanted.

I got a kit, thinking that if the kraut didn't turn out, at least I'd have a wonderful big glass jar for flour. It is still empty, I am hoping to try it again the next time cabbage is on sale, since it takes a lot.

Mary,

My local library doesn't have that book, but luckily the library in Kalamazoo still believe in actual Bound Objects Of Knowledge. I should be able to get a copy. Thanks.

Keep us updated on your journey into the world of fermentation. I tend to screw stuff like that up. My journey into the world of wine vinegar ended up with a bunch of moldy wine.

Mary

Since the beer bottles blowing up in the basement incident, we don't mess around with stuff like that anymore.

fitzie