Guest guest Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 Hello, I am very new at all making cultured veggies and still trying to make the saurerkraut taste like I get at the healthfood store. The kind that is fermented not cooked.I am not getting that tangy pickled kind of taste like the one I get from them. That is costing me 5 dollars a jar to last 1 week. Way to much for me to be spending but being new at this I am certainly not seeing the results I guess I expect. I picked up the book Wild Fermtation by Sandor Katz. Very nice book. My questions are as follows but probably have some that are not even on my mind to ask. Hopefully I can get those questions and thoughts answered by you all? When does the saurerkraut have the best taste and microbes that will help my body heal? I made a batch from a cultured veggie started and cant eat them. I end up with bloating, gas, headache like it is enhancing my problems insted of getting rid of them like the other product I am using. That product is called Real Pickles website is realpickles.com A very nice product I would love to make myself. After 7 days my saurerkraut is still not tangy and very much to salty for my taste. What can I do to dilute this? Why doesnt my saurerkraut have the tang? Does this process take longer then a week to acomplish? I really want to eat more then the cost of that tiny jar that is costing me $5 for the benefits on healing my body and my 4 year olds bowel problems. How can I get the flavor that these have. I added what I thought was enough herbs but you can barely taste the stuff. I am hoping you can help me. I really feel like a looser at all of this and I am just throwing away my money and time making this. HELP! Thanks and blessings! Carol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Can anyone answer these questions??? My main questions here are the batch is to salty and I dont know what to do to change that and when to eat it. I really would like it to be the sour tangy taste with plenty of micorbes. Please help. > > Hello, I am very new at all making cultured veggies and still trying > to make the saurerkraut taste like I get at the healthfood store. The > kind that is fermented not cooked.I am not getting that tangy pickled > kind of taste like the one I get from them. That is costing me 5 > dollars a jar to last 1 week. Way to much for me to be spending but > being new at this I am certainly not seeing the results I guess I > expect. I picked up the book Wild Fermtation by Sandor Katz. Very > nice book. My questions are as follows but probably have some that > are not even on my mind to ask. Hopefully I can get those questions > and thoughts answered by you all? > > When does the saurerkraut have the best taste and microbes that will > help my body heal? > > I made a batch from a cultured veggie started and cant eat them. I > end up with bloating, gas, headache like it is enhancing my problems > insted of getting rid of them like the other product I am using. That > product is called Real Pickles website is realpickles.com A very nice > product I would love to make myself. > > After 7 days my saurerkraut is still not tangy and very much to salty > for my taste. What can I do to dilute this? > > Why doesnt my saurerkraut have the tang? Does this process take > longer then a week to acomplish? I really want to eat more then the > cost of that tiny jar that is costing me $5 for the benefits on > healing my body and my 4 year olds bowel problems. > > How can I get the flavor that these have. I added what I thought was > enough herbs but you can barely taste the stuff. > > I am hoping you can help me. I really feel like a looser at all of > this and I am just throwing away my money and time making this. HELP! > > Thanks and blessings! > Carol > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 I don't have an answer for you, only opinions and ideas. I would not use a " starter " as I don't know what is in it - I can't eat wheat and if flour is used for a base in the starter or a flow agent, then I'm doomed to the same symptoms you expressed. Cabbage has plenty of lactobacillus and my very first attempt at sauerkraut went really well. After that use some (a tablespoonful) of the leftover kraut juice as your starter. If you have the tang but it is too salty, how about slicing up some more cabbage and putting it in with some of the too salty stuff and letting it go for a few more days? Or rinsing it - yes you lose some microbes but you also lose lots of the salt and not all the microbes. Or cook with it, eliminating all the salt in the soup or stuffed cabbage rolls or whatever. Or eat it on potatoes which are well known for soaking up salt. Or put the day's amount in a dish with some sliced potatoes and then seeing if it reduces the salt content. Connie Re: When to eat veggies? Can anyone answer these questions??? My main questions here are the batch is to salty and I dont know what to do to change that and when to eat it. I really would like it to be the sour tangy taste with plenty of micorbes. Please help. > > Hello, I am very new at all making cultured veggies and still trying > to make the saurerkraut taste like I get at the healthfood store. The > kind that is fermented not cooked.I am not getting that tangy pickled > kind of taste like the one I get from them. That is costing me 5 > dollars a jar to last 1 week. Way to much for me to be spending but > being new at this I am certainly not seeing the results I guess I > expect. I picked up the book Wild Fermtation by Sandor Katz. Very > nice book. My questions are as follows but probably have some that > are not even on my mind to ask. Hopefully I can get those questions > and thoughts answered by you all? > > When does the saurerkraut have the best taste and microbes that will > help my body heal? > > I made a batch from a cultured veggie started and cant eat them. I > end up with bloating, gas, headache like it is enhancing my problems > insted of getting rid of them like the other product I am using. That > product is called Real Pickles website is realpickles.com A very nice > product I would love to make myself. > > After 7 days my saurerkraut is still not tangy and very much to salty > for my taste. What can I do to dilute this? > > Why doesnt my saurerkraut have the tang? Does this process take > longer then a week to acomplish? I really want to eat more then the > cost of that tiny jar that is costing me $5 for the benefits on > healing my body and my 4 year olds bowel problems. > > How can I get the flavor that these have. I added what I thought was > enough herbs but you can barely taste the stuff. > > I am hoping you can help me. I really feel like a looser at all of > this and I am just throwing away my money and time making this. HELP! > > Thanks and blessings! > Carol > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Carol wrote: > > I made a batch from a cultured veggie started and cant eat them. I > > end up with bloating, gas, headache like it is enhancing my > problems insted of getting rid of them like the other product I am using. And you say they don't taste like the ones in the health food store either? It could be they just didn't ferment. If there is too much salt, they just kind of sit there as " salted cabbage " . At this point I can mix in salt and it " tastes right " so I don't measure much. But when I started out, I weighed the salt on a postal scale. Salt measures differently depending on how fine it is, so weight or taste is the only way to go, I think. It should taste about like soup: just a little salty. > That > > product is called Real Pickles website is realpickles.com A very > nice > > product I would love to make myself. > > > > After 7 days my saurerkraut is still not tangy and very much to > salty > > for my taste. What can I do to dilute this? If it were me, I'd use it in soup or toss it, and start over. It's hard to work around too much salt after it's sat for awhile. But you could try adding more cabbage or lots of water (then you get " soupy kimchi " ... the Koreans do that on purpose for one kimchi type!). FWIW though, when I started out I had a LOT of failures. It's like anything else: it takes practice! So use cheap ingredients at first. Cabbage is cheap! > > Why doesnt my saurerkraut have the tang? Does this process take > > longer then a week to acomplish? I really want to eat more then the > > cost of that tiny jar that is costing me $5 for the benefits on > > healing my body and my 4 year olds bowel problems. I agree: making your own is the only way to go! It probably doesn't have tang because it has too much salt. But it's not rocket science, really. Most of the time it comes out fine for most people, but everyone has failures. Just this year I FINALLY learned how to ferment good cuke dills. -- Heidi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Hi Connie and thanks for your thoughts! I sure would hate to throw it out again. I would like to rinse it and add more water to get that juice again, Can I? So what your saying is that kraut sitting out for a few days still has those microbes in it? I guess I thought from reading a few books that it could take days, weeks or months to really ferment so I am confused. You see the store bought fermented kraut has a perfect taste for me with jsut the right amount of sourness/tang. Maybe I just over salted and being in NY I am in a cold climate with a few warmer days lately. I usually keep my apartment on the cool side so maybe its just taking longer? The starter I used in the first batch was from The wilderness Familys website and is full of L Plantarum, Lc Lactis, Lc Cremoris, and glucose. Not sure why I had a reaction to them. But my second batch was just cabbage, herbs and salt. Thanks again Connie! > > I don't have an answer for you, only opinions and ideas. > > I would not use a " starter " as I don't know what is in it - I can't eat > wheat and if flour is used for a base in the starter or a flow agent, then > I'm doomed to the same symptoms you expressed. Cabbage has plenty of > lactobacillus and my very first attempt at sauerkraut went really well. > After that use some (a tablespoonful) of the leftover kraut juice as your > starter. > > If you have the tang but it is too salty, how about slicing up some more > cabbage and putting it in with some of the too salty stuff and letting it go > for a few more days? Or rinsing it - yes you lose some microbes but you > also lose lots of the salt and not all the microbes. Or cook with it, > eliminating all the salt in the soup or stuffed cabbage rolls or whatever. > Or eat it on potatoes which are well known for soaking up salt. Or put the > day's amount in a dish with some sliced potatoes and then seeing if it > reduces the salt content. > > Connie > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 I honestly do not know what will happen. But humans have been eating the stuff for thousands of years, so it can't be that hard! Why not just take some, mix with enough cabbage so that it tastes not too salty to you, pound it down so that the juice from the new cabbage comes out, put a weight on it to keep it down and let it sit for 3-5 days on the counter. Then try it and see what you think. Connie Re: When to eat veggies? Hi Connie and thanks for your thoughts! I sure would hate to throw it out again. I would like to rinse it and add more water to get that juice again, Can I? So what your saying is that kraut sitting out for a few days still has those microbes in it? I guess I thought from reading a few books that it could take days, weeks or months to really ferment so I am confused. You see the store bought fermented kraut has a perfect taste for me with jsut the right amount of sourness/tang. Maybe I just over salted and being in NY I am in a cold climate with a few warmer days lately. I usually keep my apartment on the cool side so maybe its just taking longer? The starter I used in the first batch was from The wilderness Familys website and is full of L Plantarum, Lc Lactis, Lc Cremoris, and glucose. Not sure why I had a reaction to them. But my second batch was just cabbage, herbs and salt. Thanks again Connie! > > I don't have an answer for you, only opinions and ideas. > > I would not use a " starter " as I don't know what is in it - I can't eat > wheat and if flour is used for a base in the starter or a flow agent, then > I'm doomed to the same symptoms you expressed. Cabbage has plenty of > lactobacillus and my very first attempt at sauerkraut went really well. > After that use some (a tablespoonful) of the leftover kraut juice as your > starter. > > If you have the tang but it is too salty, how about slicing up some more > cabbage and putting it in with some of the too salty stuff and letting it go > for a few more days? Or rinsing it - yes you lose some microbes but you > also lose lots of the salt and not all the microbes. Or cook with it, > eliminating all the salt in the soup or stuffed cabbage rolls or whatever. > Or eat it on potatoes which are well known for soaking up salt. Or put the > day's amount in a dish with some sliced potatoes and then seeing if it > reduces the salt content. > > Connie > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 my impression... while kimchi takes about a week to ferment, kraut takes months... sometimes many months, the more the better. i am pretty certain that the reason there is no ZING is that you need to wait a few months at least. if it is WAY too salty then adding more cabbage & pounding again makes sense if you intend to allow it to ferment for a while. but maybe all you need to do is wait if it is simply that the salt is the only taste happening at the moment & the fermented taste will happen in good time. best regards~ smooch hattie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 I have to agree on the timeline. The shortest I've gone with kraut has been 4 weeks (cabbage & salt, no starter). -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: " Hattie " <hatrock_in_love@...> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 G'day Carol, >Can anyone answer these questions??? My main questions here are the >batch is to salty and I dont know what to do to change that and when >to eat it. I really would like it to be the sour tangy taste with >plenty of micorbes. I agree with Heidi - hard to pull the salt out again, so cook with it. Use it as salt and cabbage in one. Soup, stew, stir fry, you get the picture, but don't forget you've already added salt - no soy sauce Then buy a nice cabbage and start off with just that and some salt. Measure out by weight how much you want, and add just that too your sliced or chopped cabbage. Press down well, even pound it a little to help get the juices flowing. Then sit it in a warm place (I understand you lot are getting it cold up there this time of year) I'd forget about using a starter. For one thing, the one you talked about sounds like it is missing one of the normal species - Leuconostoc. A wild-fermented sauerkraut starts with Leuconostoc spp. (e.g. L. mesenteroides) before the Lactobacilis spp. get going. Without it, some flavour compounds just won't be there (e.g. a little acetic acid, i.e. vinegar). It might be a few weeks before it is fully done. My sauerkraut doesn't seem to be at its best before two months. Of course, I've probably started eating it after the first three weeks anyway! But let it continue for at least 6 weeks, ideally 8 weeks. Best of luck! -- Ross McKay, Toronto, NSW Australia " Let the laddie play wi the knife - he'll learn " - The Wee Book of Calvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 21, 2006 Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Why is this so? Does the garlic or hot pepper of kimchi provide extra microbes to the mix? Or maybe they make the medium more favorable to growth? Thanks, - > > my impression... while kimchi takes about a week to ferment, kraut takes months... sometimes many months, the more the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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