Kimchi And Fermented Vegetables How To And Why

I bought my ingredients.

Tonight or tomorrow I will put the cabbage up to ferment.

I think my body is falling apart without it.

 

Yay! I got 3 quarts of cabbage started!

 

Makes a real difference, doesn't it? I ran out for a few weeks and I when I finally had some again I felt so much better.

 

Yes! Mine are "cooking" away and I'm so happy about that!

 

I bought a few bunches of kohlrabi to ferment. I haven't had a chance to get them into jars yet. I'd better get to it, I'm almost done my last jar of dill kohlrabi!

I tried the red cabbage I made several weeks ago. This is the batch where I still used the Pickle Crisp. I'm definitely eliminating it from now on. I'm more sure than ever that it's hindering the fermentation process. Even after 7 weeks on the shelf, it doesn't have the nice tangy taste and the cabbage is hard (not a nice crispness, more a dry, raw hardness).

 

Got my kohlrabi done! The horseradish is growing prolifically in the garden again, so I added horseradish leaves at the top.

 

I had to throw out the fermented red cabbage. :-( It just wasn't smelling right. It was like eating raw cabbage (alone) anyway. What a waste. Especially after all that shredding! And purple fingers for days after. I'll definitely forget about the Pickle Crisp and I think I'll stick to green cabbage.

 

I've got 4 jars of green cabbage on the go! But I've got only hot peppers in the fridge now. I have to wait for the kohlrabi and this cabbage to be done. Having to throw out the red cabbage set back my supply.

I used cabbage leaves to secure the cabbage in two of the jars, and horseradish leaves in the other two. I'll make a point of seeing if there's a difference. Usually I just used a couple of cabbage leaves for the cabbage, but I didn't set aside enough before I shredded the head.

 

My cabbage is ready to go to the fridge!

 

The last batch of kohlrabi is kind of soft. Waa! So it has to be that the kohlrabi was old. The cabbage turned out nice and crisp, whereas last time it was soft and the kohlrabi was crunchy. It's really a crap shoot as to what you're going to get in the stores. I'm jealous of expanse being able to grow his own.

Although this week I got such a nice green leafy cabbage. Usually they're almost all white. I jarred it right away, no procrastinating with this beautiful head. And it was a lot cheaper than usual. I would have bought 3 of them to jar up if they'd had more.

 

I bought 3 nice green leafy organic cabbages (I can't always get organic) and jarred them up today. The last batch of cabbage was really good so I hope these turn out well too. I topped them all with horseradish leaves since they're abundant now in the garden. Gives me more cabbage to shred up since I don't have to save any leaves for the top. Got a nice big batch going.

 

I'm out of likes for the day. Nice! I like the horseradish topper idea. Did you put much salt in?
(Edit: I guess I wasn't out of likes. I thought I got the dreaded out of like message)

I forgot to post my kohlrabi. Fresh from my backyard. I only put in a quarter of a teaspoon of pickling salt in each jar, plus a half teaspoon of dill pickle spice (which contains some salt). I also added starter liquid from an earlier batch. I only had enough for two small jars.

 

That's some fine looking kohlrabi. I like the purple kohlrabi! I used the same amount of salt as you did. Looks like yours are the 500 ml jars, I put 1/2 teaspoon per 1 litre (quart). I added started liquid from another batch too.

Are those finished jars already, or did you use regular lids (without airlocks) for that batch?

 

Looks great! I've really got to try this someday.

 

It's so easy that chopping the veggies is the hardest part!

Salt, bottled water, and patience is all you need.

 

The waiting is the hardest part!

 

I got some fermenting done today. What a rigmarole. I was happy to find pickling cucumbers at the farmer's market then I couldn't find dill anywhere. Finally I found dill a few days later and bought 3 big bunches. I pulled out the cukes and they had gone bad! So I bought mini cukes (not as firm as pickling cukes) and kohlrabi a couple of days later at the supermarket to jar with the dill. Dill and mustard seed (I find just the two do best for kohlrabi), and for the cukes, mustard seed, coriander, black peppercorns, whole cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, garlic and dill.
 
I wanted striped and golden beets for the mixed veggies but there were none to be found, so I bought cauliflower instead, with green zucchini, yellow zucchini and carrots. I threw in a hot Fresno pepper in each of the mixed veggie jars. Nothing else in that jar. Just the bit of salt and previous fermenting liquid, I put that in each of the jars. I haven't fermented cauliflower in a while, it's another favourite. I intended to make one smaller 1-litre jar but I forgot how much space you need for the cauliflower florets! So I ended up with two 2-litre jars.
 
I topped all the jars with horseradish leaves. I love having them at my disposal in the summer. I got my shelf all stocked again.


 

I'm back home this week. I need to eat some of my cabbage.

 

You didn't take any jars with you?? :-D

 

I didn't have room. There were 7 of us in a minivan. If we'd hit a bump the doors on the van would have flown open, scattering our stuff all over the road, lol