When I'm overseas, things like probiotics and probiotic starter cultures are not as accessible for me, so I decided to start with something that I can find locally and that doesn't require starter cultures. We have a friend here in Puebla who is German-Mexican and he loaned me his crock and some sea salt, as he likes to make sauerkraut, too (if mine turns out good, I'll give him some!).
Then I looked at quite a few websites for a good, yet simple recipe for sauerkraut and was pleased to find this one. Not sure about the rest of the content on that blog, but there is a link to another interesting article on fermented foods, as well as links to other recipes that I'd like to check out here.
But for now, I'm starting simple with just sauerkraut. Besides, as the Dr. Mercola article points out, there can be a significant "healing crisis" (die-off reaction) if you begin taking too much fermented food too soon. I am curious to see if I can get Miguel and the kids to eat any, first of all, and then if we'll notice any difference in our health issues. Miguel suffers from something like irritable bowel syndrome and all the kids and I have a yeast/cheese culture intolerance. After reading about GAPS (Gut And Physiology Syndrome), it makes me wonder if we don't all need to pay more attention to probiotics.
I chopped up a cabbage and a half today and now it's setting in the pantry waiting for the fermenting process to begin...I used the pestle in the picture to pound the cabbage and it worked really well!
So...I guess I'll find out in a couple of weeks whether this recipe worked for me or not!
3 comments:
We used to make sauerkraut with my mom. We used a large plastic basin and a glass juice or coke bottle (the juice bottle was about a half liter bottle, so worked better) to pound it with. The Germans working near us loved it so much that the whole German men's team ate it all up, so my mom made them come over for a pounding party when she made a much larger batch - enough to send everyone home with several jars. Ten people lined up on the floor with basins and bottles pounding away at cabbage made for some good memories!
Hope yours turned out good, too!
That IS an awesome memory! A juice or coke bottle would work very well for pounding, will have to remember that for next time. I've already been tasting the sauerkraut and it's really, really good! It's neat to see how the flavor changes just a bit each day. At this rate, I won't have any left over to share! LOL
P.S. My Mom told me she used to make it in the jungle, too, but I don't remember that! I do remember eating it sometimes, she always cooked it with hot dogs or sausage. Miguel said he would probably eat it that way, too.
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