Salt the cabbage in a plastic bowl. How to salt cabbage for the winter at home - the correct salting of cabbage in a jar or barrel. How to salt a whole cabbage in a barrel
Autumn-winter is the most favorable season for sauerkraut. By this time, the vegetable is ripe and completely ready for further use. For pickling, you need to prepare cabbage and other vegetables, spices, a sharp knife, a shredder, oppression and, of course, containers. Is it possible to ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket? This is exactly what will be discussed in the article.
What to ferment cabbage?
A more suitable container than not to be found. But it is difficult to store it in an apartment, and it will turn out to be a bit too much cabbage. Another problem is that it is difficult to buy a container of the right volume and from a good tree.
For pickling, a large enameled pan is suitable. Make sure it's not chipped. Otherwise, you risk spoiling the cabbage: it can become unattractive. grey colour and bad taste.
If you need a small amount sauerkraut, then glass containers are suitable for this: a three-liter jar or a five-liter bottle.
Under no circumstances should containers made of metal, such as aluminum or stainless steel, be used. As a rule, during fermentation, the acid reacts with the metal. Cabbage absorbs everything and loses its taste and usefulness. Many people ask: is it possible to ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket?
Now plastic buckets are produced, designed for cold food products. Some sell sour-milk products, mayonnaise, salted fish and more. But is it possible to ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket, because during fermentation acid is produced, which, one way or another, reacts with plastic? Sauerkraut absorbs odor and who knows what elements. And buckets are not always made of the right plastic. Other impurities may also be included in the composition. So, using low-quality containers, we risk not only spoiling the taste of the dish, but also our health.
But what to do if there is no other suitable container? Is it possible to ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket? Yes, you can, but you should only listen to the following recommendations:
- Be sure to buy a plastic bucket for food only. Feel free to ask the seller for a certificate in order to verify the quality of the purchase.
- Buy buckets that are not made of colored plastic. It is best to take colorless, as for a jar, or white, like the one in which sour cream is sold in stores.
- Wash the new bucket several times. Then dial up to the top of the water and leave for a day. Then dry it outdoors.
- You can ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket by placing a plastic bag in it. Use only a food bag. Also suitable is cling film, which is covered with a bucket inside.
- It is necessary to ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket until fully cooked. Then it is better to transfer it to glass jars. Tamp the cabbage and pour the resulting juice.
Choice of cabbage for sauerkraut
In a plastic bucket? First you need to choose the right vegetables. Mid-late and late varieties of cabbage are the most suitable for harvesting for the winter. They contain sugar, and this is necessary for the fermentation process. Experienced housewives recommend taking those heads of cabbage that have been caught by a slight frost, and they have lain down for some time. Then the cabbage loses its bitterness. But avoid frozen vegetables.
For fermentation, you need to choose intact and tight heads of cabbage. Leaves should be free of rot and wormholes. It is recommended to take large heads of cabbage. The result is more shredded leaves and less waste.
What can be added to sauerkraut
Fermentation is impossible without salt. It is best to take the usual cookbook, and even coarse grinding. If fermentation was taken for the first time, then it is worth adhering to the proportions indicated in the recipe. Experienced housewives salt by sight and to taste, which meets the needs of the family.
Add to sauerkraut Bay leaf, black peppercorns, sweet and hot peppers, horseradish, apples, cranberries, pumpkins, lingonberries, plums, currant leaves and even oak bark. And of course, there should be carrots, cut into thin circles or chopped on a coarse grater. It gives the cabbage its flavor and crunchiness.
To change the color, some housewives put beetroot sliced \u200b\u200bin slices in cabbage or add its juice. In sauerkraut, all vegetables or fruits must be cut into strips.
How and where to cut a cabbage head
For cutting cabbage, a wide and long one is suitable; it must be well ground. Sometimes they use a special cut for cabbage, but it cuts the leaves too finely, and they are not very suitable for pickling.
You can find a shredding board, just remember that her knives are very sharp and easy to get hurt. Therefore, you need to learn how to use it and be extremely careful.
It is best to cut cabbage on a wide table or a large wooden cutting board. Chopped leaves can be left here or poured into an enamel basin, where we will mix all the ingredients.
There are several ways to cut cabbage. In most cases, the head of cabbage is cut in half and then chopped not too finely. You can also cut the cabbage into squares. There are ways to ferment quarters, halves and even whole heads of cabbage.
Shredded cabbage is combined with salt, spices, carrots and other selected ingredients. Mix thoroughly with your hands and leave for a while until the first juice appears.
Technology of bookmarking and storage of sauerkraut
Is it possible to ferment cabbage in a plastic bucket? Yes, sure. You just need to stick to a certain technology. We begin to lay the prepared vegetable mixture in a container. The bottom of the container must be covered with washed cabbage leaves. Next, add cabbage and pack tightly. As a rule, a wooden rolling pin is used. But you can do it by hand. We tamp each layer of the mixture until liquid appears on the surface. We close the top with a cabbage leaf and a white natural cloth (you can use a piece of gauze). They also use a wooden circle, plate or lid, which is smaller than the diameter of the neck of the container, but does not leave a large distance from the walls. Be sure to put oppression on top. For this, a stone, a weight (wrapped cling film) or a container of water.
We leave the container with cabbage for three to four days in a room where the temperature is not less than 17 and not more than 22 degrees. In such temperature regime during this time, fermentation of cabbage occurs. As a result of this process, a lot of juice will be released, so put the container in another container into which the liquid will drain.
Indicators of proper fermentation are considered to be gas bubbles and foam on the surface. Foam needs to be collected from time to time. In order for the cabbage to sour evenly and also to release gas, it must be pierced with a long wooden stick. Thus, get rid of the taste of bitterness of sauerkraut.
The cessation of the release of liquid and gas indicates the completion of fermentation. Worth a product tasting. Cabbage should have a pleasant sour taste, slightly Orange color and specific aroma.
A container with sauerkraut is placed in a cooler place and stored at a temperature of 0 to 5 degrees. Some housewives practice freezing sauerkraut. The finished product is laid out in bags for freezing and placed in the freezer. To use, just defrost the cabbage. It is worth noting that neither taste, nor aroma, nor useful properties are lost.
Sauerkraut in a plastic bucket: recipe
To get 10 kilograms of shredded cabbage, you need to take 12 kilograms of a whole one.
Separate the upper leaves from the head of cabbage, divide in half and cut out the stalk. Shred cabbage and mix with chopped carrots (300-400 grams), salt (no more than 250 grams), add bay leaf, as well as other vegetables or fruits.
Put the cabbage leaves in the bottom of the bucket. Pour the mixture on top and ram so that liquid appears above the layer. We cover the top of the cabbage with leaves, cover with gauze and put the load.
The fermentation process will last from 3 to 5 days. Do not forget to collect the foam and pierce the cabbage with a stick to the very bottom. Every day you need to stretch the gauze and wash the load. Store ready-made sauerkraut in a cool place.
Recipe for sauerkraut in a plastic bucket with whole heads
For this fermentation method, you need to take dense and small heads of cabbage. Remove the top leaves and carefully cut out the stalk. Place the prepared heads of cabbage in a container, line the bottom with oak bark, and put currant and cherry leaves on top of the cabbage.
Prepare the brine: dissolve 500-600 grams of salt in 10 liters of water. Pour the cabbage so that the liquid completely covers the heads of cabbage. Cover with gauze wooden mugs, put oppression.
Recipe for sauerkraut with lingonberries (cranberries)
Chop 10 kilograms of cabbage, add 400 grams of chopped carrots, salt (50-100 grams) and mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a container, compact each layer and sprinkle with lingonberries (cranberries). In total, you will need 700-800 grams of berries. The last layer should be from cabbage. Cover with a cabbage leaf, cloth, plate and put oppression.
spend every day water procedures for oppression and fabric, pierce the cabbage with a stick and collect excess foam. This recipe is suitable for sauerkraut with apples or pumpkin.
Sauerkraut in its own juice is not only nutritious, but also very healthy. It contains vitamins B and C, which are stored for a long time. Don't be afraid to pickle cabbage. The proposed recommendations and secrets will save you from mistakes, and the cabbage will turn out to be very crispy and fragrant.
kerescan - Aug 25th, 2015
Homemade pickling of cabbage for the winter for all of us is a process that seems to have long been known. But, are you doing everything right and how tasty is your sauerkraut? In this recipe, I will try to tell in detail how to salt the cabbage, what processes occur during pickling, and what to do so that the cabbage does not peroxide, does not taste bitter, but always remains fresh - tasty and crispy.
And so, how to pickle cabbage for the winter at home correctly.
To begin with, varieties of cabbage of medium and late ripening. We clean the heads of cabbage, cut off the stalk, remove the upper leaves, wash, cut into 4 parts and finely chop.
Also finely chop (chopped on a coarse grater) carrots. You can also add whole or chopped apples to cabbage, the Antonovka variety, red, is best suited for sauerkraut. Bell pepper, lingonberries, cranberries, cumin. The taste of cabbage improves with berries and apples, and vitamin C is better preserved with pepper. Whole heads or heads cut in half can be placed between chopped cabbage.
It is preferable to ferment cabbage in wooden barrel or a tub, but in the absence of it, an enamel pan is also suitable. Only now you need to remember that cabbage will be stored less in a saucepan than in a barrel or tub.
Thoroughly wash the pickling container, scald it with boiling water, put a layer of cabbage leaves on the bottom, then chopped and grated cabbage with salt, to which we add apples, carrots, berries, sweet peppers or one of the above. The layer thickness should be approximately 5 cm.
Next, we continue to salt the cabbage by tamping it with a plank or with our hands. But it is not necessary to compact the cabbage very much so that it is not soft. So we fill the tub to the top, leaving less than 10 cm on top. We lay out whole cabbage leaves at the top, cover with a clean linen cloth, and then with a washed wooden circle, well fitted to the tub. From above we press the circle with a clean stone. So that the cabbage does not spoil and does not darken, the circle should always be covered with brine.
For 10 kg of peeled cabbage, take 7-10 pcs. carrots and apples, 1 cup lingonberries or cranberries, 2 g cumin, about 250 g salt.
Delicious cabbage is obtained if 1/5 of the salt, which is supposed in the recipe for cabbage, is replaced with sugar. Sugar speeds up the fermentation process. If we add sugar to the cabbage, then instead of the prescribed amount of salt, take 200 g of salt and 50 g of sugar. The rest of the ingredients are the same.
Cabbage tastes perfect when it ferments at t 18-20°C for 7-11 days. If the room temperature is higher, then fermentation will go faster and the cabbage will no longer be so tasty, and if it is lower, the fermentation slows down, little lactic acid is released and the cabbage will turn out to be bitter in taste. During fermentation, gases are released that must be removed. How to do it? Just pierce the cabbage with a long stick to the bottom in several places. This procedure must be done every day.
At first, the cabbage will increase in volume, and the brine may overflow. It should be scooped out into a clean bowl, and then, when fermentation stops, add it back to the container.
Also, it is necessary to remove the foam from the surface of the cabbage all the time, as harmful bacteria start up in it.
The cabbage is considered ready if bubbles on the surface cease to form, and the brine has become transparent.
Now, let's prepare the cabbage for long-term storage: wash and scald a cloth, a circle and a stone with boiling water, wipe the sides of the tub with a cloth. The fabric, before wiping, is wetted in a strong saline solution. If cabbage is stored for a long time, then you need to do this all the time, as mold forms.
The sauerkraut blank should be stored in a room with a temperature of about zero. Cabbage should always be covered with brine - without brine, vitamins are quickly destroyed in it. You should also not wash the cabbage, as you can wash valuable minerals.
Just like in a barrel, you can ferment cabbage in glass jars, but the process of cabbage fermentation in a jar is shorter in time - only 3 days. When the cabbage ferments, it should be closed with a tight lid and kept in the basement or refrigerator.
Sauerkraut in a barrel or tub keeps well all winter. It is good as a salad with onions, and fried - as a side dish for meat. Also, you can cook first courses from sauerkraut (kapustniki, borscht). And if you pickle cabbage with whole small heads, then in winter you can cook cabbage rolls with rice and meat. What methods of salting cabbage do you use? What are the secrets of sauerkraut in your family - pickling cabbage? As always, I look forward to your feedback in the comments below the recipe.
One of the simplest, most delicious and economical dishes is sauerkraut. And knowledge of how to salt cabbage in a barrel will never be superfluous, since this cooking method allows you to get a real delicacy. Many housewives have their own family secrets, passed down from generation to generation, and provide a unique taste of sauerkraut in barrels.
How to choose cabbage for sourdough
The best head of cabbage for sourdough will be the one that is cut in early October, before the first frost. For sourdough, late varieties of cabbage are ideal. The most crispy and appetizing sauerkraut comes from light, almost white cabbages.
When choosing a cabbage fork, you need to squeeze the head a little, it should crunch. It is also worth paying attention to whether the cabbage is cut 
upper leaves, as this may mean that the cabbage is frozen, and the seller cut them off to hide it.
How to prepare barrels for sourdough cabbage
In the event that the barrels were stored in a cool place, it will be enough to rinse them with ordinary baking soda and pour boiling water over them. Then the barrels need to be filled with water and left for a week, at first there may be a small leak in the connector areas. After the wood swells with water, the flow will stop.
When cabbage is fermented in oak barrels, the taste is rich, natural and pleasant. And here is the usage plastic tableware affects the taste of cabbage not in the best way, spoils it, because plastic does not let air through.
Barrel cabbage is considered the most delicious. This salting method is not very popular today, since most housewives prefer to pickle cabbage directly in jars. However, it is the cask ambassador ancient technologies allows you to get the most delicious and crispy cabbage.
It is important to remember that when choosing salt, you should give preference to simple rock salt, the use of iodized salt can lead to softening of the cabbage. On average, the salt concentration should be one tablespoon per kilogram of shredded cabbage. This amount of salt will be enough if you salt the cabbage with the addition of brine. If cabbage is cooked without brine, then the amount of salt must be slightly increased.
It is advisable not to shred the cabbage very finely. Some housewives cut the vegetable into squares, or into several pieces. It is possible to use a stalk for sourdough only if there are no nitrate compounds in it. That is, self-grown cabbage can be salted along with the stalk, but if a head of cabbage was purchased from an unknown seller, then it is better not to risk it.
Most often, when sourdough cabbage, grated carrots are added to it, it gives a pleasant aroma, makes the cabbage more crispy. To increase the acid, you can add lingonberries 
, cranberries, sour varieties of apples. To change the usual color of cabbage, you can add beets 
, and then the shredded cabbage will acquire a raspberry color. It will not be superfluous to add black and allspice, fresh hot peppers, cloves, caraway seeds to the cabbage.
It is best to store sauerkraut in the cellar; if it is not available, you can use the refrigerator for storage. The optimum storage temperature is between 0 and 2 degrees Celsius. Negative temperatures have a bad effect on the taste of cabbage - after defrosting, the workpiece becomes too soft and stops crunching.
If you want to ferment cabbage in a barrel, you must follow certain rules. For example, it is recommended to sprinkle the bottom of the barrel with rye flour, then put a layer of shredded cabbage, a layer of salt, and a layer of grated or chopped carrots. When laying cabbage, you need to lightly tamp, but not too much so that it does not subsequently become soft.
In the barrel after laying, you need to leave a little space, that is, you should not fill the container to the brim, otherwise the juice may spill out of the barrel. From above, cabbage should be covered with clean cabbage leaves, then with boiled cotton cloth and a clean wooden circle (plywood or chipboard cannot be used, as they contain harmful substances, which can turn into cabbage). Oppression is placed on a wooden circle.
Cabbage is fermented at room temperature for two weeks. The lower the temperature, the longer the fermentation process will take. The foam that will appear during the fermentation process must be removed. Periodically, it is recommended to pierce the contents of the barrel with a long, clean rod so that the gas comes out. After fermentation, the cabbage is placed in a cool place with a temperature of no more than three degrees. During fermentation, the cabbage should always be covered with brine.
You can ferment cabbage not only chopped, but also whole. To do this, it is necessary to remove the upper leaves, cut out the stalk, or simply cut it with a cross-shaped incision so that the salting passes evenly. The removed top leaves can be used to fill in the gaps between the heads in the top rows. You should try to lay the cabbage evenly, halves of carrots are placed between the heads of cabbage. You can add tomatoes and bell peppers, this will also significantly improve the taste of sauerkraut.
The laid cabbage is poured with brine (350-400 g per 10 liters of purified water), heads of cabbage are covered with linen cloth, a cross and a load on top. Pure (preferably boiled) stones are traditionally used as cargo, which are chemically neutral and do not affect the taste of cabbage in any way.
The fabric must be washed and boiled regularly to get rid of the mold that has formed. The cross and the load should also be periodically treated with antiseptics to avoid moldy cabbage.
