Sauerkraut was one of the main sources of vitamins for our ancestors during the long winter. It must be eaten every day and in large quantities. Moreover, the dish is cheap and simple - sauerkraut is not too difficult, the longest thing is to cut it.
Nowadays, imported fruits and vegetables are in stores, it would seem that there are vitamins. But still, you can’t do without sauerkraut in winter.
Pickle cabbage in autumn. In vegetable gardens, heads of cabbage are cut after the night temperature steadily begins to fall below 0 C. This usually happens in the first half of October. This year, perhaps, cabbage harvesting will happen earlier - due to heavy rains, it begins to rot right in the garden. So it's time for sourdough.
What kind of cabbage to take
Late and mid-late varieties are suitable. They are the strongest and most dense. It is better to choose the whitest head of cabbage you find - such cabbage will crunch. The winter "Glory" is quite popular.
Before buying, try the head of cabbage to the touch - it is necessary that it crunches a little when pressed, but at the same time it is dense, not loose. Be sure to pay attention to the stalk: it should also be dense, juicy.
If you choose cabbage in late autumn, then check that it is not frozen. The green leaves on the head serve as an indicator, we remove them when cooking, but if the seller removed them, it is likely that they were frozen. And there are no traces of frost on the head of cabbage.
Be careful this year, due to heavy rains in July-August - a lot of rotten cabbage.
What to sour?
A wooden tub or large glass container works best. An enamel pan is also suitable, the main thing is that the enamel is not cracked, without chips. Plastic buckets are contraindicated for cabbage. Just like stainless steel containers.
And it's cabbage. You can ferment BRUSSELS sprouts too. It's easy to say - sauerkraut. But at the same time, it will make the cabbage softer. As a result, the cabbage spoils. It is strictly forbidden to ferment cabbage in aluminum dishes. Cut the head of cabbage into 8 pieces. To make the cabbage tasty and crispy, it must be fermented on the new moon.
If, when cooking cabbage, almost half of vitamin B9 is destroyed in it ( folic acid), then during pickling it remains intact. Sauerkraut is an excellent prophylactic against bowel cancer. Only late and mid-late varieties of cabbage are suitable for pickling. And the cabbage itself will lose its attractive appearance. Can be cut into pieces - squares or triangles. Some housewives add not only salt, but also sugar when pickling cabbage. It will definitely speed up the fermentation process.
So we leave the cabbage for fermentation for 2-3 days at room temperature (plus 17-21 degrees). In the future, this juice can be (if necessary) added to the cabbage. In order not to spoil the cabbage, it is also necessary to get rid of the gases with an unpleasant odor formed during fermentation - hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. Otherwise, the cabbage will be bitter.
Cabbage Bust
After the cabbage settles, remove the load. At room temperature, cabbage quickly darkens, becomes soft and gains excess acid. Enough 200-250 grams per 10 kg of cabbage. Almost every housewife was disappointed when sauerkraut did not work out.
You could oversalt. Since the taste of cabbage depends on the growing conditions, it is possible that fertilizers were added to the soil in excess of the norm. There may be several reasons. Sauerkraut "slips" due to excess air, which provokes the growth of mycelial yeast.
Cabbage changes color for various reasons. But on the full moon, rest: the cabbage will turn out very soft and sour. RED cabbage is not inferior to white cabbage in taste. cauliflower sour rarely. And in vain: it is very tasty and useful product. Cover with a clean towel and put oppression. After 3-4 days, the cabbage will be ready. Chop 1 kg of cabbage and add 20–25 g of dill seeds to it.
Guess what we're talking about? This vegetable is very familiar to you! The most popular autumn-winter dish. Of course, to cook it, you have to tinker longer than with salting or pickling. But the product will turn out not only tasty, but also very useful, even healing.
And after fermentation, there is even more ascorbic acid: up to 70 mg per 100 g. There is 20 times more vitamin P in sauerkraut than in fresh cabbage. Due to lactic acid fermentation, a large amount of probiotics is formed, which makes it possible to equate sauerkraut to kefir in terms of usefulness . And how many failures have already been: it turns out gray, then sour, then soft, then it gives away rot. From the first time, not every hostess succeeds in cabbage. As in any business, there are rules and subtleties. There is nothing complicated in the fermentation technology itself.
Work on mistakes
Clean the heads of cabbage, remove the dirty and greenish leaves, cut out the rotten and frozen parts. No need to wash! Cut off the stalk: it is an "accumulator" of nitrates and other harmful substances. Chop the cabbage on a shredder or with a knife. It is necessary to shred the cabbage across the veins into strips about 2-3 mm wide. If planed along, there will be many rough parts.
With pickles
The larger the cut, the more vitamins and other useful substances are stored in it. In this sense, pickling with whole heads of cabbage is ideal. Pour the shredded cabbage and prepared additives onto the table, sprinkle with salt and rub lightly with your hands, adding the necessary additives until the cabbage releases juice. You can use an enameled wide pan or basin - the wider the better. The larger the area of contact with air, the faster the fermentation process.
With pumpkin and herbs
Prepare the container. It can be either a large capacity or a regular 3-liter jar. Lay the cabbage leaves on the bottom. Sprinkle 10-15 cm of cabbage and tamp tightly so that after laying the juice stands out on the surface. And so layer by layer until the very end. Upstairs again cabbage leaves, on them a clean cloth, a circle and oppression. If sour cabbage in a large container, put a small whole head of cabbage inside the cabbage mass. A 3-liter jar can be covered with a plastic lid with holes.
If everything is done correctly, then in a day bubbles and foam should appear on the surface. So, the fermentation process has begun. During it, juice will stand out, so it is better to put the pickling container in a basin or other dish. If for some reason the juice does not appear for a long time, you need to increase the oppression or add brine.
At first it will become more and more, and then it will decline. And when it is gone completely, it means that the cabbage has fermented. Therefore, every day (or even twice a day), pierce the cabbage with a long wooden stick in several places to the very bottom of the container. Remove the top leaves and browned layer. Wash the mug and napkin thoroughly with soda, and then soak in saline. Wring out the fabric and cover the cabbage with it, put a circle, and already less weight is oppressed on it. The brine should protrude to the edge of the circle.
For safety, you can moisten the top cloth with alcohol: this will protect against mold. Salt for pickling is better to use the usual large, you can sea, but not iodized! In order for cabbage to ferment well, butyric acid bacteria are needed. They multiply rapidly if the fermentation temperature is above plus 20 degrees.
Perhaps the heads of cabbage were slightly frozen. They took an early variety - its leaves are soft on their own. Or you set the cabbage to sour in the warm season. It is possible that, along with healthy heads of cabbage, several frostbitten or overfed with fertilizers were caught. Perhaps there was not enough salt: they poured less than 20 g per 1 kg. The fermentation temperature was too high. Or, finally, the air did not leave well during sourdough. But they are needed only at the beginning of fermentation, and then in small quantities.
Therefore, make sure that it is always covered with brine, and does not protrude above it, in contact with air. If it turned green, it means that there was a lot of air during fermentation. From contact with metal, the product turns black. That is why the best utensils for pickling are wooden, glass.
Cabbage is one of the most beloved and widespread vegetables in our latitudes. It is valued for a huge amount of vitamins (C, groups B, P), as well as for low calorie content. Moreover, in sauerkraut, the amount of nutrients does not decrease at all. However, it is not always possible to cook it correctly. The answer to the question of why sauerkraut becomes soft is sought by many housewives.
Choosing a vegetable for pickling
Traditionally, sauerkraut started after October 14. By this time, it is already quite rich in natural sugar, thanks to which the varieties are best suited later. The head must be intact, weighing at least 700 grams, with no signs of decay. Early varieties won't fit. If the question arises as to why sauerkraut became soft, the first answer would be the wrong variety. Also suitable for processing and medium-late cabbage.
Other ingredients must be chosen with equal care. Salt is suitable for ordinary rock. Iodized for these purposes is unsuitable. If you sauerkraut with you should not be surprised and ask why sauerkraut is soft.
Cooking technology
First of all, you need to prepare the vegetables. The upper leaves are removed from the cabbage, the head is removed. Then it is chopped or cut into larger pieces. You can also ferment the whole vegetable. This requires fairly large pots or barrels. Carrots can be grated on a coarse grater (in this case, the color of the finished product will not be snow-white, but slightly orange) or cut into strips, circles. Cranberries, apples, peppers, and beets are used as additional components. All ingredients are placed in prepared containers and sprinkled with salt. Then hands crush until juice is formed. However, you should not press hard, otherwise the cabbage will lose its crunch. Here is another example of why sauerkraut becomes soft. A flat plate is placed on top and a load is placed. So the release of juice and lactic acid, which acts as a preservative, will occur faster. The fermentation process will take several days. The foam that forms as a result must be removed. It is also necessary to make several punctures to release gases.
How to store sauerkraut
For optimal temperature conditions - about 0 ° C. Best of all, it preserves vitamins and taste qualities in a fairly cold room: in the cellar, refrigerator or on the balcony. However, low temperatures destroy useful substances, so it is important to ensure that it does not freeze. Cabbage must be covered with a sufficient amount of brine, otherwise vitamin C will simply collapse and it will lose its attractive appearance. Wooden barrels are ideal as containers. In glass jars, vitamins will be stored a little worse. And certainly not suitable for these purposes. It is important to remember that during long-term storage, pickled cabbage still loses its elasticity. Why does sauerkraut become soft, not crunchy? The answer can be found in terms of storage.
In addition to all the excellent qualities, cabbage still has a few caveats when used in food. First of all, due to the large amount of salt, it is recommended to use it with caution for people who have an increased blood pressure. Salt constricts blood vessels and does not have the most beneficial effect on libido. Excessive consumption of cabbage can lead to edema. With gastritis, peptic ulcer and increased acidity of the stomach, doctors prohibit the use of this product. The negative aspects include increased gas formation due to the ingestion of this fermentation product. Those who are trying to lose weight should also be careful. On the one hand, sauerkraut is a low-calorie food, but on the other hand, it increases appetite. If you have kidney problems, you should also be extremely careful.
Sauerkraut Dishes
Despite the reasons why sauerkraut becomes soft, it is still suitable for cooking various dishes. One of the most common first courses is cabbage soup. Diced potatoes are added to a good, fatty meat broth. When it is cooked, cabbage is added, later - fried onions with carrots. The total cooking time for this dish is approximately 2 hours. An excellent result can be obtained by using not a pan, but a cast-iron pot. Fully taste is revealed on the second day. On fasting days or just in the cold season, a simple coleslaw is indispensable. To prepare it, you just need to add chopped onion and a small amount of sunflower oil. If sauerkraut is very sour, you can wash it in cold water. Dumplings, pies and pies, meatballs - this is a small list of dishes from this vegetable. They also prepare quite sophisticated options, for example, a salad with squid. Boiled and chopped squid mixed with sauerkraut and green onion. Season with a little oil, add sugar and, if necessary, salt.
So, in order not to look for an answer to the question of why sauerkraut became soft, you should take a responsible approach to the choice of raw materials, cooking technology and correctly calculate the right amount of ingredients.
Many housewives in our country prepare sauerkraut for the winter. In addition to being delicious snack, cabbage can be preserved in this way for quite a long time. But in the process of cooking, you need to know simple rules, which are necessary so that the cabbage does not end up soft.
Why can cabbage be soft?
- If you don't want sauerkraut to taste bland, don't rush to harvest it immediately after harvesting. The thing is that for a long time sugar accumulates in heads of cabbage and therefore they must lie down a little more. For example, let's say that a late variety of cabbage can be fermented only after the onset of December. Early varieties of cabbage in most cases do not have the necessary crunch after pickling.
- In addition to all of the above, soft cabbage can be obtained due to the fact that it has been frozen or it contains a large amount of nitrates. In this situation, the vegetable will have a sweetish aftertaste and an unpleasant odor.
- It is also very important to ferment the cabbage correctly so that it does not end up soft. Well, for example, you kept cabbage at a temperature of 20 degrees for more than 5 days, and ideally, the fermentation period should not exceed 3 days. It is also very important to pierce the cabbage during the sourdough process. By doing so, you release the accumulated excess carbon dioxide.
- Salt plays a huge role in the harvesting process. It is necessary to use only salt for salting.
- Undoubtedly, the variety of cabbage itself is also important. Give preference to large and strong heads of cabbage. Wash the head and remove the leaves located on top. After that, chop it, and properly mix with salt. Under no circumstances crush the cabbage. Otherwise, it will definitely become soft.
- Properly prepared packaging is the key to success. For these purposes, it is best to use wooden barrels, glass jars or enameled buckets. But aluminum utensils in the process of harvesting is unacceptable. This is due to the fact that during the fermentation process, cabbage releases lactic acid, which tends to corrode the walls of dishes. In this state of affairs, substances harmful to human health are formed in the snack.
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