[casa rakkaleff] sauerkraut ist kaputt
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leff
Oct 9, 2009, 10:54:10 AM10/9/09
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People have been asking after the sauerkraut we started a few weeks ago. Short answer: it didn't work out.
It came close though. Most of the container was still full of good looking cabbage, and it didn't stink like death or anything. But it was covered with a thin layer of gross rotted bits. We did skim the top mostly every day, but we couldn't really get at it very well. I think we were done in by the shape of the container.
wide at the top, bad idea?
You see from this photo from the beginging of the process that we've got a big wide bowl. This gave a huge surface area for the water to cover, relative to the amount of cabbage. The water didn't come up very high over the cabbage at all. Less than an inch (remember, all the water comes from the cabbage itself). All the skimming just made that worse.
Having too little water at the top meant that whenever we tried to skim, and remove cabbage floaties, we'd actually be interacting with the cabbage layer we were trying to keep. Accidentally pulling up new bits, etc.
Conclusion: container shape does matter. Tall vessels with straight sides really are ideal. You start to see why barrel shape, with the opening actually smaller than the body, is such a classic.
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Posted By leff to casa rakkaleff at 10/09/2009 07:36:00 AM
It came close though. Most of the container was still full of good looking cabbage, and it didn't stink like death or anything. But it was covered with a thin layer of gross rotted bits. We did skim the top mostly every day, but we couldn't really get at it very well. I think we were done in by the shape of the container.
wide at the top, bad idea?
You see from this photo from the beginging of the process that we've got a big wide bowl. This gave a huge surface area for the water to cover, relative to the amount of cabbage. The water didn't come up very high over the cabbage at all. Less than an inch (remember, all the water comes from the cabbage itself). All the skimming just made that worse.
Having too little water at the top meant that whenever we tried to skim, and remove cabbage floaties, we'd actually be interacting with the cabbage layer we were trying to keep. Accidentally pulling up new bits, etc.
Conclusion: container shape does matter. Tall vessels with straight sides really are ideal. You start to see why barrel shape, with the opening actually smaller than the body, is such a classic.
--
Posted By leff to casa rakkaleff at 10/09/2009 07:36:00 AM
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