Kysla kapusta - 6 January 2008

Kysla kapusta is the translation in Slovak of sauerkraut, choucroute in French. While in Bratislava over the new year period, I was struck by the importance of kysla kapusta in the local markets. You can find long lines of people waiting to get a refill of sauerkraut in a glass jar or a plastic bag, along with the juice produced during fermentation.

A few Internet searches later, I got convinced that fermentation remains one of the best way for sailors, even nowadays, to get healthy food full of vitamin onboard that do not require energy for preparation, conservation or even cooking before eating.

This post describe our first attempt at preparing sauerkraut for Belisama...

One needs first to be convinced that fermented food is good, in particular for seamen. The story of sauerkraut onboard ships seems to start with James Cook embarking onboard the HM Bark Endeavor more than 3.5 tonnes of sauerkraut when departing in 1768 for the South Pacific. Three years later, upon returning to England, he had not lost one seaman to scurvy!

We have not (yet) suffered from scurvy on board Belisama, but in our quest for autonomy while sailing the Baltic seas, fermenting food looks like an optimal option. For my first attempt, I followed the instruction on the amazing blog "Ni cru ni cuit" of Marie-Claire Fréderic.

What you need? 

First a jar. While the traditional preserve jar with a clip top is probably the most practical way to ferment sauerkraut, we found locally a five litre sauerkraut jar that we brought back to Stockholm. Note that the lead is placed in a gutter filled with water to ensure that the jar remains air tight while fermenting. In fact, the air cannot get in, but the gaz resulting from fermentation gets out through the water.

Then, the cabbage. For the first attempt, I chose three 1.5kg regular green cabbages for the five litre jar.  

Finally, 10 grammes of salt per kilo of cabbage sliced, one spoon of juniper (genièvre in French) seeds and one of carvi seeds, per kilo of sliced cabbage.

Subsequent steps are straight forward. Cut the cabbage in 4, remove the hard centre.

Slice in a slicer. I used an old electric slicer.

Mix gently all ingredients and let rest for 15 minutes. I was left with 3.5kg after the slicing, and therefore, I aded 35g of salt, and three spoons of juniper and carvi.

Then knead seriously for half an hour manually, getting the juice out of the mixture. You can see the juice accumulating at the bottom of the container in the picture below.

Once very juicy, put in the jar by layers, pressing heavily to expel the air from the layer, using strong pressure from your fist.

Finally, cover with one or two cabbage leaves and insert the weights coming with the jar to ensure that the mixture is covered by the juice.

Close the lid and pour water in the small gutter ensuring an effective water sealing. That's it!

Three weeks to wait until the sauerkraut is ready... We noticed that a bubble of air is expelled from the jar through the water seal every minutes (video below). It means the process is ongoing. When ready, the gas emission will stop. At this time, I will explore packaging the sauerkraut sous vide, for our summer Baltic tour...

And well, if you are not yet convinced, see the galley note from Kate.