A fermenting winter - 10 January 2018

Already four days since I prepared the first batch of sauerkraut in the kapusta pot brought back from Slovakia. The preparation is continuing to bubble regularly, but at a lower pace, with one bubble every five minutes on average. Since it was covered with juice from the preparation, I followed the instructions, resisted the temptation, and did not open the lid to look inside...

In the mean time, yesterday, I got couple of preserve jars with a clip top at Ikea, for a very low cost (amazing in fact!). Then, I followed the instructions from the amazing blog "Ni cru ni cuit" of Marie-Claire Fréderic...

On the top left is a preparation for cole slaw. As recommended, for one litre pot, 500g of cabbage, 500g of carrots, one Granny Smith apple, one branch of celery, one white onion, 1 tea spoon of carvi  seeds, one of coriandre seeds (which both are in fact dried fruits rather than seeds...), and of course, 10g of salt sea. Kneat and mix until the juice comes out, and just pack tightly in the jar before closing! No need to sterilise anything before closing. The preservation is done through fermentation!

On the top right, exactly same recipe as for the kysla kapusta in the previous post, but packed in a clip top jar.

Below, I am trying a recipe for fermented cherry tomatoes. In the one litre jar, 1kg of tomatoes, one branch of basil, one branch of celery, few garlic cloves, 10g of salt. Top-up with water and close.

Twenty-four hours after, some activity becomes visible in both jars. On the left below, some juice is getting out of the jar as the cabbage expands slightly under fermentation. On the right below, the tomatoes are fermenting, generating small bubbles of gas that can be seen in the jar. Both phenomenon are just indicating that the fermenting process is going very well, dixit the experts...