You can sour at the table, you can sour under the table. The Germans make sauerkraut, and then prepare a delicious beer snack from it, flavoring a simple stew with their signature sausages. In the Czech Republic, they also don’t mind sour and stew, mostly beer, but they don’t forget about cabbage either. Let's sip a little...

Homemade sauerkraut is a great appetizer for vodka, as well as a highly demanded component of dishes for beer and other alcoholic drinks. So, for example, stewed sauerkraut with pork or poultry serves as a beer snack in the Czech Republic, in Germany sauerkraut is served with delicious local sausages and sausages. Yes, and where without bigos - a traditional dish of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. However, you need to start, of course, with the sauerkraut recipe itself!

In the classic recipe for sauerkraut, whole cabbage leaves were placed at the bottom of the barrel, after which the chopped cabbage, mixed with grated carrots and salt, was tightly packed into the barrel and covered with whole leaves on top. Next, the barrel was covered with a cloth and the mass was pressed down with a wooden circle along the diameter of the barrel, oppression was placed on top. Fermentation lasted about a week at room temperature, during this time the mass was pierced several times with a knife to the very bottom, and at the end of fermentation, the barrel was taken out to a cold place without removing the pressure.

The modern recipe for small containers practically does not differ from the above, and cabbage in an ordinary jar, with a certain skill, will turn out to be no less crispy and tasty.

The classic recipe for sauerkraut in its own juice (with photo)

You can cook crispy and juicy cabbage according to different recipes: with and without brine, with sugar or honey, vinegar and various additives. Recipes are passed down from generation to generation, and the closest to the "barrel" is the version without sugar, brine and vinegar.

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 3 kg Carrots - 1-2 pieces (about 0.5 kg) Salt - about 70 grams

Cooking:

Cut the head of cabbage into a convenient number of parts and chop with a knife or special tools (grater, shredder, combine, etc.). Peel and grate the carrots on a large-medium grater (you can use a Korean carrot grater).

Mix cabbage, carrots and salt in a large bowl. Start packing the resulting mass tightly into a glass jar or pan, periodically lightly tamping the mass with a rolling pin or pressing it with your hands (a sufficient amount of juice should stand out in the process).

You can first mash the cabbage in a bowl, using, for example, a strong jar.

If you sour in a saucepan, then you should cover it with a plate on top and put oppression (a stone, a jar of water), if in a jar, you can simply cover it with gauze or a clean cloth, but you should make sure that the top layer does not peek out of the juice.

For 3-7 days, cabbage should be pierced with a rolling pin, knitting needle or knife to the very bottom, otherwise an unpleasant bitterness may occur due to accumulating gases. When the cabbage is ready, it should be transferred to a clean jar, pour brine and store in the refrigerator under a lid.

This classic "grandmother's" recipe for sugar-free sauerkraut in its own juice can be supplemented with a variety of ingredients: cranberries, pomegranate seeds, lingonberries, beets, apples, plums. Of the spices most commonly used: bay leaf, various types of pepper, ginger, cloves, cumin, coriander, anise, etc.

Classic sauerkraut recipe with brine

No less simple and popular is the recipe using brine. It is most convenient to calculate the amount of ingredients and brine for one three-liter jar. By adding various spices to the brine and experimenting with the amount of salt and sugar, you can achieve the perfect result.

Ingredients (per 3 liter jar):

Cabbage - about 2 kg Carrots - 1 large or 2 medium Bay leaves - 2-3 pieces Water - 1.5 liters Salt - 2 tablespoons Sugar - 2 tablespoons

Cooking:

Dissolve sugar and salt in warm boiled water. Prepare the cabbage: remove the top sheets, wash, chop (with a knife, on a grater or in any other way). Peel the carrots, wash and grate on a coarse grater. Mix cabbage and carrots in a bowl, transfer to a jar, laying bay leaves and other spices (optional) between layers and lightly tamping.

Our ancestors did not have access to quick salting of cabbage. Once upon a time, salt was valued more than gold and was not a frequent guest on every table. Preserving food in the absence of preservatives was not easy. Previously existing methods required a long exposure of blanks in strictly specified conditions.

Our capabilities allow adding various herbs and spices to food, with which the food becomes richer in taste, canned faster and better stored. Salt, which we generously put in preparations, prevents the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms and slows down the fermentation process. Salted cabbage no longer needs to be kept at room temperature for weeks, waiting for it to become suitable for long-term storage. A variety of recipes will allow you to bring the product to the desired quality in just a few days or even hours.

Actually there is no difference, the terms refer to the same process. Salting is a preservation method in which lactic acid plays the main role.

This component is released during the natural fermentation of fruits and vegetables, gives the dish a specific taste and is a guarantee of product safety. Only the processing of various kinds of agricultural crops is described by different terms. So, for example, apples are “wetted”, cucumbers are “salted”, and cabbage is “sour”.

Despite the differences in names, the essence of this does not change. Everywhere, lactic acid and partly salt act as a preservative, which controls the fermentation process, protects the product from souring, speeds up salting, allowing you to reduce cooking time.

In those days when salt was an expensive pleasure, pickling in its pure form was used in the villages. Cabbage was cut, placed under oppression and fermented in its own juice without air access.

In order for the product not to deteriorate, it had to be heavily tamped. At the slightest ingress of oxygen, lactic acid fermentation could stop, and the cabbage would simply rot. Long exposure guaranteed reliable preservation and storage for a long time.

Ready cabbage was placed in a cold room. At low temperatures, lactic acid bacteria decreased their activity. However, the fermentation process did not stop, and the product became more sour over time.

Salt, which is actively added in modern recipes, not only additionally preserves the product, but also inhibits the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Therefore, cabbage fermented with salt can be stored much longer.

The basics of pickling cabbage

For conservation to be successful, four important conditions must be met:

• choose a vegetable of the appropriate variety;
• protect the product from spoilage;
• create an environment suitable for the development of lactic acid bacteria;
• bring all work surfaces to perfect condition.

How is salting done? Lactic acid bacteria that are present on the leaves of the vegetable ferment the sugars contained in the cabbage. Accordingly, the more simple carbohydrates in a vegetable, the more actively conservation takes place. That is why you need to choose varieties with optimal chemical composition. Otherwise, sugar will have to be added.

To prevent harmful microorganisms from developing along with lactic acid bacteria, try to remove air from the product as much as possible.

To do this, the cabbage should be well compacted. It is better to spread the product in small layers and carefully crush each of them.

It is advisable to put oppression on top, then the cabbage will drown a little in its own juice. As oppression, you can use a well-washed stone or a container of water. A press is placed on top of the workpiece. You can use a flat plate or a wooden disc made by yourself. And already directly on the press put a weighting agent.

For the development of lactic acid bacteria need a temperature of 15 to 22 ° C. Therefore, after all preparations, cabbage should be left at room temperature. Further, when the product picks up enough acid, the activity of bacteria must be reduced by removing the workpiece in a cool place. In villages, it is usually placed in a cellar, where the temperature is kept within 8-12 ° C. And the finished product should be stored in the refrigerator at 0-2˚С.

And, of course, while cooking, do not forget about cleanliness. Thoroughly wash all appliances, dishes, sterilize jars. We clean the vegetables well. Cut off damaged parts. In general, we prevent dirt from entering the product.

The best varieties of cabbage for pickling and pickling

For salting and pickling, medium-early and medium-late varieties and hybrids of cabbage are best suited, in which the ripening period from germination to full head formation is 115-160 days.

The most popular of them:

• "Glory";
• "Present";
• "Midor";
• "Merchant";
• "Dobrovodskaya";
• Krautman.

Cabbage of these varieties forms a large head of cabbage with a small stalk. The mass of one vegetable can reach 3 kg. The inner leaves are white or greenish, very densely packed, strong, juicy, sweet, high in carbohydrates.

Cabbage of these varieties lies well even without salting. And the pickled preparation, made according to all the rules, turns out to be tasty and crispy, and can be stored until the next season.

Preparation: place, tools, raw materials

Sauerkraut is not a laborious process. The bulk of the work is done in just three steps. Before laying, vegetables must be peeled, cut and salted.

We wash the cabbage. We remove spoiled leaves, cut off all defects. Cut out the stem. We leave a clean white head of cabbage. We do the same with other ingredients. If we put carrots, then we also clean it and remove all spoiled places.

We will cut vegetables on the table. Prepare the place by removing all unnecessary. Cabbage can be shredded both on a plastic and wooden board. For cutting, in addition to the usual universal kitchen knife, it is convenient to use a special knife-shredder or grater-shredder.

If the brine is prepared separately, we will select a suitable container for it. If the cabbage is simply rubbed with salt, we will prepare a capacious bowl or basin in which we will mix everything with our hands.

Place vegetables in an acid-resistant dish. An enamel pan is suitable for this. But some recipes provide for laying cabbage directly into jars. If the vegetables are fermented in a wide bowl, they must be pressed down with oppression so that the product disappears under a layer of juice or brine.

Vegetables packed in jars will also release juice. Therefore, if the containers are filled to the top, it is better to put them in a basin so that the liquid flows into it, and not onto the floor.

When the cabbage begins to ferment, gas will accumulate in it. Its excess can spoil the taste of the finished product. Therefore, we will periodically pierce the workpiece with a wooden stick, releasing the excess. During fermentation, a foam cap will appear on the cabbage, which must be carefully removed with a clean spoon.

Remember that any items that we touch the product with: knives, boards, spoons, must be thoroughly washed and poured with boiling water. The same applies to containers - pots and jars.

If we cook cabbage at a time, then the jars can not be sterilized, but washed with soap or soda, doused with hot water. Close the workpiece with a clean plastic lid. In this form, it can be stored for no longer than three months.

Recipes for salting cabbage for the winter

Almost every family has its own recipe. In what way do not pickle cabbage! It is ground with salt, soaked in cold brine with the addition of vinegar, poured with salted boiling water.

Cabbage is especially good with the addition of various spices and spices. Cranberries, peppers, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, etc. are placed in the blanks. All this, of course, affects the quality of the finished product. Sauerkraut may vary.

Salted cabbage with beets

Thanks to the beets, the preparations acquire a beautiful shade, an unusual taste, and are additionally enriched with vitamin supplements.

Compound:

• cabbage without stalk - 5 kg;
• carrot roots - 0.5 kg;
• beets without skin - 250 grams;
• Bulgarian pepper - 0.5 kg;
• several small bulbs;
• bay leaf, allspice peas, cumin, cloves;
• salt - half a glass.

The listed vegetables, except for onions, are chopped or cut into strips, rubbed together with salt and seasonings using a large basin. Place the onion in the middle of the workpiece.

We install the container in the basin, cover it with gauze on top so that dirt and dust do not get in. Let ferment at room temperature. During the day, we pierce the cabbage with a wooden stick several times. We follow the process. The readiness of cabbage is determined when the foam ceases to stand out. It can take 2 to 4 days to prepare.

We close the jars with plastic lids. If you need to keep the cabbage for a long time, fill the vegetables with boiled vegetable oil with a layer of 1 cm.

In jars with pepper and garlic

This recipe allows you to ferment cabbage in a hot way. We cook vegetables, clean the main component. Cut off the tops of the stalks flush. Let's divide the heads into quarters.

Let's prepare a delicious dressing from fresh carrots and bell peppers. Chop vegetables with a food processor. Add a bright mixture of grated celery root and finely chopped garlic. Add some fresh corn to the vegetable dressing. The number of components depends on the capabilities of the hostess.

All vegetables are laid in layers in a wide enamel bowl. Layers of cabbage should alternate with vegetable dressing. The more tiers you get, the better.

We will salt the vegetables with brine. Bring 4 liters of water to a boil, dilute in it 200 grams of sugar and salt, five to six black peppercorns and a few bay leaves. Turn off the brine after the salt and sugar have dissolved. Let's wait until the marinade cools down a bit.

Pour the filling into a container with cabbage. Vegetables should be completely hidden under it. Press down the workpiece. Leave for two weeks to ferment in a cool cellar or on the balcony.

Cabbage pickled with spices

This is another unusual recipe for salting cabbage for the winter. For 11 kg of vegetables, we need about a kilogram of apples and 300 grams of carrots. We also take one handful of lingonberries and cranberries. We will create an unusual aroma with the help of cumin, allspice, anise and bay leaf. We will add spices to taste, and take salt in the amount of 2/3 cup.

Shred the cabbage with a shredder. Grind the carrots on a coarse grater. We divide the apples into quarters and so that they do not darken, let them stand for some time in cold salted water.

Mix the prepared ingredients. Let's put the future salad in a wooden or enameled container. Let's crush it. Let's leave for 10-12 days at a temperature of 18-22̊С.

When the product stops fermenting, check its readiness. The salad should decrease slightly in volume, and the juice released from the vegetables should become transparent. Let's put the cabbage in jars. We will cover them with plastic covers. In this form, the salad can stand in the refrigerator all winter.

Salted cabbage with dill seeds

In this recipe, all proportions are conditional. For a bucket of chopped cabbage, you need to take 100 grams of salt. Carrots by volume should be a tenth of the total mass of cabbage. Dill and cumin seeds are added to taste.

Vegetables are peeled, carefully cut into small strips, mixed with salt and seasonings. They are laid out in banks and rammed. They close it with a plastic lid, clean it in the basement or place it on the balcony if it's cool there. After 10 days, the product can be served at the table.

In jars with apples

The original dish is rolled immediately into jars. The salad is made from cabbage, sour apples, onions and sweet bell peppers. The main component should be twice as large as the rest of the ingredients combined. For salt, we make the following calculation: we will need to add three tablespoons for every 2 kg of cabbage.

We cut heads of cabbage, apples, onions and peppers into beautiful even straws or thin slices. Put in the bottom of a wide saucepan. Salt. Stir with a clean spoon, never with your hands.

Banks must be washed in advance. At the bottom of each we put 2-3 bay leaves and 5 black peppercorns.

Fill the container tightly. Cover with metal lids. Sterilize within half an hour. Let's roll up. Turn upside down, cool and place in the refrigerator.

In jars cold

Salting cabbage in jars in brine requires a minimum of preparation time. Take for salad 2 kg of chopped cabbage and 2 medium grated carrots. Mix the vegetables with your hands. Densely fill a three-liter jar with the mixture.

Prepare cold brine. In 1.5 liters of pure water we dissolve in a tablespoon of salt and sugar. With this brine, pour the vegetables folded into a jar. Cover the neck of the glass container with gauze. Put the salad to sour in a warm place. In three days the cabbage will be ready. It must be kept refrigerated for storage.

Quick pickling of cabbage in a hot way

Pickling instant cabbage is popular among people who value time. In this way, salads are made that do not need to be aged for a long time. Vegetables are immediately soaked in brine. Such a preparation can be served at the table the very next day.

We prepare a beautiful vegetable mixture from thinly sliced ​​​​layers of cabbage and carrots. We mix vegetables in any proportions. Pack them tightly into prepared jars. Fill with brine.

In a liter of water, dilute a tablespoon of salt, half a spoon of sugar and a spoonful of vegetable oil. Bring the marinade to a boil and season the vegetables with it.

Leave the jar uncovered for a day in a warm place. The next day, close the salad with a plastic lid and put it in the refrigerator.

With beets in Georgian

For a fragrant Georgian salad, a beautiful large head of cabbage and two small even beets are chosen. A unique aroma is created by 2 heads of garlic, a pod of hot pepper and a bunch of fresh cilantro.

Vegetables are cut quite large. The head of cabbage can be divided into 8-12 parts. Beets should either be grated or cut into flat slices. Garlic cloves can be put whole, or coarsely chopped. Cut hot pepper into rings. Separate the cilantro into branches with your hands.

Vegetables should be laid out in a pan in layers: a layer of cabbage, a layer of beets, a layer of garlic, etc. Repeat several times until you run out of ingredients.

The brine is added last. Boil two liters of water and dilute 50 grams of salt in them. Let the brine cool to room temperature, and then completely cover the vegetables with it.

Georgian salad should stand warm under oppression for about two days. After that, it can be decomposed into jars and put in the refrigerator. There, the cabbage will reach readiness from 3 to 5 days.

Harvesting crispy sauerkraut for the winter in jars

It is very convenient to ferment vegetables in a jar, because later they can be stored in the same bowl in which they were cooked.

Winter salad is chopped only from white cabbage and carrots. Don't go overboard with root crops. It has a lot of carbohydrates, and we don’t need an excess of them. Excess sugar can drastically slow down the fermentation process and the cabbage will not have time to ferment.

Carrots in the salad under discussion will occupy a tenth of the total volume. We cut the vegetables into strips, put them in one wide basin and knead with our hands until the juice appears.

In a glass, mix a tablespoon of coarse salt and a teaspoon of sugar. This amount will be enough to salt a three-liter can of cabbage.

We put the vegetables in a glass container in layers, salting each layer. When the jar is full, the salt and sugar should run out.

Let's put the container in a warm place for three days. Once a day, cabbage will need to be pierced to the very bottom with a wooden stick doused with boiling water. The finished product must be stored in the cold.

With apples and cranberries in a barrel

A wooden barrel is not easy to find today. If you still have it, try cooking cabbage according to this original recipe.

Take apples and cranberries in approximately equal proportions. Cabbage should be 5 times more than the rest of the ingredients. For every kilogram of the main vegetable, you need to put 30 grams of salt.

Mix everything together. Pack the salad into a barrel. Put under oppression and send to heat for 5 days. During this time, the cabbage will stop fermenting and absorb a lot of aromatic substances.

With bell peppers, carrots and onions in a jar

Sweet peppers and onions will give a slightly unusual taste to this salad. Carrots will also take part in the cooking process, saturating the finished dish with juiciness. The volume of cabbage is twice the amount of other vegetables. Carrots, onions and peppers are taken in equal proportions.

Vegetables should be finely chopped, mixed with salt, sugar and vegetable oil. The calculation of the ingredients will be as follows: for 3 kg of cabbage, add 4 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of salt and one tablespoon of vegetable oil. We immediately lay out the salad in jars and place it in the refrigerator for several days.

With horseradish and garlic

For a spicy salad, you need a whole large head of cabbage, weighing about 3 kg. Cut the cabbage into strips and dilute with carrots and beets. We will need two sweet orange root vegetables, which we grind with a grater. We choose one large beetroot and also rub it on a grater, or chop it in a combine.

The taste of the salad is perfectly complemented by lemon. We cut it straight with the peel into thin slices.

This recipe uses an unusual marinade, which is prepared on the basis of prunes and honey. For salting one head of cabbage, you need 200 grams of dried fruit, which we pre-wash, pour a glass of water and boil. Keep on fire for 3 minutes. At the end, add salt (1 tablespoon) and honey (4 tablespoons) to the broth.

We mix the vegetables with the marinade, immediately put the salad in jars, close with ordinary plastic lids without sterilizing. We put it in the refrigerator, and on the third day we will enjoy the taste of a healthy dish.

Armenian cabbage pickling

For a head of cabbage, you will need medium-sized carrots, one beetroot, celery root, a bunch of cilantro, 2 hot peppers, and a head of garlic. The listed vegetables, except for cabbage, will be cut into thin large plates, pepper, respectively, into rings. We divide the head of cabbage into slices. We tear cilantro with our hands. Layer the cabbage and mixed vegetables in a container.

How to pickle cabbage so that it is crispy

If you fermented cabbage, but it turned out soft, use the following tips:

• try not to crush the cabbage next time when salting, so it is better to retain its initial properties;
• do not spare salt, it will restrain the growth of harmful microflora and will not allow the product to peroxide;
• use only late varieties of cabbage;
• keep clean during preparation, as third-party microorganisms can prevent the fermentation process from proceeding as it should;
• as soon as the juice in the workpiece becomes transparent, immediately remove the cabbage in a cool place.

The last recommendation, of course, is from the realm of fantasy, but those who follow it claim that the result is excellent. The folk calendar recommends harvesting cabbage for the growing moon, 5-6 days from the new moon. This method can be used in conjunction with other recommendations.

Marinate vegetables without vinegar

None of our recipes use vinegar. Although the taste of some preparations turns out to be similar to the taste of pickled vegetables. It's all about adding sugar. If you put it less than salt, the product will rather ferment and acquire a characteristic sourness.

An abundance of sugar inhibits the growth of lactic acid bacteria. If you add it twice as much as salt, the fermentation process will not work. The activity of microorganisms will slow down. The juice released from the cabbage will taste like a marinade.

We examined many ways to harvest a healthy vegetable and realized that the pickling process is practically the same as fermentation. In order to serve a delicious vitamin salad to the table, you do not need much time and effort, and the result can exceed all expectations.

Having tried many other sauerkraut recipes, I finally settled on ours - family, the housewives will forgive me, but it's not that ...... Even in the grandmother's market it happens, as you buy .... then salty, not crispy, peroxide , soft, with an incomprehensible smell, etc...

Ingredients for a 3 liter jar:

White cabbage - 3 kg,

Carrot - 1 medium,

Salt - 1 tbsp. with a slide

Bay leaf - 8 pcs,

Cranberries (optional)

Black peppercorns - 10 pcs.

The method of preparing sauerkraut is very simple:

For fermentation, it is better to use white cabbage of late or medium ripening with strong elastic leaves. Therefore, it is better to ferment cabbage in the fall. Wash cabbage and carrots, clean. We chop the cabbage, and rub the carrots on a coarse grater. Mix cabbage and carrots, add salt. It should be slightly saltier than usual in a salad, so when salting, taste the cabbage, but do not oversalt!!!

Add bay leaf and peppercorns and mix again.

It’s good to rub everything with your hands, not to fanaticism of course. Tamp into the jar, very tightly - with a fist or a crush (each layer !!!), the jar should be filled to the very top (therefore, if you have little cabbage, take a smaller jar). Place cranberries between layers.

We put a jar of cabbage in a deep plate and leave it on the table for three to four days. Cabbage ferments at a temperature of about 20 - 21 "C.

Once or twice a day, you need to pierce the cabbage in several places to the very bottom in order to release the accumulated gas (if this is not done, the cabbage will be bitter). You can pierce with a long knife or a wooden stick. The juice that will be poured out, after piercing, gradually top up.

The jar must be covered with a lid! (but not closed completely).

After 4 days, we try, if ready, close the jar of cabbage with a nylon lid and put it in the refrigerator. In the cold, the fermentation process will be completed.

Have you fermented cabbage yet?

Serve with fragrant oil from roasted seeds, with chopped onions.