Winter Cabbages: Storage and Uses

 

Last summer I grew 8 cabbages – Hybrid Storage Green from Johnny’s Seeds.  I picked the first one in mid-September and harvested the rest on October 21^st.  Each cabbage plant occupied 4 square feet of bed and I harvested a total 58 lbs averaging 7 lbs per head or 1.8 lbs per square foot.  That's better lbs/sq.ft. than potatoes or carrots.

 

I’d never tried to store cabbage before other than in the fridge.  I don’t have a bonified root cellar, however I have an unheated, carless garage that doesn’t freeze.  I didn’t know the protocols for storing cabbage so had to wing it.  So far it is working quite well.

I own a vintage galvanized square tub – 21 inches to a side and 11 inches deep.  That sits on the concrete floor with 6 cabbages in it and a plastic sheet with a dozen 1.5 inch sized holes cut into it draped over the top, resting on the top cabbage.  I used some magnets to anchor the cover to the sides of the tub.

Since I’d never made sauerkraut before (where no man had gone before), I dragged my feet on making my first batch.  In early January, I finally lifted the tub’s cover to see what I had.  I found some dark gray mold on the surface of the cabbages.  It had been a bit too damp in the tub.  This was easily removed by peeling a few wrapper leaves off each cabbage and cutting off a bit of each core stem.  

I washed the inside of the tub and reset the remaining cabbages with the same plastic cover but this time I inserted a rod to hold the centre of the plastic up, like a tent.  This vented the surplus moisture much better and 5 weeks later the cabbages were still in fine shape.

It was time to make my second batch of Sauerkraut.  5.5 lbs of shredded cabbage and 3 tablespoons of non-iodized salt (iodine kills the bacteria that I’m trying to grow).  This is kneaded and squeezed with my hands in a big bowl.  The books say for 5 or 10 minutes but I did it for 15.  

Since the cabbage had been ‘breathing’ in the tub all winter I felt that by this second time I would need to add a cup of water to the batch.  The online advice is all over the place on that.  Some say to boil the water first to sterilize it.  However, I’m using my bare hands to knead and squeeze the cabbage.  No matter how clean I get my fingernails they always come out cleaner after all the kneading.  So, sterility isn’t the answer.  

I definitely used chlorine free, filtered water – I didn’t want the chlorine to kill the bacteria.  Others say to use saline water.  Saline is fine but if straight water is well mixed into the batch, the water is salted by the salt in the batch.

The mixed cabbage goes into the big 4-litre pickle jar (the same size I keep my vegetable seeds in) and is pressed down to keep all of it submerged under liquid.  That is held down with a salmon canning jar of clean rocks and then the top of the jar is covered with a thin cotton cloth to breathe.

Seven days at room temperature, then a taste and then (last time anyway) another three days before going into the fridge to stop the action but not kill the culture.  Any mold showing up during the process is quickly scraped off when noticed and all is well.  

Smaller one-litre jars with lids in the fridge work well.  They say all bacterial action stops in the fridge but I found the flavours continued to mellow as the weeks went by.  They report that live sauerkraut keeps in the fridge for two months.  My first batch was eaten in a month.  It was great. 

TOG had mentioned that some fermented foods can become a bit habit forming.  He felt an urge to have some every day.  That could be why people who are into Kimchee must have their Kimchee.  I’ve always kept a close eye on my craft beer consumption (one six pack per week spaced over Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday).  Now I’m enjoying my own sauerkraut.  I’m looking forward to this next batch.  In fact, I think I’ll have the remains of the first batch now.