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Today, thus far I've bottled my first batch of lacto-fermented ginger beer and prepared a load of veg which are currently soaking in brine.

We got a big bag of "waste" (yes, that's what it said on the label) jalapeno pepper slices in Asda, for 49p, which are now fermenting in brine and kombucha.

The cabbage for sauerkraut will be bottled shortly and will be ready to eat in about 4-6 weeks - 2 x 1 litre jars.
The kimchi will be ready to bottle by dinner time. It should be ready in 2-3 weeks. 1x 1 litre of normal and 1 x 750ml vegan.
The piccalilli will stay in the brine until tomorrow. It's a bit of an experiment as I'm going to lacto-ferment it along with everything else. 3 x 1 litre. I'm not sure when this will be ready but I'm certain it will get its first taste on 26th of this month - the gal wants a picnic for her birthday.

I've got a sweetheart cabbage left and a bulb of fennel so I might do a small batch of sauerkraut with those tomorrow - I'm a little shredded myself now.

Just started a batch of sauerkraut last night. Never tried this before but after I had salted the shredded cabbage and had thumped it for a few minutes with a wooden hammer handle I used a gallon milk carton filled with water (8 lbs - or a hefty 3.6 kilo) to press down on a plate that pressed down on the cabbage... and so with very little work I found that the cabbage had expressed a reasonable amount of liquid. I then doubled the weight by adding a second carton and very soon found enough brine to cover the cabbage.

I don't pound it any more. I sprinkle the cabbage with salt and massage it for a few minutes. You can feel the change in it as it softens. Then I leave it for a couple of hours covered with a cloth. I find that when I press it down into the jar I usually have enough brine to cover.

Green Aura wrote:I don't pound it any more. I sprinkle the cabbage with salt and massage it for a few minutes.

That's what I do to make a kind of coleslaw - Yugoslavian style... Well, it was a lady from there who I have the recipe from. After massaging it, add chopped onion, caraway seeds (ground if you don't like the seeds), pepper, and lemon juice (or vinegar) and oil... Makes a change from "normal" coleslaw!

Sounds delicious, ina. Unfortunately OH hates caraway so I don't add it to my sauerkraut - I love it.

I do, however, make coleslaw with my sauerkraut. My favourite is made with red cabbage kraut.

I might have a go at your recipe and see if I can sneak some caraway past him.

That's what my friend did - used ground caraway for those who are against it and didn't tell them about it... And it does help with digestion of all things cabbagey.

I wouldn't put caraway in sauerkraut, though - only onions and juniper berries. A lot of people seem to think that certain food stuffs like sauerkraut and rye bread always have caraway in them - that is not so! I like caraway in bread, once in a while; but it's not standard, and I've never seen it used in sauerkraut. Some people use pineapple in sauerkraut, too - I like to put some apple in...