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Immune Boosting Sauerkraut — 15 Comments

  1. Your sauerkraut sounds delicious!
    I want to share with you my tonic, which I’ve been making for years, so simple. I keep my ‘leftovers’ crock on my kitchen counter, never refrigerated, and continue to add the chopped remnants of all the vegetables I use for fermenting or general cooking. Once a month, I transfer the spicy, bubbling liquid to mason jars which I then keep in the refrigerator. The tonic is a combination of ginger, cabbage, bell peppers, hot peppers, copious amounts of fresh, chopped garlic, parsley, kale, squash, cukes, and lots of etcetera’s. Once a month, I scoop out all of the vegetables and use them as compost and begin again, leaving some of the fermented juice as a legacy starter, much like a sourdough mother.
    What I do then, makes for a wonderful, sour tonic. I fill a glass halfway with fresh, home-fermented, whole at milk yogurt and the other with my tonic. I drink this concoction twice a day as either a between meal snack, or a complete meal. I know this is anecdotal, but I haven’t has as much as a sniffle in years! Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes!

  2. Hi Ted, I’m two weeks in the crock right now. Can’t wait to try it. I did add water so I could reap some elixir too. I stumbled across your website when searching for pickle recipes. And I got to tell you I prefer fermented pickles over the vinegar type. But I did add a wee bit of vinegar to one of my batches. I can’t believe how good the garlic cloves are too. They taste like the pickles. I’ve also made some ferm. jalapeno sauce. Man did that come out tasty. Then I added a combo of vinegar and wow what flavor. Thanks to you I’ve really learned a lot about fermentation. I’ve probably made beer about 25 times but never fermented food. Thanks so much!

  3. This stuff is off the charts good. I made extra juice but not enough. I can’t walk by the fridge without taking a swig. I went so far as to sacrifice a quart jars worth just for the juice. Very tasty!

  4. I tried your raw organic sauerkraut for the first time. The Best. How long will it last after I open it and keep it in the refrigerator. Thanks

  5. I just started a batch of your sauerkraut, I do a lot of canning, any tips on processing times for pressure canning after fermentation?
    Thanks
    Paul

    • Paul, I’ve never pressure canned my ferments. I prefer keeping the probiotics alive so simply tend to refrigerate. Because the pH is generally very low, ferments usually keep a long time. Fermentation is often used for preservation. Good luck!

    • Never, ever pressure-can fermented products. Ever. E-VER. You will kill every single ounce of goodness. The heat will do that. This is why I never buy commercial sauerkraut. It’s been heat-treated. The flavour is distinctly mild, and the benefits distinctly non-existent.
      Keep the fermented product in a cool dark place (that’s right – the fridge). Do NOT freeze. That too, will break down the biotics and ruin the benefits. Providing you maintain pressure on the fermented vegetables, or under fluid, they will last a very long time. However, in my house, they actually rarely last more than a week. I eat them. Ravenously, and in a healthy-gluttonous way.

    • Adding carrots and scallions should be fine. Sometimes carrots can make a ferment more active because of their higher sugar content, but should work out just fine. Good luck!

  6. I’m making my first batch of your immune boosting sauerkraut. It’s Ben 10 days pop the lid and I have some collections of bubbles on top. Plus it doesn’t smell the best should I be worried? I have a picture but no place to post. Thank you.

  7. Patches of bubbles generally reflect an active ferment. The scent you smell could be the horseradish (and ginger) which can be fairly intense, though they should settle over time with the fermentation. As always, you still need to be your own judge as to whether something is good. A clear sign that something has gone bad are obvious signs of mold. I’d say give is some more time and eventually give it a taste. Good luck!

  8. Sounds tasty, going to try it. By my reckoning, and I could be wrong, I figure this is a bit shy of a 2% brine in the end. This is a little on the low side as most sauerkraut ferments call for a 2-2.25% brine. I’m partial to less salt myself, just wondering if you’ve figured it any differently. Thanks!

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