Sauerkraut II - the science and art of lactofermentation

[Rozenkwarts]

Troy,

The sauerkraut is coming along nicely, i take a little peek every now and again. It's starting to smell very faintly fermented which i take to be a good sign. The brine was seeping up over the plate more and more and i needed to weigh it down with something heavier. I haven't tasted it yet, it's been a week now on my kitchen shelf so maybe we'll have some tonight with sausages. It really is so cold lately that this kind of dish seems just right.

How do you eat your sauerkraut warm or cold? Does it have the same benefits when it's heated?

I know you're quite an expert on fats. Is pork fat good or bad? I get organic pork sausages every now and again and was wondering (i know Shelley usually just recommends organic beef or buffalo) I was looking at the Nourishing Traditions site, great info and recipes, and saw the menus the editors were eating. They seemed to eat bacon quite a lot
I don't buy bacon anymore because i can't find organic and i don't want the sulfites (the supermarket bacon seems to have too many additives, sulfites etc) i think i get headaches from sulfites. (I certianly do from white wine)

I'm looking forward to trying your cortido recipe next. Do you have some every day?

[shelley]

Pork fat used to be okay, but now all the pigs are getting fed soy and corn and this causes all kinds of problems with toxic deposits in the fat.

[Troy McClure]

I have my sauerkraut at room temp since I don't refigerate it - just let it ferment. If you cook with it (or heat it up a lot) then you will kill the microbes, but still get beneficial nutrients.

I'm surprised the editors of NT eat bacon because NT has a passage in it which shows the dangers of eating pork:

"Investigation into the effects of pork consumption on blood chemistry has revealed serious changes for several hours after pork is consumed. The pork used was organic, free of trichinosis, so the changes that occured in the blood were due to some other factor, possibly a protein unique to pork. In the laboratory, pork is one of the best mediums for feeding the growth of cancer cells." Nourishing Traditions p32

I used to have Cortido everyday, but unfortunately I am hypothyroid (from candida) and I was eating too many goitrogens. But for someone who doesn't have thyroid problems it should be fine.

[Rozenkwarts]

Ok, so room temperature is problably best for sauerkraut. That's good to know, thanks

Here is the link for the menus from the board members of Weston A Price:

http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/boarddiets.html


I was just surprised at the amount of fat they eat. I don't think i could handle that much fat in my diet, too hard to digest. I find if i eat too much fat (even olive oil) in a meal it just seem to sit in my stomach for ages and makes me feel miserable.

The food does sound quite yummy though, plenty of lacto-fermented vegetables.

I suppose if you can buy meat directly from small farmers who rear their own pigs and chickens this is probably the best way to go.

[jules]

did you come across a saltless sauerkraut recipe?

i'd found one awhile back and just made the kraut with cabbage and cabbage juice, nothing more. the sauerkraut came out ok, but i was very confused with all of the conflicting directions in the various recipes for sauerkraut i'd seen, so i got alot of mold on top, which i scraped off, and still ate the batch. i'll admit, seeing the mold on my batch, made the process of eating it a little less of a joy. so i'd like to avoid this in the future.

alot of recipes i saw said specifically to make sure NOT to submerge the top layers of cabbage under the brine. so that is what i did...

[harmony]

Jules,
Wow that is odd about not submerging the top layer.

I'm not sure about the chemisry there. (skipped that semester)??
But my thinking would be the exposure to the air would promote rot and bad guy bacteria growth.
Glopping off the top layer was a definate good idea.

[spo1977]

bump