“Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly”.
- M. F. K. Fisher
Sticking with the Virgo theme, let’s get into probiotic foods. Virgos are very prone to digestive system issues and so foods that are going to feed all the good critters in the gut are wonderful. Let’s face it they’re wonderful for everyone! I’ve been making my own sauerkraut for quite a few years now because it’s so simple and therefore so much more cost effective than buying it ready made. You can make a huge batch and then it keeps for months in the fridge. You’ll find you can actually fit more than you think into a jar because you really jam that cabbage in! Also you can make it with any cabbage you like, I just think the red cabbage is so pretty and it’s an easy way to get a blue/ purple veggie checked off my rainbow list each day!
Ingredients
-1 small organic red cabbage
-Sea salt
-Purified water (NB do not use tap water as the chlorine kills the probiotics, so either filtered or bottled water)
-Optional – onion, carrot, chilli flakes, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, other flavourings you fancy
-Clean jar/s with screw top lids
Method
– Finely chop the cabbage (first removing the core) and place it in a glass bowl. I use my mandolin. You could even use a food processor. About 3/4 of a cabbage will fill a 1 litre jar. I then save the other 1/4 for coleslaw! If you are using onion or carrot finely slice them too and add to the bowl with the cabbage.
-Rub sea salt and any flavourings you are using into the cabbage with your hands until lots of water is coming out of the cabbage.
-Leave the bowl on the bench top for a few hours or even overnight.
-Jam the cabbage mixture into clean jars. Use a wooden spoon to push it down hard. Leave a space at the top of each jar of about an inch.
-Make a brine of 1tsp of sea salt per 3/4 cup of water (you’ll probably need a couple of batches) and pour over the cabbage until it is completely covered with at least a centimetre of water over the top of the veggies.
-Put lids on the jars and leave them out on the kitchen bench for around a week. At least every couple of days you need to ‘burp’ your kraut! To do this you once again ram the cabbage down with a wooden spoon. You will notice the burps rising to the top of the liquid. You always want your veggies completed covered by the brine.
-After around a week once the mixture has stopped burping it’s ready to go into the fridge!
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