Choucroute is simply lacto-fermentation, healthy, easy to make, if you just follow a few simple rules. The first being, one should use very fresh ingredients, the salt used must not have any added fluoride or iodine, etc, just pure salt. The jar must be clean but not sterilised. Fermentation was one of the first methods used to conserve food, it's almost as old as man! A passionate history of food conservation told by Marie-Claire Frédéric on her blog, Ni cru, ni cuit, as well as recipes such as this recipe for choucroute.
Ingredients:
- 900 g Cabbage, white, green or red
- 9 g pure sea salt, no additives
- A few Juniper berries
- 1 jar with a rubber seal
Method:
No need to wash your cabbage, just the remove dirty and/or
damaged leaves.
Shred finely (I used a mandoline) and place in a large
plastic mixing bowl.
Add the salt and massage the salt into the cabbage
until the water from the cabbage is released and your hand is wet.
Throw
in the Juniper berries and mix with your hand to incorporate.
Still
using your hand, place handfuls into the prepared jar and push down to
remove all air bubbles. Continue until the jar is full and all the
cabbage is in the jar. The water will now completely cover the cabbage.
Seal and leave for 2 weeks. Place on a
saucer as it may leak (do not open during this time) After 2 weeks, the
choucroute is ready to eat. It may be kept for a year or more without
opening.
Serve with veggie sausages, steamed potatoes and a very cold glass of beer!
Can also be eaten cold as a salad.
