Why is sauerkraut not crunchy and has become soft?
Cabbage is the most popular food on the table during the cold season. A storehouse of vitamins and excellent taste makes Every housewife in the country pickles and salts this vegetable. Each housewife has her own pickling recipe, but the end result isn't always pleasing. Housewives ask why sauerkraut becomes soft and lacks crunch when the pickling time is up, and the dish's taste isn't satisfying.
Reasons for soft fork leaves when pickling
If the cabbage turns out soft during pickling, it's impossible to restore its crunch. This product should be either fried, used in soups, or eaten soft. To avoid making mistakes next time, it's important to know why pickled cabbage becomes soft.
Factors affecting the crunch of vegetables:
- The vegetable variety. This determines the final flavor of the dish. Not all varieties are suitable for pickling and fermenting. To ensure the vegetable has a crisp, crunchy texture and is not mushy, use late varieties: Slava 1305, Podarok, Belorusskaya, Menza F1, Valentina F1, Mara, Amager 611, Moskovskaya Pozdnyaya, Kharkovskaya Zimnyaya, and Belosnezhka.
- Formation of the vegetable head. The head should feel formed and firm to the touch;
- Recipe. The amount of salt and the time it takes to ferment in a warm place are important. The more salt you add, the crispier the finished salad will be, but too much salt will make it edible. Fermentation begins on the second day of pickling and is completed between the third and fifth days. The main sign of completion is the cessation of bubbles on the surface. At this point, the pickle should be moved to a cool place.
- Moon phase. According to the lunar calendar, cabbage leaves fermented during the waxing moon always turn out crispy. The waxing moon causes the cabbage leaves to absorb the juice and salt, making the product juicy and crispy.
A moderately salted product keeps well, retaining its properties and vitamins throughout storage. Following the basic rules of pickling allows you to produce a high-quality and delicious salad.
Pickling errors
The main mistake in pickling is improperly maintaining the salt-to-cabbage ratio. Too little salt won't kickstart the fermentation process, and the cabbage won't release enough salt. With the correct ratio, the cabbage will release a lot of juice, so it's recommended to leave some space in the container or place the jar in a bowl. You need 20 grams of salt per 1 kg of cabbage.
Too many carrots will make the salad slimy, like seaweed. While it's always tempting to make the salad prettier and add color, overdoing it with carrots usually negatively impacts the taste of the final product. Use 30 grams of carrots per 1 kg of cabbage.
Fermentation temperature is important. When pickling, the container containing the product should be kept at a temperature no higher than 17 degrees Celsius.
Why does cabbage become soft?
Reasons why cabbage turns out soft, dark and slimy:
- If the heads of cabbage were harvested after a frost and the vegetables froze over, the salad will not only be soft, but will also have an unpleasant smell and a sweetish taste;
- Vegetables grown with nitrates don't store well and don't perform as expected when processed. If you end up with such a product, the pickle will taste bland;
- early variety of cabbage will not crunch and will not release enough juice;
- If you turn a head of cabbage straight from the garden into a pickle, the dish won't be enjoyable. After harvesting, the head of cabbage should rest for a while;
- If you don’t pierce the pickle during fermentation, thereby not releasing carbon dioxide, the dish will seriously lose its taste and color;
- There is no need to press or crush the vegetable too much after shredding; the cabbage is mixed with salt and placed in a container;
- For pickling, containers made of glass, enamel or wood are used;
- After 2-3 days of fermentation, the pickles are put away in a cold place, in a refrigerator or cellar.
Following the recipe and choosing the right cabbage will ensure the most delicious dish is served. Packing the leaves tightly into the container and placing a weight on top will prevent the pickle from becoming slimy.
Is it possible to eat snotty and dark cabbage?
If the pickle ferments at temperatures above 17 degrees Celsius or in the sun, it's a sure bet that the pickle will turn out slimy. The degree of compaction is also important in this case, as bacteria will thrive in the open space, causing darkening and slime formation. The amount of juice also influences the formation of putrefactive bacteria and leaf softening, so the product must be completely covered with juice.
Eating mucus-laden cabbage won't cause any harm, but it's best to use it for dishes that require long cooking times. Such dishes include soups, pies, and pastries. If mucus forms on the top at the beginning of fermentation, the leaves should be mixed with the lower layers and the fermentation process continued in the refrigerator.
The pickle will acquire a bitter taste if the fermentation process took place at a temperature below 17-18 degrees.
Pickling the leaves of the fork on a man's day of the week will make the dish delicious, the leaves will be crispy and juicy.
Choosing the right head of cabbage for pickling, following the correct preparation and fermentation techniques are essential for sauerkraut. Don't get carried away when preparing, stick to the recipe, and the dish will be worthy of all praise.
Reviews
Valentina Egorovna, 65 years old
When I salt cabbage, it always turns out crispy and juicy. My secret is to always add at least 20 grams of salt per kilogram.
Irina, 31 years old
I pickle cabbage on Thursdays and Mondays. Men's Day helps make the pickles crispier. I don't keep the pickles at temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius.
Nina Alekseevna, 49 years old
I've noticed that pickling dry cabbage with soft heads doesn't produce good results. I always choose firm, firm heads. And I don't start the pickling process until mid-October, after the late varieties have been harvested.
If you cut cabbage during your period, it will be runny and soft.
Alexander
Salt: 280g per kg of net weight, carrots: 300g. Never mash or crush the cabbage, just mix and press. The variety is very important; I buy from reputable sellers. I don't use any calendars.
...isn't there a lot of salt per kg of "net weight"?
…isn’t there a lot of salt per kg of net weight?…
What are you talking about? That's 1 kg more than a glass of salt, so what do you get?
1 kg more than a glass of salt? And what do you get?
Alexander
Sorry, 280g per 10kg.
Love
I only ferment cabbage during the waxing moon. I use 20-25 grams of salt per 1 kg of net weight, and I practically exclude carrots: they're just for appearance's sake... they ruin both the color and the flavor. But I love cabbage with dill seeds. It's good in salads and borscht. I tried it with caraway seeds, though—I didn't like it. And one more thing. Besides piercing the cabbage with a wooden stick for three days, before storing it, I stir it all over to release any residual gases. I leave it like that for an hour to evaporate. Then I press it down again with a plate and put it away.
Larisa
WHITE SAUERKRAUT by L.A. Kolieva
Calculate the ingredients for 900g of cabbage and 100g of carrots, for a total of 1kg of ingredients. Add 1 level tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 5-6 black allspice berries, and 1 bay leaf.
Shred the cabbage, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, add salt, sugar, pepper, a bay leaf, and rub everything with your hands, like kneading dough, until the juice appears. Place everything in a saucepan or other container, and place a plate with a weight on top.
For 10 kg of produce, the weight of the weight should be no more than 1 kg, that is, 1/10 of the total weight. If the weight is too heavy, the cabbage may not be juicy. I specially store a boulder washed with hot water and place it on a plate. But you can also use a jar of water.
We leave the cabbage in the kitchen, sometimes piercing it to the bottom with a stick to let the air out, and once the foam settles, carefully wipe the edges of the dish.
With a cloth, we wash the plate and the weight, and put the cabbage in the cold for 10-15 days for further ripening.
When serving, it is good to add finely chopped onions, cilantro and drizzle with vegetable oil.
And one more thing. I usually cook in an enamel bowl after the foam has settled and
You can take the cabbage out into the cold; I can transfer it to jars. But that's only if I put it in the refrigerator. But if it's cold enough outside, I just put the bucket or pot I cooked it in on the veranda. You can remove the weight. It doesn't freeze or soften in the cold. I've never had it become snotty or uncrispy. If your cabbage has become snotty, don't be upset, and especially don't throw it away or use it for borscht; just don't rush to try it. The cabbage needs to ripen, which is at least 10 days, if not more.
2 weeks. And where will this snotty feeling go, everything will be fine. You just need to keep it longer. And in general, we don’t eat cabbage before a week, let it fully ripen. Then it’s much tastier. And I never cook it in brine; it still gives off a watery taste. Try it, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. This recipe is many, many years old; I’m 67 and learned to ferment from my father, so the ingredients have been tested over the years, we don’t change a thing. And if anyone likes pickled apples, then you can safely prick sour apples with a fork and stick them into this cabbage. It will acquire an even better aroma than before, and you will have sour-salty-sweet apples. Very tasty. You can see my cabbage on OK on my page, in the photo album Pickling and Fermentation. There are many there. Cabbage, fermented in different ways. It's a pity I can't post photos here. Good luck with your preparations, everyone. It's time to start fermenting cabbage.
Natalia
I haven't been adding sugar to cabbage lately; I think it makes it slippery. I add it to taste when we're eating the cabbage.
Thanks for the advice
Marina
I've never thought about the moon, or the days of the week. The idea of a temperature no higher than 17 degrees is complete nonsense, in my opinion. My cabbage ferments in the kitchen, where it's definitely at least 20 degrees, sometimes more. And it's never soft, dark, or slimy. This year, I made my first pickle at the beginning of September. They've already eaten it, and they're asking for more. So, it's not always a specific variety of cabbage, just whatever's available at the store. The main thing is that the head is good and firm.
My mother managed to make soft cabbage a couple of times, but she mashed it too much with salt. I think that's the problem, nothing else. I don't mash at all; I add salt, mix, and pack it down until it releases juice. I don't really stick to the proportions; it's all by eye and taste. And so far, no one has complained about the result. They just ask for more.
Konstantin
If the cabbage doesn't yield much juice during pickling, I add boiled water. Just enough to completely cover the cabbage. Naturally, I then add salt, at a rate of 22 g per liter. This doesn't mean I add 1 liter of water to the cabbage; typically, 300-400 g of water is enough for 5-6 kg of cabbage. I pickle the cabbage in 5-6 kg batches, and for the second pickling in the season and later, I add more brine from the previous pickling. This not only speeds up the pickling process but also ensures consistently good results.
Salt with anti-caking additives may make cabbage soft.
I have been salting everything to taste for many years now and always add 1 spoon of honey per 1 kg of cabbage. The cabbage turns out very tasty and crispy.