Preserve or Perish?

As fruit displays progressively shine with the appetizing colors of summer, some locavores, heirloom produce hounds and DIY enthusiasts are already planning for winter by arming themselves with massive tongs, a litter of mason jars and huge pots of boiling water. Clostridium botulinum beware!  Though an average pint sized jar of preserves or pickles lasts me 36 hours at most and a cellar of jars adorned with red-checkered cloth features prominently in my fantasies, I will remain mostly un-pickled and unpreserved.

[caption id="attachment_2636" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fruits and Vegetables courtesy of flikr user val'sphotos."][/caption]

Making preserves literally implies compensating for overabundance.  My summer passes with a handful of cherries, a strawberry rhubarb pie, a special outing for raspberry picking, and a week of tomato and cucumber salads.  Then apple season arrives suddenly. Each ripe morsel is a rare prize.

I prefer to concentrate my preservation efforts on less ephemeral foods.  Cabbages mature in early summer or late fall and endure all year making it easy to enjoy slaws, stir-fries, borscht, and best of all, SAUERKRAUT!!!

[caption id="attachment_2634" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sauerkraut & Bratwurst courtesy of flikr user *keaggy.com."][/caption]

While it is possible to pickle cabbage, I prefer fermentation for sauerkraut, which requires nothing but cabbage, salt and water.  Fanatics ferment in all receptacles from barrels to jars to garbage bags.  But after an unfortunate incident with exploding purple cabbage in the spare bathroom, I invested in a 7.5 liter Harsch Fermenting Crock Pot.



The fermentation pot is glazed ceramic and includes ceramic weights and an airtight water seal system.  Excess gas escapes through the ceramic’s tiny pores and prevents all explosions.  To make sauerkraut, pack tightly shredded cabbage and salt into the pot, place the weights on top, submerge cabbage and weights under water, cover, and place pot in a cool place for 3-4 weeks.  The appropriate cabbage to salt ratio is provided in the instruction pamphlet.  After 3-4 weeks, I pack the sauerkraut into old yogurt containers that I keep in the refrigerator.  The sauerkraut lasts at least two months.

You can ferment anything in the Harsch pot, but I’ve primarily stuck to sauerkraut.