Kraut

Every day I’m harvesting produce, and it’s still kind of alarming to see all of it in the pails on the counter or out on the ledge by the kitchen door. Every day I try to do something that counts as preserving, though I’m not canning more than every other day.

Yesterday was a canning day, though the tomatoes on the counter are not all ripe. So I turned the last bucket of tomatillos into Rick Bayless’s Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (seriously good, and I’m loving using the broiler instead of the grill). I will probably switch to the broiler for my roasted chipotle salsa in the future, unless it is too hot to turn on the oven.

I also made three containers of Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian red pepper sauce with the abundance of Jimmy Nardello peppers, which will go in the freezer. Later in the day I whipped up three half-pints of peach vanilla bean jam, which I dutifully cooked down until it was properly jammy. I’m kind of getting more patient these days with the recipes. I just give myself over to the process– it’s a canning day.

But the big thing of the week was the sauerkraut. You may remember that it is the year of ferment and that I put some cabbage and salt and nothing else in my vegetable master three weeks ago. It looked so beautiful when I first had it set up…

Most recipes say to start tasting the stuff after two weeks and leave it fermenting up to a month.

I gotta tell you, this stuff looked sketchy within two days. And as things progressed, it looked more and more dubious– downright dangerous. I considered dumping it several times. When in the grocery store or co-op, I looked at jars of organic kraut and tried to remember the color, so as to compare it with my own jar of rotting– I mean fermenting– cabbage.

But I also kept opening it, and it didn’t seem like mold was forming, and it also didn’t at any time smell bad.

Yesterday marked three weeks, so I decided it was time. It was time to take a risk and taste the stuff. I will tell you that I skimmed off the top layer and just threw it away, but in retrospect I don’t think that was necessary. I mean, look at that gorgeous stuff! I also was surprised that little bits that looked brown in the jar were actually upon inspection a beautiful dark green.

This stuff is delicious. And I don’t actually like sauerkraut so much. Tangy, and Steve’s daughter Catherine said, “It tastes like beer.” Real sauerkraut taste but also so crunchy and fresh! Zing!

And no signs of intestinal distress from anyone who tried it! So now, in the fridge, I’ve got kraut. And I’ve started some Fermented Moroccan Carrots in a jar…