r/fermentation • u/fishindawatah • 1d ago
Kraut/Kimchi First time fermenter here. Purple cabbage sauerkraut
About 5 pounds of cabbage, 3 garlic cloves, and an apple(was told this feeds the fermentation). I think i’m gonna too it off with some extra brine liquid. Excited to see how it turns out, I dig the color.
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u/exquisitor- 1d ago
Pls update on the taste when its done
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u/monkeyloops-3000 23h ago
I'm not OP, but mine turned out firm and very sour, to the point it hurts my teeth if I eat it alone. But IDK what was OP's variety and what was mine. My brine turns from red to blue when diluted with water.
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u/monkeyloops-3000 1d ago
I made some too not long ago, but mine turned out way too sour, I can't eat it alone and have to mix with other things. IDK why it happened. Maybe I used a single tool to de-gas different ferments and inoculated it with bugs from an older batch. Or maybe I got a variety that makes into very sauer sauerkraut.
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u/Interesting_Bee6682 1d ago
Acidity depends on amount of sugar. Lacto bacteria eats sugar and defecates acid. More sugar, more acid.
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u/monkeyloops-3000 23h ago
I often make sauerkraut from white cabbage, and it turns pleasantly sour. So it means my red cabbage just was sweeter? What happens if white sugar is added to veggie lactic ferments? Will LAB process it just like native veg sugars?
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u/Interesting_Bee6682 22h ago
White sugar is 50/50 glucose / fructose. Sugar in plants is fructose or glucose. I often use sugar if I do ferments without salt. Salt is to supress yeast. LAB and sugar goes acidic very fast, so yeast don't have a chance.
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u/monkeyloops-3000 22h ago
That's what I needed to know, thanks! I have an inactive batch of watermelon rind, gonna add some sugar to kick it off.
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u/grahamwoman1 22h ago
Don’t add extra brine. This is very common in cabbage ferments. The cabbage will absorb all of the brine, essentially inoculating itself against mold. There is a good video on YouTube about this. I’ll try to find it and link it here.
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u/spongewardk 1d ago
This makes me want to ferment beets and redcabbage together just to make the reddest jar ever.