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My kraut didnt smell!!

17 years ago

Theres only two reasons i can imagine, i made it from spring planted cabbage, and i got it a tad too salty--but i really dont think either.

for starters, i used 50# of cabbage, and salt. it stayed in my antique crock for a bit over 6 weeks, i had brine, from the cabbage, about 3" over the kraut, a weighted plate on top, with a cover over the crock. brine never smelled, only a minute few bubbles at start--otherwise, it just sat there! i didnt think it would be any good, but taste test? it was kraut! like i said, bit salty, but canned in anyhow. just opened a jar, rinsed it slightly--its good!!

any ideas on why no smell, or showing fermentation?

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Comments (3)

shirleywny5
17 years ago
I made kraut last fall for the first time. I used only 25 lbs of cabbage. Mine didn't smell either. It did smell like kraut but no other odors. There was no scum, ever. I canned it up. It is the best kraut I ever had. My friends said the same. I thought it was a bit salty, so I rinsed slightly. My son didn't rinse the jars I gave him and he liked it so much, I'll be helping him with his first try at it next week. I used a freezer bag with brine to keep the kraut under the brine and the air out. I think you did everything perfect.
annie1992
17 years ago
I also think it's fine. Some years mine smells horrible and has lots of scum. Some years it has less. This year I've skimmed the scum off the top three times and it is still bubbling and smells.

Just don't be surprised if it does something completely different next year, I think it depends on weather and growing conditions and the amount of juice in the cabbage and a zillion other things.

I always rinse my kraut before I use it because I think it's too salty. Dad never does, he loves the salt.

Annie
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Brine is used in the bag instead of plain water just in case the bag leaks, as yours did. The brine should be made to the same strength as the kraut juice (the recipe will give the correct proportions) so the saltiness will be neither raised nor lowered by leakage. Did you make your brine according to a recipe? If so, the kraut should not be excessively salty. However, the acidity may have been reduced by dilution with brine. That would alter the balance of salt and acid, perhaps making it taste more salty. If no further fermentation is possible I don't know how the balance can be restored. I don't know if addition of another acid such as acetic acid (vineger) or citric acid would help. They have a different flavor than lactic acid, but maybe it would help. You could experiment on a small sample. Rinsing in water would reduce acidity as well as saltiness, which is not what you want. Jim
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Yes, I'm a newbie. Don't know if it's normal, but the liquid level in the crock upon opening was almost at the very top--way more than I started with, and as I mentioned, it tasted very diluted compared to the the brine at and below the weighting stones. Gotta love handmade stoneware. The trough on my Gartopf only shows a 1/4" difference between the outer wall (2") and the inner one (2 1/4"). The slots for air are 1/2" tall. The great news, after all of my concerns (my wife was a CSU ag extension service writer and has shared far too many botulism canning horror stories with me) is that my first batch came out great. Really great. I'll keep future trough levels down and look forward to years of great tasting, healthy fermented foods!
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mellyofthesouth
17 years ago
I have a question. What is homemade kraut supposed to taste like? I've only had store bought kraut. Around here they sell it in bags. My kraut smells like kraut but still has a green tinge (as opposed to being all amber colored) and has more of a cabbagey flavor than the store bought. I'm just wondering if this is how it is supposed to be. It has been in the crock since July. We made a kraut/apple caserole the other day. When I dipped it out, it really didn't taste different than it did in August (when I froze a few pints). Btw, the casserole was good. But I did have to rinse the kraut. It was too salty for my taste.

Does anyone have the directions for using buttermilk as a starter for kraut?

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