INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

A 1-gallon container is needed for each 5 pounds of fresh vegetables.
Therefore, a 5-gallon stone crock is of ideal size for fermenting about 25
pounds of fresh cabbage or cucumbers. Food-grade plastic and glass
containers are excellent substitutes for stone crocks. Other 1- to 3-gallon
non-food-grade plastic containers may be used if lined inside with a clean
food-grade plastic bag. Caution: Be certain that foods contact only
food-grade plastics. Do not use garbage bags or trash liners. Fermenting
sauerkraut in quart and half-gallon Mason jars is an acceptable practice,
but may result in more spoilage losses.
Cabbage and cucumbers must be kept 1 to 2 inches under brine while
fermenting. After adding prepared vegetables and brine, insert a suitably
sized dinner plate or glass pie plate inside the fermentation container.
The plate must be slightly smaller than the container opening, yet large
enough to cover most of the shredded cabbage or cucumbers. To keep the
plate under the brine, weight it down with 2 to 3 sealed quart jars filled
with water. Covering the container opening with a clean, heavy bath towel
helps to prevent contamination from insects and molds while the vegetables
are fermenting. Fine quality fermented vegetables are also obtained when
the plate is weighted down with a very large clean, plastic bag filled with
3 quarts of water containing 4-1/2 tablespoons of salt. Be sure to seal the
plastic bag. Freezer bags sold for packaging turkeys are suitable for use
with 5-gallon containers.
The fermentation container, plate, and jars must be washed in hot sudsy
water, and rinsed well with very hot water before use.
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* USDA Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539 (rev. 1994) * Meal-Master
format courtesy of Karen Mintzias
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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