Wooden or bamboo chopping board

 

Stainless steel knife

 

Large bowl: stainless steel (Do not ever use aluminium or plastics)

 

1 litre capacity large mouth glass bottle with lid

 

Weight to weigh down the cabbage: glass paper weight or small glass filled with pure water as weight.

 

 

Start small. As you learn, make bigger batches gradually. We shall start small

 

1/2 kg green/purple cabbage. You can use both. You can also add thin sliced carrots.

 

1-2 tablespoons un-processed sea salt, or pink Himalayan salt

 

Quarter cup of home-made whey

 

Keep aside the outer layer of the cabbage leaves after washing them thoroughly.

 

 

On the chopping board, slice the cabbage thinly. Thinner the better. Do not grate

 

Add the thinly sliced cabbage to the large stainless steel bowl

 

Add the salt spreading it over the cabbage. Optional but, recommended: add a few 3-4 tablespoons of your home-made whey. If you do not use whey, you may increase the salt to two tablespoons

 

Now start kneading the cabbage, salt and whey mix with your hands, just like kneading flour dough. Keep kneading until the cabbage releases all its water caontent and becomes a small quantity from what you started. The re will be plenty of naturally released water from the cabbage, that makes a very good brine mixed with the whey

 

Now, with your hands, add the cabbage into the wide mouthed glass bottle

 

Now, add all the water that has been released by the cabbage into the jar (Avoid putting any other water). 

Note: there should be an inch or two of space between the top of the cabbage and the lid. This allows for expansion as the process starts. Do not open the bottle until ready to eat: after 7-10 days at room temperature: 28-35 degrees on average, in India.

 

Now, put on top of the mix, the washed cabbage leaves that you had set aside.

 

Now, put on top of the cabbage, the glass paper weight, such that, the brine (the liquid) covers the cabbage leaves, completely submerging the chopped cabbage. This is crucial. Otherwise, rotting can occur, or mold can form. If mold forms (after a week or ten days), throw away the batch and start afresh. 

 

Lacto-fermentation is an anaerobic process: does not need oxygen. Oxygen will spoil it.

 

Now cover the bottle with it’s lid and shut tightly.

 

Once ready, you can refrigerate it. But, it’s not necessary if the quantity is small and you finish it in a week or 15 days time.

 

Start the process gradually, learn and then make bigger batches that can ferment for a few weeks and months and finish it before the end of the year from the start of the batch.

 

END.