Fermented Cabbage and Beets Georgian Style
If you are new to fermentation and looking for an easy and quick recipe of fermented cabbage then this is the one. This cabbage is unbelievably yummy and offers extra benefits due to the beets and a beet kvass as a bonus which cannot be wasted.
Equipment
- Glass Fermentation Crock (5L) with Weights
- Veggetable Slicer (Borner Mandoline)
- Veggetable Slicer (Borner Mandoline)
- Sharp Knife
- Kitchen Scales
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds White/or green cabbage about 1 kg
- 1 Pound Beets about 400-500 g
- 1 oz peeled garlic 34 g or 10 cloves
- 1 oz celery leaves You can use more. That was all I had.
- 1.8 oz Himalayan Sea Salt or 50 g
- 10 pieces Mini hot peppers I used dried, but you can use freshloy sliced too
Instructions
- Wash and cut your cabbage into large pieces.
- Wash, peel and slice your beets using mandoline.
- Wash and cut the rest of the ingredients (garlic and celery leaves). You can use more celery leaves if you like. I did not have anymore so I used all I had.
- Start layering vegetables. First cover the bottom of the jar with slices of beets. Then layer them with a layer of cabbage. Place on top some celery leaves, sprinkle some garlic and hot peppers.
- Repeat the same procedure with the rest of the vegetables. I usually have 2-3 layers.
- Boil 1 quart (1 liter) of water. Dissolve 50 g of salt in it. This is your brine. Let it cool and then poor over the cabbage. The cabbage has to be completely covered with this brine. This can be done in advance so that by the time you have all the veggies layers you can used colled down brine.
- Cover the cabbage with some weights. I use the weight that was provided with the crock plus on top of that I place two river stones on that weight.
- Let it siton your countertop for at least 10 days. Believe me you do not want to shortcut this step. The chunks of cabbage are big therefore it will take more time for the microorganisms to get through all that cabbage. The longer you ferment the more lactic acid bacteria you will have in your cabbage. And that is what makes any fermented vegetable extremely beneficial. The picture on the right shows exactly how your cabbage will look like in 10 days.
- Take the cabbage from the crock and place it in an air tight glass jar for storage in the refrigirator.
- You will probably get more brine than you need to cover your cabbage. So you can filter the brine and poor it in a glass bottle for drinking purpose. Believe me it's incredibly yummy and such brines are sold at Whole Foods for about $5 a bottle. Enjoy!
Notes
Ferment this cabbage for at least 10 days or longer for better health benefits. Remember “when in doubt, throw it out”.