[Sca-cooks] sauerkraut

[Stefan li Rous]

Adele de Maisieres commented:
> Louise Smithson wrote:
> > I figure that this will make the whole discussion more complicated.
> > I came across this recipe in Scappi some time ago.  It refers to
> > cabbage in salt, packed in wooden barrels or ceramic vases. It
> > could easily be another salted cabbage or it could indeed be
> > sauerkraut.  Although one could argue that just about any cabbage
> >stored in a salty liquid will become sauerkraut anyway.
>
> I believe you have hit the nail on the head, here.  If you mix salt  
> and
> cabbage in the right ratio, it _will_ turn into sauerkraut.

But I thought that sauerkraut was more than simply salted cabbage.  
Isn't there some kind of fermentation going on? Isn't that where the  
sour taste comes from? In which case, unless the yeasts/bacteria/ 
whatever are already there in/on the cabbage, there is no guarantee  
that it will turn into sauerkraut, unless the needed beasties are  
there in the air, the temperature is right etc.

If you salt the cabbage and then stick it in the refrigerator, you  
get salted cabbage, right? Not sauerkraut.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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