Ingredients
- 1 head cabbage – white or purple
- 1/3 cup filtered water
- Koshering salt (non-iodised): 4–5 teaspoons for every 1 kg of cabbage
- Glass jar
- Fermentation weights
Method
- Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and cut in half.
- Remove the core and finely shred the cabbage (the finer the better).
- Place in a non-metallic container and mix the salt through the cabbage.
- Leave to stand for 5 minutes so that the cabbage begins to sweat.
- Add the water and mix through.
- Start squeezing and mixing the cabbage with your hands. Squeeze hard to get as much juice out of the cabbage as possible — you will notice the cabbage softening as you go. This produces a decent amount of salty brine.
- Stuff the cabbage into the jar, compressing it with your hands or with a wooden spoon as you add it in batches so that no air bubbles remain.
- Finally, pour over the remaining brine and ensure the cabbage is completely covered. (If you have any cabbage remaining, add it to a stir-fry.)
- Place a fermentation weight on top of the cabbage — otherwise, you can weigh it down with a zip bag filled with water.
Fermentation
- Cover the jar with the lid and set aside somewhere warm. The fermentation process can take anything between a week and a month depending on the ambient temperature.
- After 24 hours, pressure will build up in your jar, so it is important to “burp” your jar: Open the lid to let out any air pressure.
- Also check if your cabbage is still covered with liquid — press down with a wooden spoon to let the juices move back to the top.
- Follow this schedule to “burp” and compress your jar:
- Day 1 (24 hours later): 1st release
- Day 2 (12 hours later): 2nd release
- Day 2 (12 hours later): 3rd release
- Day 3: Check the liquid — there should no longer be any pressure building up