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Thank gawd for lacto-fermented probiotic foods! Having recently found myself in the hospital with what can only be described as ‘nuclear grade Domestos’ being intravenously shoved into my veins.
I thought I’d share with you this delicious seaweed sauerkraut recipe I developed to offset the damage done to my poor body.
The side effects from having such ridiculous high potency antibiotics pumped into my system was for me to look (and feel) like a leper.
The one good thing to come out of this adventure, aside from feeling loads better, is that I get to share a scrumptious seaweed sauerkraut recipe with you… oh, and a little known fermentors secret… you’ll find it in Step 4 below.
Ingredients
- 1 large cabbage (any variant will do).
- 1 tsp of sea salt.
- 10g of dried laver seaweed (chopped very fine)
- 6 cloves of garlic (chopped into very small bits)
- 3cms of fresh turmeric root (chopped into very small bits)
Instructions
- Remove the thick stalks from the cabbage and slice them very thin along with the leaves. If you like you chunk, keep them chunky!
- Place the cabbage in a large bowl, and add the laver seaweed, then add in the salt.
- Mix the ingredients well with your hands, then squeeze and crush the mixture between your hands until everything starts becoming wet from the juices that will start to be extracted. Allow to sit with a tea towel covering the bowl for about 6 hours.
- Little Known Fermentation Secret: Next stuff the mixture into a 1 litre glass cafetière (French press). This little known secret will mean you never have to keep checking that the vegetable matter is under the liquid thanks to the plunger! The vegetable mixture needs to be under the liquid otherwise it will spoil.
- Let sit at room temperature for at minimum 3 days, and preferably 14 days. You can press down the plunger every day, just for fun, and in order to squeeze more liquid out. Use your nose and taste test every now and then until the mixture acquires the right flavours for your palette.
- Note: Using more salt with make for a more crunchy sauerkraut, less salt means a softer one. I like soft krauts. But experiment with the amount of salt, maybe increasing the amount to 2 tsps or even 3 if you’re a real salt-demon.
Makes roughly a litre of seaweed sauerkraut.
Cafetiere idea sounds great. Is there a particular brand which you use? Have had issues with rust in the past…thinking of salt etc??
I picked a 1L cafetiere up from Tesco’s (boo-hiss). You could always use a glass one, but it’s more likely to break.
Not just boo Hiss but SPIT!
Thank you for this recipe. Sounds delicious! Glad you are feeling better and that you are still with us. 🙂
how do you store it once its made? How long does it keep?
Thank you, lovely recipe and one to try soon. My partner made a plain sauerkraut recently which I had cravings for! I must have needed its goodness. I like the idea of the added seaweed very much, we will try that next. Thanks for your generosity in sharing and hope you are on the way to feeling well again.
Looks interesting. Could you use any dried seaweed?
Hi Sharon, Not really. It’s best with ‘thin’ seaweeds like sea lettuce, gutweed, dulse etc. I wouldn’t use kelps or wracks for this recipe.
Would it work if I used nori for the seaweed (nori is the seaweed sheets sushi rolls are wrapped in).
Hi Terry, laver is nori, so yes. However our British laver is not the nori (Porphyra yezoensis or Porphyra tenera) of Japan.
I wouldn’t use stainless steel (just as I wouldn’t use plastic) as the fermentation process turns the liquid mildly acidic and acid reacts with the steel. Stick to non-reactive containers such as glass or a crock and use wooden utensils.
See Wild Fermentation Mythbusters. If you want to be doubly sure, buy high quality stainless steel. And if you are totally paranoid then use a glass cafetiere.
Could you add fresh chilli and radish to that recipe Robin
Chris – The beauty of fermentation is that its playfully anarchic! Experiment according to thy will 😉
Thanks , when are you coming to derby? Or close by
No plans Chris… I’m easing up on wandering and teaching from next year. But I’ve been saying that for the last 5!
I would love to come to a course, but they are always a long way away and being on a tight budget etc, anyway if your ever in derby give me a shout, i work at soundbites a whole food organic vegan cooperative , thanks for all you articles and recipes etc
If you cut the cabbage stalk thin you can use it as well, same with broccoli if you peel the skin. Since the texture of the cabbage is a little different, ferment it along with same textures like carrots or daikon nice and crunchy!
Hello,
This is a bors recipe (borsh, borsch – can be found in Romania only) for about a liter of liquid. In a one and a half liter glass jar put about 2 tablespoons of cornflour, 6 tablespoons of wheat barn, one tablespoon of powdered seaweed (kelp), one or two teaspoons from a mixture of dried vegetables (tomatoes, leek, carrots, parsley, onion flakes, pepper, garlic flakes, hot chili, dill) and very important dried lovage. Fill the jar with water (preferably spring water at room temperature) and mix the contents. The jar is covered with a piece of cloth or something to allow air circulation. The jar thus prepared is kept at room temperature for about 3 to 4 days and stirred with a wooden or plastic stick once a day. You will find after that time like an yellowish snowy part, a layer on top of that mixture at the bottom of your jar. Try to collect it and keep in a glass jar in the fridge. This is a natural ferment and can be added to the ‘next generation’ of your borsh (about a teaspoon) to speed up the natural fermentation. After that, the liquid is straining through a plastic sieve. We will have a delicious and healthy ‘soup’ fermented at room temperature, full of natural nutrients and probiotics. The liquid has a refreshing sour taste. This liquid can also be used to cleanse, feed and refresh the skin and the hair because it cleanses the skin pores and removes dead bacteria.
Thank you