Help me pick a cabbage for sauerkraut
 

I need your help! Last year the cabbage grew great! It just turned out to be a smaller variety.

I don't need Megaton. I need less than basketball size bigger than softball.

Do you have a preference for sauerkraut cabbage? Where do you get your seeds?

flat dutch

We grow at least 4 varieties every year with at least 4 plantings / year. The same variety grown in spring or summer won't be as good for kraut as when grown in the fall. Many people love our cabbage for kraut in the fall. It grows slower so is denser / heavier. Also it had had a few frosts so tends to be a bit sweeter. For us any of the Vantage family of cabbages are good.

Carol

So a few frosts is good?

I have had great luck with one called Capture from Johnnies the last few years. It makes good sized tight heads that hold fairly good in the field. Most of the heads I picked this year were about the size of very large cantaloupes weighing in between 5 and 8 lbs. I have had it make a few bigger heads and a few smaller heads but it is very consistent in its size.

Megatron is just too dang big. I grew it for a few years and found it ridiculously large and it wasn't very good tasting compared to one like Capture. A couple of the larger Megatrons I grew made basketballs seem small.

Bill

Yes frost sweetens up all cole family crops. Cabbage will take down to about 25 no problem and even closer to 20 if it's only for a few hours like over nite.

As far as size goes, most of the Vantage family cabbage will size up depending on how close you plant them. At about 9 inches or less in the row, you will get smaller heads of about 4-6 lbs. At 12-15 inches you will get some mega heads. We always have some 10+ pounders due to skips with the finger planter (our tractor goes a bit too fast for us to get every finger). But that's OK for us as we have a couple of restaurants that want the huge heads. They claim they go thru their shredder better.

Carol

I have an old book on German cooking and etiquette someplace around here.
In it there is a pictuer of these pointed cabbage they are making huge vats of sauerkraut with.
Most if not all of these pointed types are supposed to be sweeter than the rest.

[QUOTE=Wi-sunflower;688314]Yes frost sweetens up all cole family crops. Cabbage will take down to about 25 no problem and even closer to 20 if it's only for a few hours like over nite.

As far as size goes, most of the Vantage family cabbage will size up depending on how close you plant them. At about 9 inches or less in the row, you will get smaller heads of about 4-6 lbs. At 12-15 inches you will get some mega heads. We always have some 10+ pounders due to skips with the finger planter (our tractor goes a bit too fast for us to get every finger). But that's OK for us as we have a couple of restaurants that want the huge heads. They claim they go thru their shredder better.

Carol[/QUOTE]

Yes the bigger heads do go through the shredder better.

I need to update and post that I bought Late Flat Dutch and All Seasons from Victory Seeds.



[url]https://www.victoryseeds.com/mobile/cabbage_all-seasons.html[/url]

The Late Flat Dutch will bat cleanup for the All Seasons. A 90 day good size and a 110 day monster should stack up well for my buddy who asked me to get these.

I'm only gonna grow a few of each but the other seeds will all be planted and made into sauerkraut in Hemingford NE

Thanks for all the info and knowledge you folks passed on! I wasn't sure about frosts ansld cabbage. Now I am headed in the right direction.:)

I have been on the hunt for a recipe that starts with a culture. THoughts?

[QUOTE=Black Krim;689326]I have been on the hunt for a recipe that starts with a culture. THoughts?[/QUOTE]

You dont need a culture in my opinion.:)

Worth

No you don't need a culture. BUT, you can speed up a lactobacillus ferment with some whey so you can use less salt.

You need fresh whey and you can make your own easily. Just get a quart of a plain unflavored yogurt. Be sure it's 1 with "active cultures". Take a strainer and line it with paper toweling. Place over a bowl or jar. Put the yogurt in the strainer and let drip into the bowl. What's in the bowl is whey and what's left in the strainer is "Greek " yogurt.

Depending on how big of a batch you are making, you only need a couple of tablespoons of the whey to inoculate the batch.

Carol

Great hints on using whey - I'm going to try that this year.
As for varieties, I am definitely no sauerkraut expert, having only made it for the first time last fall, but I used a red cabbage variety for one of my batches, and the resulting dark pink color is really striking, and the flavor was way better than the green cabbage batch I made. I can't really say what variety of red cabbage it was, because I grew three different red ones, and didn't keep track of which was which at harvest.

[QUOTE=Worth1;689330]You dont need a culture in my opinion.:)

Worth[/QUOTE]


I figure this works once the house is inoculated with good stuff....

[QUOTE=Wi-sunflower;689437]No you don't need a culture. BUT, you can speed up a lactobacillus ferment with some whey so you can use less salt.

You need fresh whey and you can make your own easily. Just get a quart of a plain unflavored yogurt. Be sure it's 1 with "active cultures". Take a strainer and line it with paper toweling. Place over a bowl or jar. Put the yogurt in the strainer and let drip into the bowl. What's in the bowl is whey and what's left in the strainer is "Greek " yogurt.

Depending on how big of a batch you are making, you only need a couple of tablespoons of the whey to inoculate the batch.

Carol[/QUOTE]

ok. WIll try this. THank you.

When I was in Missouri, a friend did a small spring-planted cabbages trial; "Parel F1" was the one she liked best for sauerkraut.

I wish I could find it online, but a few years ago there was a wonderful article in SSE's quarterly magazine about cabbages grown in late 19c/early 20c Newfoundland for sauerkraut, back when sauerkraut and its vitamin C were vital for folks' health -- really fascinating stuff. (There's a sentence that 15-year-old me could never imagine writing...)

ken that is one of my interests as well as the live microbes. making kraut is an art.....imho

One of the worst things you can do is over wash the cabbage.
I dont wash the stuff I ferment maybe a little rinse if that to get dirt off.
There is by far more good bacteria in this world than bad.
Bactria we need to live.

Worth

Pickled cabbage (Kvashennaya Kapusta in Russian) which is called sauerkraut is a very old traditional recipe/dish of Russian and Slavic cuisine. It has been for ages one of the main food to Russian people during the cold time from November until April along with stored cabbage, turnip and pickled cucumbers. They eat meat only for holidays during so many centuries before 1930s.
It's interesting that pickled cabbage contains much more vitamins than fresh cabbage. It is usually served as winter salad here. And you also can make a sour soup from it called Shchi (Щи in Russian).

We have many special cabbage varieties for pickling from Soviet Union times. Slava 1305, Podarok, Amager 611, Moskovskaya Pozdnyaya, Kharkovskaya Zimnyaya, Mara etc. They are midseason to late varieties.
The best cabbages for pickling should be firm and 3-5 kg in weight. Usually we add shredded carrot, onion or even cranberries to chopped cabbage.
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Andrey, wish you were my neighbor..

Probably this is a not so bad idea for me to live in Nebraska))) Growing tomatoes and prepairing pickled cabbage)

At least one day I hope I will be able to visit some of you in USA with seed samples and Belarusian/Russian cookbook)

Andrey, your sauerkraut looks much like my grandmothers did ( as I can recall from long ago!), nice and plump yet, not stringy and gooey. She made several types, one of my favorites was made with carrots, apples and caraway seeds, another with some rye seeds as it fermented in HUGE old crocks! Sometimes she would shred some home canned red beets to add to the salad just before serving, to "sweeten" it, she said.

Made me smile to see your pictures of your sauerkraut.

I used to love most of what ever she cooked, she cooked everything on a huge cast iron wood range, maybe coal? I was only three last I saw her, so some things are not recalled well.

Edit:

Do you put the cranberries n while fermenting or at serving, raw or cooked?

Andrey, like imp, your posts remind me of things that were long forgotten from my childhood. My grandmother used to have many of the foods you describe when I was a very little girl (I never knew my grandfather). They are far back in my memory from 50 years ago. My mother aunt and grandmother would speak Russian/ Yiddish/German in front of me when they didn't want me to understand their adult conversations. They are all gone many years now.

It is FREEZING here in Nebraska this spring. Please do come here and visit. You will see your fabulous tomatoes growing along side the local favorites.

- Lisa

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;691243]Andrey, like imp, your posts remind me of things that were long forgotten from my childhood. My grandmother used to have many of the foods you describe when I was a very little girl (I never knew my grandfather). They are far back in my memory from 50 years ago. My mother aunt and grandmother would speak Russian/ Yiddish/German in front of me when they didn't want me to understand their adult conversations. They are all gone many years now.

It is FREEZING here in Nebraska this spring. Please do come here and visit. You will see your fabulous tomatoes growing along side the local favorites.

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

Lisa when do you start your plants in Omaha? I've got pots and soil for 92 plants. I just don't wanna start too early.

The cabbage seeds has already been started. I'm talking about tomatoes to be clear.

Out here in the panhandle I usually start April 1 but I usually can't get the plants into the garden until June 1 and I don't want leggy plants this year.

I'm starting to believe the long legged plants are not the best to plant. I'm shooting for 12 inch tall plants instead of two footers this year.

Maybe I should have made another thread but this is Tomatoville after all..

I use cabbage for creamy slaw and started fermenting sauerkraut last year. The 8 heads cabbage that I started from seed (assorted varieties) were shredded by hail this past weekend. It was about 18 inches wide, huge leaves, but had not headed. It was in full sun, but endured some wide temperature fluctuations. Maybe it would have headed given more time. I had nice heads last year in an area receiving morning sun only.

Any opinions on Bonnie Hybrid Cabbage (DTM 75) ? I bought a 6 pack today, to fill in until I get another seed batch started. I have space in the shady area where I grew cabbage last year, or in full sun where squash was previously grown. Starting to feel like summer with temps in the 80's coming. I'm not familiar with this cabbage variety so I hope someone can guide me as to the better site considering the high temps at this time of year.

- Lisa

Here is a link showing one of the Favorite slaw Cabbage varieties used in Germany .

[url]https://www.amazon.de/Kohlsamen-Spitzkohl-Filderkraut-von-Sperli-Samen/dp/B00R724COY[/url]

I don't use whey either. Does the whey change the flavor or texture? Or, does it just speed up the process?

[QUOTE=CamuMahubah;687411]I need your help! Last year the cabbage grew great! It just turned out to be a smaller variety.

I don't need Megaton. I need less than basketball size bigger than softball.

Do you have a preference for sauerkraut cabbage? Where do you get your seeds?[/QUOTE]

I use 'Stone Head'. They're about 3 lbs, maybe 6" in diameter and hard. About 60 days to harvest. And yes, as someone else mentioned, I think they're sweeter when grown in the fall. They make good kraut.

I also grow 'Charleston Wakefield', a 70 day pointy-headed type that does well here in the South. It's not super tight but sweet and we use it for making kimchi.

Lots of seed companies carry Stone Head. Search the internet by variety name.

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;736842]I use cabbage for creamy slaw and started fermenting sauerkraut last year. The 8 heads cabbage that I started from seed (assorted varieties) were shredded by hail this past weekend. It was about 18 inches wide, huge leaves, but had not headed. It was in full sun, but endured some wide temperature fluctuations. Maybe it would have headed given more time. I had nice heads last year in an area receiving morning sun only.

Any opinions on Bonnie Hybrid Cabbage (DTM 75) ? I bought a 6 pack today, to fill in until I get another seed batch started. I have space in the shady area where I grew cabbage last year, or in full sun where squash was previously grown. Starting to feel like summer with temps in the 80's coming. I'm not familiar with this cabbage variety so I hope someone can guide me as to the better site considering the high temps at this time of year.

- Lisa[/QUOTE]


No experience with this particular cabbage? I haven't planted it yet, and I'm a bit concerned about the warm temps when it matures in mid - August. Bitter/goes to seed/ refuses to head? Just curious, not much info on the net short of what our friends at Bonnie proudly describe.

- Lisa