Gardening, canning, pickling and everything related
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Tex_77 Next time you pass this way let me know, I’ll make some for you and you bring some for me and we will compare?
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Tex_77 Next time you pass this way let me know, I’ll make some for you and you bring some for me and we will compare?
Jonathon sounds like a plan.
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Made some cowboy candy with jalapenos from the garden.



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Tex_77 those are looking good. I never knew about them until three years ago. Found them in an old mom & pop grocery right next to the pickled quail eggs. It was just a random stop in very small west Texas town. Now when we are passing through we try to stock up a years worth when we start heading back. Finished my quail eggs last month and on my last jar of cowboy candy and that is about 75% gone. I need to make it last for another 8-9 weeks. To much company or poor stock management.
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Tex_77 will you share the recipe?
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Fresh stone crock saurcraut! -

Fresh stone crock saurcraut!RON PARRISH Now that is what I like! Do you have any tips & recipes?
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Pretty simple really. I shred 5 lbs of cabbage at a time and pack in crock and ad 3 TBS salt and tamp it down.Repeat until crock is full.then place a plate on top and a heavy weight to keep cabbage sumerged .check it every day and remove any scum that forms.after 3 or 4 weeks its ready to can. I do that by heating it up to 150 degrees and pack into jars and process for 10 mins in boiling water bath.
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I don’t want to hijack Ron’s thread but if you like sauerkraut, homemade is so easy and so much better than store bought IMHO you may never buy sauerkraut again
All recipes are basically the same, 2-3% salt to cabbage by weight.
I mix the salt and shredded cabbage, pack tightly in a mason jar and cover with an air lock lid, never had scum or mold with this method
I pack pretty tight, a regular size cabbage head goes into 1 quart jar. A large head may require a second 1 pint jar.
Also I have started adding a modest amount of shredded carrot
Tried some with garlic, very good but I like the plain better for my use
Info is easy to find on the internet
Thanks to Ron for starting this thread -
Ron & Glen, Thank you for that information, I really appreciate it. When you say airlock lid, is that a special lid or something that releases air, but lets no new air in or is it just a regular mason jar lid/ring? Have you ever tried making Bavarian style Kraut with the seeds? The Garlic sounds real good as well as a little carrot.
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I just recently noticed the air lock lids for mason jars when i was trying to buy elusive canning lids(cant buy them anywhere around here,had to order them and no longer have a right arm).There has been many times i have ran out of kraut and i like the idea of making a small batch to get buy between large crock batches.think i will give it a try.
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Ron & Glen, Thank you for that information, I really appreciate it. When you say airlock lid, is that a special lid or something that releases air, but lets no new air in or is it just a regular mason jar lid/ring? Have you ever tried making Bavarian style Kraut with the seeds? The Garlic sounds real good as well as a little carrot.
calldoctoday I have used both of these, no preference but the burp inserts are easier but only used them twice


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Thanks for the info!
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I just recently noticed the air lock lids for mason jars when i was trying to buy elusive canning lids(cant buy them anywhere around here,had to order them and no longer have a right arm).There has been many times i have ran out of kraut and i like the idea of making a small batch to get buy between large crock batches.think i will give it a try.
RON PARRISH See if you can find a crock made for fermenting the kraut. They are a good width, and they have a lip you can fill with water for an airlock. I have a 5 liter one that holds around 3 large to huge heads of cabbage, shredded and pounded in with salt. That gets me around 6-7 quarts of finished sauerkraut, and that’s plenty to hold me for a while.
When I started making sauerkraut, I originally used a large rolling pin (without handles) for pounding and shredded just with a knife, but I realized I was making enough of it to justify getting a real stomper and shredder. That made life a good deal better.
I use 2% salt. After coring and shredding the heads, I weigh in grams and just multiply that by 0.02. That’s how much salt to use. Easy peasy. Use salt that is NOT iodized (kosher works just fine).
Just put in a handful or two of the shredded cabbage, a healthy sprinkle of the salt (and seeds–see below) and give it a bit of a pounding. Repeat. After just a little while, the salt will draw out liquid from the cabbage. Before you know it, you’re mixing as much as “pounding.” Just keep that up, tamping the cabbage down, until you only have about 1-2 inches of head space. You need room for the weights. No matter how well you weigh it down, the cabbage will come up some as it ferments and liquid will bubble up. I also find it useful to cover the top of the shredded cabbage with a large leaf or two from the outside of the head. That keeps the small shreds from getting out of hand.
If you get it too full, you’re liable to have a bit of a mess, so put the crock somewhere you don’t mind getting some funky salt water. I actually find it useful to gently tamp it back down every day or two for the first week or so. It tends to calm down after that.
Let it ferment as long as you like. Some like it as little as 2 weeks. Others (like me) like it to ferment for 6 or 7 weeks. You can taste it along the way to find out. When it’s done, I pack it in quart mason jars or large Fido jars. Rather than canning, I prefer to refrigerate it (but I have a lot of refrigerator space from years of brewing).
I do like adding some sort of seed. My favorite is straight caraway, but I’ve also mixed in some dill and even a little fennel to really mix things up. A healthy pinch (or few) of red pepper flakes also is fun. Play around as you like or not at all.
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I am using a 5 gallon crock now that has been in family for 3 generations . My process matches yours but the idea of seeds and pepper flakes interests me. I will give it a try for sure! Thanks!
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Canned up some pizza sauce and chili base this weekend.

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I pickled some eggs a few weeks ago. They came out pretty darn good. Nothing like sitting on the porch with these and a cold beer.
50/50 water to apple cider vinegar mix
per Jar:
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

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I pickled some eggs a few weeks ago. They came out pretty darn good. Nothing like sitting on the porch with these and a cold beer.
50/50 water to apple cider vinegar mix
per Jar:
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

lkrfletcher I have heard of these all my life (which is a long time). Think I’ll have to try a batch. How long will they store in a refrigerator?
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Chef, we used to do a lot of these as we had a few chickens that produced more eggs back then than we could possibly eat or give away. That was before our sons became teenagers (they are grown now) & started this thing about eating 4-5 eggs a day, every day. I never tried the Tumeric with them though, although that sounds interesting. We understood that they could survive several months in the refrigerator & gave many jars away that may have experienced that. However, we went through them pretty quickly & they were great in potato salads too.
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