HBlissMy journey into fermenting began in about 1990, when I was introduced to Milk Kefir by someone who I was working with in an organic shop in Melbourne. Just before I learned about Kefir (which means ‘feel good’ in Turkish), I had been reading all about fermenting in a book called ‘Nourishing Traditions’ by Sally Fallon. I was blown away with all these new recipes. Back then there wasn’t as much research on our gut. So I began to experiment. Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Kombucha, and for a while some homebrewed beer. And what I learned was that it was all pretty easy if you followed some basic guidelines.
Upon returning home from a trip to the USA in 2011, I really jumped into fermenting further, trying all sorts of processes and techniques, and learning as much as I could. Most of them were successful, but I must admit a few were really bad, smelling failures. A few months passed, and a friend came over who was blown away by what they saw – lots of fermenting vessels bubbling away, and all sorts of smells filled the air. They told me I HAD to start teaching this, but back then that was the last thing I wanted to be doing. I was a shy guy who was happy being in my own little fermenting bubble. They kept insisting, and I am so grateful they did.
I have now facilitated over 350 workshops throughout Australia and educated around 3,500 people on the health benefits of eating fermented foods and showing them how easy the process can be as long as you follow some basic ‘guidelines’.
Here, I offer you a basic traditional LACTIC-ACID SAUERKRAUT recipe.
1 Organic Cabbage (red or green)
Celtic or Himalayan Salt (1/2 Tbs per kg of cabbage)
Carraway Seeds (1 Tbs per kg of cabbage)
Remove a few outer cabbage leaves and put aside.
Cut out the core and shred the cabbage finely, using a food processor or knife.
Put into a bowl, add salt and carraway seeds, then massage gently. The more you massage, the softer the finished sauerkraut will be.
Let stand for an hour or so, to release the water from the cabbage.
Press into wide-mouth jars, making sure there are no air gaps. This is an anaerobic process, meaning it happens WITHOUT oxygen. This is the most important step to get right to reduce the chances of something going wrong.
Fold-up one of the cabbage leaves you removed earlier and put into the jar on top of the cabbage.
Put the lid on tightly, making sure there is no gap between the folded-up leaf and the lid.
The cabbage will continue to release more liquid for a couple of days, so place the sealed jar into a dish to collect the liquid.
After a few days, open the jar and press down the cabbage further and add another cabbage leaf if necessary.
Transfer to your jars to the pantry to ferment further. Ideally, wait for 3 weeks before opening and consuming. 3 weeks is the time where you will have the highest number of bacterial strains, in the highest numbers.
Transfer to the fridge.
To find out about Tim Mcneilly’s scheduled classes (including the new ‘CHOCOLATE HEAVEN’ workshop), head to https://www.facebook.com/ReallyAwesomeWholefoods or send me a message at https://www.facebook.com/tim.mcneilly.3
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