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Sauerkraut is a tasty and healthy product. It contains many vitamins, minerals and fiber. Thanks to this composition, it can be eaten by almost all people. For many diseases, it can serve as a tasty medicine. She will be of great help with various problems with the stomach and intestines. Regular consumption of this dish can even cure dysbiosis and significantly reduce blood sugar in diabetics, relieve lazy intestines from constipation. The high content of ascorbic acid, which does not decrease during storage, together with vitamin A, makes this dish indispensable for maintaining the immune system at the proper level, which is important in winter. Those who regularly consume sauerkraut are much less likely to have colds, and the flu also bypasses them.
When fermented, the sugar in cabbage is converted into lactic acid. It is not only an excellent preservative and does not spoil the product, but also has beneficial properties.
Each housewife has her own family recipe for this delicious product. The main ingredients are cabbage, carrot and salt. Even such cabbage will be tasty and healthy. Many people ferment cabbage with various additives: caraway seeds, cranberries, beets, apples, guided by their own taste. Sauerkraut turns out to be very tasty if you add sweet peppers to it. Sauerkraut with bell pepper is very healthy. In such a preparation, all vitamins are completely preserved, and there are a lot of them in pepper.
There are many ways to make sauerkraut with bell pepper. The recipe is closest to the classic product, in which the cabbage secretes its own juice. Neither water nor vinegar is added to it. There is a natural process of lactic acid fermentation.
Sauerkraut with bell pepper
For cooking you will need:
- 5 kg of cabbage. The most delicious fermentation is obtained from juicy heads of cabbage with a high sugar content.
- 600 g sweet pepper. If you want the final product to look more beautiful, it is better to take peppers of different colors, but always ripe.
- 400 g carrots. It is better to choose a sweet, bright color carrot.
- 4 tbsp. tablespoons of salt.
- Lovers can add spices: mustard seed, cumin.
Preparing this product is very simple. We clean the heads of cabbage from wilted leaves. We cut them into thin strips.
Three carrots. If you wish, you can rub it with thin strips, as for cooking in Korean. Remove seeds from pepper and cut into strips. Mix vegetables in a large bowl with salt.
In the dishes in which the cabbage will ferment, we spread it in parts, carefully tamping each layer with a wooden mallet. Dense ramming creates an anaerobic environment in which the formation of lactic acid organisms is better. Place the plate on top and place the weight. A liter jar of water is fine.
For fermentation, the correct temperature regime is very important. This process takes place in two stages.
- At the first stage, juice is released, into which the extractive substances of the vegetable are transferred. Due to the high concentration of salt, the activity of microorganisms is not yet possible.Gradually, the salt penetrates into the cabbage and its concentration in the brine decreases, which serves as a signal for the start of microbiological processes. The yeast is active at this stage. They cause strong gassing and foaming.
So that sauerkraut does not deteriorate longer, it is necessary to remove the resulting foam, which may contain pathogenic microorganisms. To get rid of gases that give the final product a bitter taste, the sauerkraut should be pierced a couple of times a day with a wooden stick to the very bottom of the dish.
The first stage should be completed as early as possible in order to achieve the rapid formation of lactic acid, a preservative for the fermented product. The temperature of the first stage is 20 degrees. - At the second stage, lactic acid bacteria are activated, they decompose the sugar contained in the vegetable to lactic acid. The fermentation process takes place directly. Gas evolution ends. Fermentation requires a temperature of 20 degrees. It ends completely in 10 days. The concentration of lactic acid will reach 2%. Such cabbage will be too sour. It is considered optimal if the lactic acid in the product is not more than 1%, therefore, a couple of days after the cessation of gas formation, the workpiece is taken out into the cold to slow down fermentation. The cabbage must be taken to a cold room on time. If you do this too early, the fermentation process may simply not start and the product will quickly deteriorate. If you are late, the fermentation will turn acid.
Among the various recipes for making sauerkraut with peppers, there are many unusual ones. For example, you can ferment it with celery root and parsley. These additives will add a special spicy flavor to the workpiece.
Sauerkraut with celery, bell peppers and parsley
This cabbage is fermented in a jar. It is not worth storing it for a long time, and it will not work. Such a delicious dish is eaten very quickly.
For cooking you will need:
- 2 kg of late varieties of cabbage;
- 600 g carrots;
- 400 g bell pepper;
- 1 medium celery root
- 100 g of salt;
- a large bunch of parsley;
- bay leaf and peppercorns to taste.
We clean the heads of cabbage from the upper leaves, rinse, chop. All the other vegetables are washed, cleaned, washed again and cut into thin strips, finely chopped parsley. We put all the vegetables in a basin, add salt and mix well.
After the juice is released, we transfer them to a jar, carefully tamping. Put the spices on top and cover with a cabbage leaf. We close the lid and install the load. After the end of the fermentation process, and this will be in about 5 days, we transfer the jar to the cold, where we store it. Before using fermentation, the top layer with spices must be removed.
There is not one sauerkraut recipe with added sugar. It speeds up the fermentation process and gives the product a pleasant sweetish taste. Together with carrots and bell peppers, onions are added to the cabbage.
Sauerkraut with onions and bell peppers
The cooking technology of this fermentation is slightly different from the classic one. We'll have to prepare the brine first. It will require:
- not cold water - 800 ml;
- salt - 2 tbsp. heaped spoons;
- sugar - 1 tbsp. spoon with a slide.
Dissolve salt and sugar in water.
Cooking vegetables:
- finely chop a large cabbage head;
- Cut 3 peppers into strips, 2 onions in half rings;
- we combine vegetables in a large basin, seasoning them with grated carrots, you need to take 3 pieces of it;
- add 5 peas of allspice, 10 - bitter and a couple of bay leaves.
After mixing, put the vegetables in jars, a little short of the top, and fill them with the prepared brine.
After the end of fermentation, we put the jars in the refrigerator.
There are many recipes for pickling cabbage with bell pepper.By trial, each housewife chooses one that will serve her for many years, delighting the family with a tasty and healthy fermentation. This preparation is good fresh, you can make cabbage soup or a side dish from it. An inexpensive and tasty product will decorate any table, both everyday and festive.
