My dandelion wine was marginally drinkable at best. And then today Debbie said, “have you checked your sauerkraut lately?”
We had an extra head of cabbage earlier this summer. I chopped it up and sprinkled it with salt.
Then I tamped it into a crock nice and firm.
It all looked really good at this point. Nice fresh crispy cabbage, shredded, salted, and packed in a crock.
I weighted it down with a jug filled with water and left it to ferment.
This was about a month ago. I had checked about a week ago and it was doing good. It was starting to ferment, but it was still crisp and smelling more like cabbage than sauerkraut.
I pulled the weighted bottle out today after Debbie said something and phew! You’re lucky the Internet doesn’t include an olfactory interface. It was foul. I poked around in it for while, hoping it had just rotted a bit on top, but it was uniformly disgusting. I took it outside and even then Debbie and Paul insisted I light a candle to cover the stench.
It was an unmitigated and smelly failure. Ah well, cabbage is a fall crop too, so I can try again soon!
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