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Found out my sauerkraut needs to sit at least 6 weeks, not 2...
I was making my first batch of sauerkraut last month and read on a blog that it's ready in 10-14 days. So I opened the jar at day 12 and it was okay, kinda crunchy still but not much flavor. Then I stumbled on this old forum thread from like 2018 where someone linked a pH study from Oregon State University. Turns out the good probiotics and deep flavor don't really develop until week 4 or 5 at the earliest. I let my current batch go 6 weeks and the difference is night and day, it's way more tangy and complex. I found the PDF study buried in a Google Scholar search, but it made me wonder how many other fermentation rules I've been rushing. Has anyone else found a timing trick that totally changed their ferments?
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tessap976d ago
A friend of mine got really into kimchi last winter and was opening jars at day 3 thinking she was making progress. She finally sat on a batch for a full 3 weeks and said the difference was like eating a completely different food. The early stuff was just spicy cabbage basically, but the fermented one had this deep funk that actually made her burp less after eating it. She keeps telling me time is the only ingredient you can't fake in fermenting, which I think is her way of saying she learned patience the hard way.
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william_craig75d ago
Tessap97's friend is smarter than me, I opened my first kraut jar at day 10 because I was convinced the bubbles meant it was done and couldn't wait any longer. Ended up eating basically salty crunchy cabbage for a week before I gave up and tossed it. Now I set a calendar reminder for 6 weeks and just pretend the jar doesn't exist until then.
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