Watching my grandmother's sauerkraut method from 30 years ago come back around

I was listening to a podcast where they interviewed a microbiologist who said the old way of fermenting cabbage on the countertop for weeks actually builds more diverse bacteria cultures. It made me think about how my grandma never used a single airlock or special jar, just salt and a big crock, and her batches never failed. Has anyone else noticed a trend of going back to simpler fermentation tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

seth_allen19d ago

Slammed my phone down when I read that part about not using airlocks. My grandma had this old stone crock that must have weighed 40 pounds, she just packed the cabbage in, salted it, and covered it with a plate and a rock. No fancy equipment at all. I tried to replicate her recipe a few years ago with all the modern gear and it came out tasting flat compared to hers.

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tessa_rivera19d ago

That stone crock was probably seasoned with decades of use too... hard to beat that.