Connemara Kapusta

This is a Ukrainian style preserved cabbage.
But this method is the same as for Zuurkool, Sauerkraut, Kimchi and other fermented veg recipies.

You will need a fermenter or a very large crock, glass or enamel container

Non iodized salt
Sterilised bottles, filled with water
Sterilised plate to fit container

A sterilised tealight if you want to copy this method.

The basics are salt and cabbage.
I used 2.3 KG of cabbage and 4 tablespoons of sea salt.
You can make as much as you wish as long as you use the ratio of 5 lbs. cabbage to 4 Tbs. salt.
If you plan on refrigerating and not jarring use 3 tbs of salt, not 4.

I added:
Half a cooking apple, grated - the sugar speeds up fementation.
Half a teaspoon of Juniper Berries
Half a teaspoon of Carraway seed
Some tips here to prevent problems with your sauerkraut:

Never use aluminum utensils! Absolute cleanliness is necessary for a good result.

I made a fermenter with the help of Home Brew West to make my sauerkraut. But you can use a glass or enamel coated container or a large crock.

Clean and scald the container well!  I washed everything in Milton Fluid first, then rinsed by pouring boiling water into the container and swishing around for no less than 30 seconds

To prepare the cabbage, remove and discard the outer leaves. Wash and drain and then cut the cabbages into halves or quarters while removing the core in the process.

1) Shred Cabbage - I use a food processor for speed and ease. If you shred by hand, make sure the shreds are no thicker than 2 Euro coin

2) Mix, with wooden spoon or very clean hands, 2.3 KG / 5 lb of shredded cabbage with 4 tablespoons of non iodized salt like seasalt, maldon salt or Kosher salt - do not use regular table salt.

Toss and mix thoroughly until salt dissolves.

Step 3) When juice starts to form on cabbage from tossing - Pack the cabbage firmly and evenly into a clean crock, glass or enamel container. Press firmly to encourage juice formation.
You can also give it a bit of a pounding, I use a rolling pin, the blunt end.

Leave it for an hour or so to let the liquids seep out of the cabbage.

Step 4) Make sure the liquid covers the cabbage completely!
This does not always happen unless the cabbage is fresh from the garden, and red cabbage seems to have less water than green.
You can prepare additional extra brine by putting 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt into 950 ml of boiling water. Dissolve salt and cool brine to room temperature before adding to the pot of cabbage.

Step 5) Once cabbage is immersed in brine water, place your sterile plate and weights on top

I used sterilised bottles filled with water but you cab use a large food grade, plastic bag filled with brine water and lay on top if cabbage.
Use 2 large bags, one inside the other with a couple of litres of cooled brine water inside.
That way if the bag breaks it will not water down the cabbage into a tasteless mess.

The cabbage must be well sealed all around with the bag, so no air can get in and contaminate the sauerkraut with unwanted yeasts or molds!

Step 6) If using a fermenter the put on the lid and wrap clingfilm round the edge.
If you dont have a lid first seal off with clingfilm, then a heavy towel or cloth tied securely into place.
Do not remove this until fermenting is complete!

It really does need to be airtight as it is oxygen that spoils the food.
Now, one little trick I came up with for the fermenter was to remove all oxygen is very clever, straight out of intercert physics, even if I do say so myself, and easy - but you need to be careful.

I took a but a lit Tealight candle into the fermenter before closing.
I then closed the lid and sealed off with clingfilm as above.

On the first attempt the candle created a new unplanned "observation" window that I had to seal again with clingfilm and silicone.

But the second attempt worked. The trick is to keep cold water running over any hotspot the candle creates.

21% of air is oxygen, so that got burnt off by the candle that extinguishes itself when the oxygen runs out - and also creates a partial vaccum in the fermenter. Doing this burt off approx. 2 litres of oxygen.

In addition to getting rid of O2 there is another benefit. You can see this on the s-bend airlock that I got from Home Brew West, that difference of level on both sides confirms that I have an airtight seal.

I am actually happy to have an observation hole now and will incorprate that into my next fermenter, but get some plexiglass or glass instead, the clingfilm repair job will do for now.

Step 7) Put in an area where the temperature will not be above 25c degrees. Fermentation will begin within a day, depending upon the room temperature.

Step 8) Fermenting does not take long, but this is
If room temperature is 24c degrees allow 3 weeks for fermentation.
If room temperature is 20c degrees allow 4 weeks for fermentation.
If room temperature is 18c degrees allow 5 weeks for fermentation.
If room temperature is 15c degrees allow 6 weeks for fermentation.

NOTE: If temperature is above 25 degrees, the cabbage may not ferment and could spoil.

Step 9) Once fermented taste to see if your required tartness exists. Tartness will weaken as you process by jarring so make sure it is a wee bit more tart than you like!
If you refrigerate only rinse and toss with cold water to attain the tartness desired.

This is a great staple for the cupboard. I love it with smoked sausage, I guess its because I really liked rookwurst and zuurkool in the Netherlands.
There are good smoked sausage available in Ireland at the supermarkets, Lidl in particular.
Another one that I get locally is delicious, made by McGeough's in Oughterard 

Irish al-Maġrib Beetroot Pickle المغرب‎

I spoke before about using an oven to prepare beetroot before pickling, and its certainly still the main method I'd recommend.

But I was sitting there peeling good, tennis ball sized beetroot, beside a warm Morsø turf and wood fire. I figured, why waste electricity starting up the oven when I had a very good heat source anyway. It was just a quick idea, and I liked doing this for a few reasons.

Using the latent heat in the stove maximises the potential of a great stove (even though this one is not designed for cooking) and I don't waste electricity using the oven for what is a relatively small load.

Its easier and less wasteful to peel beetroot after boiling.

This blog is about a small Connemara kitchen garden, so I think its fitting that I should cook at least one thing over a turf fire.

Before the Morsø we used to have a Stanley Number 8 range on which my Grandmother would cook, and fresh soda bread from the oven.


I have an older cousin who still bakes bread in a turf fired range, and I think hers is the best soda bread in the world.

They say you learn something new everyday - well here's one, when the beets are cooked they float to the surface when boiled in lightly salted water! When you think about it that means you can throw in different sizes, and just pick them off when they are done - no stabbing/jabbing guessing.

I also know that in Holland, because of the time and energy it takes to cook beetroot that it was, in Zealand at least, a social, communal thing.

Farmers families would bring beetroot to one place, and use one big pot, then take away their portion of the cooked beets.

I like this idea, the only place I have seen it is in communal bakeries in Morocco and communal tandoori ovens in India.

When you consider the trouble we go to over family barbeque's, I think it shows what a fundamental human thing it is to gather communally around food.

In Morocco, wife's and mothers make dough in the morning and bring it to the communal bakery.

For a dirham or two the local baker bungs it in the oven and cooks the loaves.

While waiting, the customers sit around, drink tea, listen to the radio and chat. Its a very social, daily occasion where news and views are exchanged.

As a visitor I was welcome, if not something of an oddity.

It's quite unique, sitting there drinking tea with the smell of baking bread, orange groves and the desert permeating the seaside air, trying to converse (badly) in French and a smattering of Berber early in the morning while waiting for the surf to get better.

I did not take pictures that day, as that far south in Morocco, I feel it may have been improper, but the memories are still as fresh as ever.

In Morocco they pickle Lemons and Carrots.

Their carrot pickle uses a cider vinegar - so I may do that later in the year when my carrots start rooting up. I got two heritage types from the real seed company (link in right hand panel) Jaune Obtuse de Doubs- a yellow type, and Long Lise de Meax - a blunt orange type thats a good keeper for the winter.

Most of the beets I cooked in this batch will go into my own Malt and Mustard Pickle, but I have reserved enough for two jars of a Moroccan style pickle based on their carrot pickle recipe.

Herb and Spice mix - note Sea Salt

Connemara Beetroot Pickle mix a la Moroccan

3 small (pickling) onions

3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

2 red chili's, halved, keep the seeds if you like pickles a little hotter.

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Peel of 1 lemon, cut into strips

1-1/2 cups water

1-1/2 cups cider vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

2 Bay leaves

2 sprigs fennel

2 tablespoons sea salt

2 teaspoons coriander seeds, cracked

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, cracked.

1 teaspoon cardamom pods, cracked

1 teaspoon Black Pepper corns

Reserve the chili, fennel sprigs and lemon, those go in the jar raw with the cooked beets

Make the pickle mix.

Sterilise jars, layer beetroot into the jars with fennel, lemon peel, chili and garlic

Pour mix into jars, use a spoon to add bits of seeds etc. and place in pickling bath (again, see the malt and mustard posting)

I also srinkled about half a teaspoon of dried coriander leaf into each jar before sealing.

Store for three weeks before eating, should keep about 6 months

One thing I found was taking clingfilm, hold over the jar mouth. Slowly lower the sheet (peel/sterile side down) over the jar mouth, because of the heat of the jar, the clingfilm will close in on the grooves.

Put lid on, leave cool. The food safety nipple should, when the jar cools, should depress to the 'safe' position.

Malt and Mustard on left, Maroc Style on right

Next pickle plans I'm looking forward to are my gherkins growing a little bit more to do a Dill pickle, and the silver skin pickling onions, the seed came from France for those.

I'm looking to when Khrystyna from Food, Flora and felines puts up a Hebrew Pickled Turnip recipe, I would like to have a crack at that - although I have found Lebanese and Indian versions online.

بالهناء والشفاء / بالهنا والشفا

(bil-hanā' wa ash-shifā')

Malt and Mustard Pickled Irish Beetroot

Well, I always wanted to do this, these were literally from plot to pot and pickled. Its not that tricky a job, but there are a few major pointers highlighted in the blog.

Main thing is to keep everything clean as you can, the rest is simple.

After a lot of research, I found some of the best advice at gardenfork.tv and pickyourown.org as a basis, but there are a few extra bits and bobs.

I have grown what I am assured are a hardy gherkin, but they are not up yet, so the beets go first.

I bunch cropped the beetroot - two types grown at different intervals.
One type was Bolthardy, a fairly common variety, the other was Golden Burpe.
It was time to start cropping, the first sowings are big enough to pull, and the later sowings need the space.
To get a nice red pickle I went for the bolthardy, and they do seem to grow faster than the other type.

The only vinegar I could find locally was Chefs malt vinegar, but I will be using cider or wine vinegars down the road. Certainly, in theory, I could make my own cider vinegar from local apples, so the next batch will be done with cider vinegar.

The first step was to top, tail and peel the beetroot. Some folks say just boil them and peel after prior to pickling, that is your choice.
But, to maintain as much of the original flavour and nutrients I roasted most of them tightly sealed in tinfoil, to let them steam in their own liquids.

I kept enough for one jar to be blanched and loaded, nearly raw as an experiment on texture and pickling, but the general rule with beets is to cook them prior to picklng.

6 tennis ball size beets, topped, tailed, quartered.
These went in the oven for 45 minutes at 200 deg. C (400f)

MUSTARD AND MALT BRINE
Before you do a brine yourself, do a bit of research, I went with what I had in the house
Also test as you go, balance it up to suit your palette, its very easy to vary.
If you want a sharper taste, add lemon juice or more vinegar, a sweeter taste add more sugar or honey.

When tasting, take very little brine in the spoon, have a glass of water on standby and try not to inhale the steam, trust me, its an eye watering lung buster.
300ml distilled malt vinegar
200ml malt vinegar
250ml water
4 tablespoons Lakeshore wholegrain mustard with Guinness- or mustard seed if you like
1 heaped tablespoon of salt - Try to find non-iodized sea salt
4 heaped tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 small onion

These are the spices I used for this batch
4 bay leaves
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
4 sprigs of fennel (these were thinning's)
1/2 lemon, quartered
1 chili
1/2 inch ginger
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon of:
mixed spice
ground coriander
pepper corns
Tarragon
Dill seed

Bring to the boil until sugar and salt well dissolved.
MAKE SURE THE WINDOW IS OPEN IN THE KITCHEN - the vinegar can be bloody strong when boiling.

CANNING/JARRING
I'm sure you can buy jars and lids - these are best, but I just recycled some jam jars.
These need to be spotless - as do the lids, I washed and rinsed several times.


You will need at least one pot with boiling water - this is called the canner.
I used two, I use a fish kettle to maintain sterility and a pot to use as the canner.

Handle with care, I got them really hot using the fish kettle as a steamer, so they were at least 100c coming out.

I used a pair of oven gloves, but there are special thongs etc if you intend on doing this on a regular basis.

Carefully remove the jar from whatever steriliser you are using, move fast. The idea is to fill, clean and close as quickly as possible to maintain sterility.

I placed a bit of ginger, some fennel thinning's, a little chili and a clove of garlic in each jar.
Then I loaded it up to within 2cm of the top with the roasted beetroots.
After that I ladled in the hot brine, the only thing removed from the kettle were the lemon rinds.
Everything else went into the pickle jar.

Cover the beets, I filled to within 1cm of the top of the jar.
YOU MUST LEAVE OVERHEAD SPACE BETWEEN THE LIQUID AND THE LID

The next part is perhaps the most important
AFTER filling the jar remove the lid from steriliser

Have a clean tea towel or kitchen roll at hand.
Make absolutely sure there is no residue inside the lid of the lip

Give the threads and the lip of the jar a wipe - make sure there is no residue of any kind where the jar makes contact with the lid.

After that I transferred the jars to the canner, a deep pot half filled with boiling water.
Cover and let sit for 5 minutes
With the lid off, this causes the pickle to steam, lowering the air pressure just above the liquid.

One thing I found was taking clingfilm, hold over the jar mouth. Slowly lower the sheet (peel/sterile side down) over the jar mouth, because of the heat of the jar, the clingfilm will close in on the grooves.
This stops contact between the metal lid and acidic pickle, so the taste will not be spoiled my metallic contamination.


I then put on and and hand tightened the lid.

The jars sat there for another 10 minutes.

Remove from canner and allow to cool.

I was very happy to see the vacuum tabs on the jars depress.
I could hear them click, or ping back down into position.
That is the only indication that I have of a good, airtight seal.

Another trick is to invert the jar, and make sure there is no stream of bubbles getting in, this is especially true if you have a piece of plastic between lid and lip.

These can be kept in a fridge, or a cool dark place

SHELF LIFE AND STORAGE
As far as general rules for shelf lives of common veggies and fruits jarred foods do well stored in a dark, dry and cool place.
Be sure to label all jars with pickling date.

Glass is inert, but the lid is not. Some people advise putting a small square of clear plastic between the contents and the lid - as you will find with home made jams.
The only reason I did not do this is that I did not have a suitable plastic, fairly sure a cut square of a sandwitch bag would do the trick.

From what I gather on the Internet, you are looking at 6-8 months shelf life with common jam jars.
Using proper pickling jars and new lids, its longer.

Generally speaking, spoilage is indicated by:

The lid is bulged or flexes (isn't sucked down tight), then gas has built up from decay.
Any signs of seepage or leaks (the jars should be fairly clean come out of the water bath).
Finally, an off smell, visual signs of mold, or a change in color or texture from what it should be!

Anyway, I will keep people updated as to how it goes.