SO.. not that you think I'm a one post wonder.. I have just been waiting patiently for an answer from somebody that knows more than me. I have been checking regularly if anybody had a comment. Answer to that is apparently .. no...
Now I'm gonna rattle on, and hope somebody finds it a bit informative.
I'm looking at a bag of wine sauerkraut that I bought in Switzerland. Ingredients: Sauerkraut ( Cabbage, salt) wine 2.7%, then spices and stuff. That is what we would normally put in a pan with sausages and stuff if cooking. Have got some from Germany too. A lot of the time, adding wine was right in the cooking directions. They gave some leeway and allowed you to add water if you were apposed to wine
OK, so at the 10 day mark, i tried my first sauerkraut with my 20 year old daughter that doesn't like sauerkraut. She LIKED what I made! It was still mild at only 10 days. That was jar one out of 3. I thought I would let the other 2 sit a bit longer for comparison. Jar one went into the fridge, but noticed the brine kinda disappeared. Decided to try my wine theory ( although I had already decided if it was homemade, it tasted better than any store bought with wine) Well, I topped up the jar one with a bit of wine and YELPED when it went crazy bubble mode immediately! Like if you pour vinegar on baking soda. I left that a couple days and tried my official 2 week sauerkraut against the wine version. Daughter and Hubby thought the 2 week without wine was better, but a bit strong for them, only at 2 weeks. The one with wine had all the flavor washed out. However.. I did not taste it before adding the wine. Flavor may have already been washed out. I read that here somewhere else that brine went away, and flavor vanished. Also the color is really washed out even more on the the one with the wine. It's so white.
I would like to make longer fermenting sauerkraut for the probiotics, but rather make something they will like to eat, so early batches seems to be how we are gonna go around this house for a while till everybody gets used to it.
Extra info, my house is pretty cold. Kraut was between 60 and 70. sometimes more, sometimes less. I didn't write anything down precisely about the salt.. think it may have been 17 grams of pink Himalayan per head of cabbage. Don't remember the cabbage weight, but I went by guidelines here . I only added a small amount of fennel.. will leave that out next time.. too overpowering.
I REALLY hope more will share some thoughts, or successes, or failures, or questions! Looks like many had some! Like a 100 views, but no comments.
Happy day to everybody! Don't be shy to say something!