I want to try it but I need to go acquire some first. The next batch will hopefully have juniper. 
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I made sauerkraut many years ago in the Balkans with my spouse at the time. Her family would make enough to get through the whole winter despite not needing to survive on the food that they grew etc. They had this old work bench mandolin type thing you sat on to shred the cabbage… that was a lot of fun actually and would put the cabbage in large plastic barrels, no juniper though. I’m rambling a bit but what I wanted to ask is if it’s actually ok or necessary to seal the containers? As I recall they didn’t put lids on them. I sowed a bunch of cabbage recently and hope I have a decent crop so I can make some but my girlfriend is really sensitive to smell so I don’t see how I could do it here unless whatever I put them in is sealed.
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It was only sealed so I could wipe it off before placing it in a cool dark place. The top is loosened so the vessel can burp. You can use a vapor lock too but I don’t have one that will fit this jar. From what I read, it’s key to keep debris out of the vat or it can spoil.
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That sounds like a cool experience by the way.
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made some ropa vieja the other day, turned out crazy bangin. im getting into the “making giant batches of food and then reheating it and serving it over different carbs” game and its been great
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ive been meaning to make some sauerkraut, i normally make kimchi but ive been wanting to get into other fermented foods, im jealous of your jar 🫣
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Wow, your ropa vieja looks lovely!
Kimchi is up next for me as soon as I have an empty jar. I can’t wait.
This has been my daily breakfast for the past two weeks: figs fresh from the tree right in front of our house.
I also brought my latest batch of sauerkraut with me since I‘m a month away from home and it was already overdue before I left. This batch is with some carrots and rosemary. Don’t know if it’s the mix of ingredients or that it fermented longer than usual but it‘s my favorite batch so far and I‘ve made quite a few. Even my aunt here who is very picky and only cooks and eats traditional stuff likes it.
And I also brought a bottle of selfmade beet kvass before it goes bad, having a shot of it with some kefir. Kefir is store bought, I used to make my own but you end up with so much more than you could consume alone that I quit and froze the grains.
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Does the fig tree need to be covered to survive German winters?
I‘m currently in Croatia/Dalmatia with mediterranean climate, there are fig and olive trees all over the place.
My old landlord had a fig tree in her backyard (in Germany) and IIRC she never covered it. But they didn’t really taste like the real thing so it wouldn’t have been a loss if it didn’t survive 
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I made a bunch of antipasti for dinner. Maybe 50% is stuff I grew.
Menu as follows:
lightly roasted zucchini with preserved lemon
a single roasted okra (as that is all I had to collect last I checked)
lightly roasted corbaci peppers
marinated flat beans
boiled potatoes with a puttanescaesq sauce
and a tomato salad with manchego
+lots of olive oil
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Nice!
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Any home canning types here? I canned 3 pints of tomatoes this week and plan to do some more soon. I am a little confused about this musical ping people describe when tapping a spoon against the center of the lid of properly canned jars. Each of mine make a bit of a ping but they sound slightly different from one another, could that be due to slightly differing volumes (liquid not loudness)? Maybe I need to use a guitar tuner or something to figure out if all of them are ok?
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My wife handles the sterilization of the jars and preserves from our vegetable garden,
I’ve never see her with a guitar tuner let alone getting pings and pongs with spoons on the jars.
I would ask her. Do you use recovery pots?
They must be absolutely perfectly clean.
The best thing is to invest in rubber seal glass cans.
Do you use a pot of boiling water?
Or a sterilizer?
For a small production, a saucepan is ok, knowing that it lasts a long time,
the sterilizer has this bonus of being able to make mulled wine with…
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Well, I use the standard canning jars with the replaceable lids and did make sure they were sterilized and didn’t have anything that would interrupt the seal. I boiled them in a stock pot for 40mins as per what I read online. I think I’m just paranoid.
This sweet lady below demonstrates the spoon test.
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When she presses the lid, I’ve seen it do, like you’re picking up jam jars, they’re very slightly tapered on top and pressing like her, you know if it’s ok.
On the other hand with the spoon, I am divided, according to the filling, the sound is modified. Does her have a song mode?
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Ha ha well, I think she needs a sequencer first!
Yea, all my lids are tapered in, the vacuum sucks them down and makes the identation.
Does your wife do much pickling too? Or anyone here… looking to pickle some tomatoes but more in the Russian style I buy which seems just to be a salty brine.
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