Sauerkraut: the most common mistakes that even experienced housewives make


Hello everyone, Olga is with you as always, perhaps you will need information for storing food and various things and I will tell you about the White coating on pickled vegetables turned out to be not what was thought. Maybe some details may differ, as was the case with you. Attention, always read the instructions of the things you buy for cleaning the house or the chemicals that help to store them. I answer the simplest questions. Write your questions/wishes and secrets in the comments, and together we will improve and supplement the quality of the material provided.

Scientists have discovered that the colonies of white organisms that appear on fermented vegetables are not actually mold, but yeast. Preliminary evidence suggests they are harmless, but more research is needed to confirm this point. The results were published in the Journal of Microbiology.

Colonies of white organisms often appear on foods, particularly fermented vegetables. Despite the popularity of this phenomenon in everyday life, until recently scientists did not conduct research on the genomes of microorganisms found in plaque. Yeast typically produces substances that give fermented vegetables their distinctive flavor, which is why they are often used to make foods such as rice wine.

In the new work, researchers from Kyung Hee University and the World Kimchi Institute used next-generation sequencing techniques to identify the genomes of white plaque-forming organisms. As a substrate, they used various types of kimchi - a traditional Korean dish, which is pickled (fermented) vegetables, most often Chinese cabbage, with a lot of spices. Unlike many other fermented foods, kimchi is fermented primarily by lactic acid bacteria, but colonies of white organisms thought to be mold may appear toward the end of the process.

The authors' genetic analysis showed that this white coating is actually colonies of yeast. These are mainly strains of Hanseniaspora uvarum , Pichia kluyveri , Yarrowia lipolytica , Kazachstania servazzii and Candida sake . The study results indicate that these organisms are harmless because they do not possess genes associated with the production of toxins. However, scientists do not advise consuming such vegetables until their complete safety has been proven.

Do you use expired food for cooking at home?

Yes, the main thing is to process it if it is meat or expired kefir for pancakes.

27.72%

No, it is very dangerous and not useful.

36.37%

If the products have fungus or mold, then we throw them away; if they are a couple of days past their expiration date, we use them for food, even without heat or other treatment.

35.91%

Voted: 1952

Colonies of white organisms often appear on foods, particularly fermented vegetables. Despite the popularity of this phenomenon in everyday life, until recently scientists did not conduct research on the genomes of microorganisms found in plaque. Yeast typically produces substances that give fermented vegetables their distinctive flavor, which is why they are often used to make foods such as rice wine.

Why does cabbage go rotten?

It would seem that you have done everything correctly, but instead of the expected sourdough, the product deteriorates - it acquires a dark color, a characteristic musty smell and an excessively sour unpleasant taste appear; instead of crispy, it becomes soft and slippery. You can find out why cabbage does not ferment, but goes rotten. There are a number of reasons why the workpiece may deteriorate after cooking:

  • The required amount of juice was not released. Before putting shredded cabbage into a container, you need to mash it until the juice releases.
  • The quality and proportion of salt are not met. When preparing, you should use rock salt or regular coarse salt, without additives. It is recommended to add 1.5-2 tablespoons of salt per 1 kg of vegetables.
  • “Choked” by fermentation gases. On the 3rd day, the contents of the jar must be pierced with a wooden stick to release the accumulated hydrogen sulfide (carbon dioxide). This should be done at least 3 times a day.
  • Air access. Do not allow oxygen to enter the product container. You need to make sure that the brine completely covers it.
  • There is a fungus. On the 2nd or 3rd day, foam appears on the surface of the workpiece. It must be removed until it disappears completely, otherwise it contributes to the formation of fungus, which leads to attenuation.
  • Using inappropriate varieties. Late (winter) varieties of cabbage heads are suitable for fermentation. They are collected at the end of September - beginning of October.

Causes of mold on sauerkraut

Why does sauerkraut get moldy? There are several reasons for this:

  • oxidation (access of oxygen);
  • little table salt in the brine;
  • insufficiently acidic environment;
  • violation of hygiene.

First, mold on sauerkraut in a jar appears, as a rule, under the lid on the surface, and over time it quickly spreads deep into the product. Even if the appearance does not cause suspicion, the spores can already carry out their vital functions.

Mold can also form in a barrel of cabbage, which can ruin the entire supply of pickles. And such an oversight occurs due to non-compliance with the requirements of the recipe, insufficiently clean container or product, as well as violation of storage conditions.

In certain cases, mold that has appeared on sauerkraut can be removed and thereby save the entire product. Remove the top layer of contaminated product and leave the container open for a few minutes. If the smell of pickling has not changed, the color is normal and there are no foreign tastes during tasting, then feel free to eat it.

How to make sauerkraut correctly

Sauerkraut is a naturally fermented product containing a rich complex of vitamins and nutrients: Vitamin C and fiber help improve intestinal function, ascorbic acid strengthens the immune system. In terms of the amount of minerals, this product is among the leaders. The fermentation process must be approached very carefully, taking into account all the features: using a certain variety, selecting a container, adjusting the temperature of the external environment where the container with the starter will be located.

If you oversalted

The product can be revived when oversalting occurs and it becomes tasteless. Ways to restore salt balance:

  • It is necessary to remove the contents from the container and mix with previously prepared fresh vegetables (carrots, peppers, apples, etc.). They will absorb some of the salt and add a piquant taste to the cabbage.
  • If the brine has already managed to separate and cover all the cabbage shavings, then you need to scoop it out with a tablespoon (but not all of it - just on top) and add boiled water at room temperature.

If these methods do not help reduce excess salt, do not despair. This preparation can be used in cabbage soup, borscht, in dressing for gravy, filling for pies, to make hodgepodge with the addition of meat and rice, which will draw off excess salt. Can be eaten as a separate dish, but first generously season it with vegetable oil and onions.

How to prepare caviar from honey mushrooms for the winter

An equally tasty recipe for preserving honey mushrooms for the winter with carrots. It is not much more difficult to prepare, but the result is excellent, and such a dish instantly flies off the table. Using it you can prepare 5 cans of caviar, 0.5 liters in volume.

  • about five kilograms of mushrooms;
  • a little more than a kilogram of onions;
  • about half a kilogram of carrots;
  • a couple of onions;
  • spices: black pepper, nutmeg, bay;
  • vegetable oil - glass;
  • a third of a glass of vinegar;
  • salt and herbs to taste.
  • Even deformed mushrooms can be used for caviar, and the beautiful ones can be left for drying or salting. They are washed and soaked in cold water for a quarter of an hour.
  • Place in cold water and put on fire. From the moment the water boils, cook for 30 minutes, adding a whole peeled onion and one carrot with spices.
  • After the mushrooms sink to the bottom, they are placed in a colander and washed, removing the spices.
  • Grind mushrooms and vegetables through a meat grinder, preferably a couple of times.
  • Boil the mixture with vinegar and oil until bubbles appear, and place in prepared containers.

Sterilize 1 hour from the moment the water boils.

Underexpose

The rapid fermentation process in cabbage will take place in about 3 days, and purely theoretically, you can start trying it now. But we still recommend waiting a few more days for the cabbage to develop its best flavor.

If you chop the cabbage too finely, it can turn into an unappetizing “porridge”. The most optimal size is 3-5 mm wide. Cabbage, cut into squares (with sides about 1.5-2 cm), turns out delicious - most often it is also very crispy.

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Chanterelles: caviar with tomato

The mushrooms according to this recipe are so delicious that they are closed several times during the mushroom season. After all, they often begin to eat them long before the onset of winter cold. This recipe makes 12 cans of caviar, 0.5 liters each.

  • a little more than four kilograms of chanterelles;
  • a kilogram of dense, ripe tomatoes;
  • half a kilo of onions and carrots;
  • hot pepper pod;
  • large head of garlic;
  • spices: allspice, cloves and coriander to taste;
  • 80 grams of salt and sugar;
  • a large bunch of greenery;
  • half a 100-gram shot of vinegar;
  • one and a half liters of milk.

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  • Wash the mushrooms, sort and soak for 3 hours in cold water. Drain the water and soak again, but in a mixture of milk and water for an hour.
  • Rinse and boil in salted water until they settle to the bottom of the pan.
  • Peel and chop the remaining vegetables. Fry in heated vegetable oil.
  • Mix all ingredients and pass through a meat grinder.

Bring to a boil and distribute into containers. Sterilize for 45 minutes.

To make mushroom caviar from boiled mushrooms both tasty and safe, you need to adhere to the following rules:

How to store honey mushrooms and why they need to be processed quickly

With the beginning of cool autumn days, residents of cities and villages, lovers of quiet hunting, have a question about how to store honey mushrooms. After a rainy summer, the harvest of these mushrooms is especially abundant; they grow in entire colonies. Mushroom pickers know that after harvesting, it is not always possible to quickly process them.

How to preserve mushrooms before processing?

Any cut mushrooms, especially lamellar ones, can form toxic substances when stored fresh. Therefore, they need to be recycled as soon as possible. How long can fresh honey mushrooms be stored if there is not enough time to preserve them on the same day?

For pickling and pickling, it is better to collect young honey mushrooms with unopened caps. They will be the most delicious and tender with this method of preparation. Large specimens with umbrella-like caps can be preserved differently.

Having quickly disassembled and cleared the mushrooms of debris, you can immediately begin the hot salting or pickling method. To do this, boil water in a large container while sorting occurs. By the time the liquid boils, all that remains is to place the washed mushrooms in a saucepan, boil for 20-25 minutes and marinate, adding salt, spices and vinegar to taste.

While the process of canning selected small mushrooms is taking place, large ones can be stored in the refrigerator. After finishing the pickling work, you need to continue processing the remaining part of the crop.

How to prepare honey mushrooms for the winter?

Storing honey mushrooms in winter is possible only in processed form. But jars of marinades and pickles should not sit in a warm pantry for more than 4-5 months. The shelf life of pickled mushrooms in the refrigerator or cold cellar is 6-12 months.

Not all honey mushrooms are suitable for pickling and pickling. What can be made from high-quality, but slightly overgrown honey mushrooms? It turns out that there are many ways to process and store even such tough and not very pleasant-tasting mushrooms:

  • Freezing allows you to preserve all the valuable substances and taste of honey mushrooms. After thawing, the mushrooms resemble fresh ones and can be used to prepare soups, caviar, stir-fries and other dishes where they are cooked. Before placing honey mushrooms in the freezer, they should not be washed, otherwise they will freeze into a monolith during storage. Frozen mushrooms are stored for 6-8 months.
  • Freezing with pre-boiling allows you to reduce the cooking time for dishes with mushrooms. Boiled honey mushrooms are drained in a colander to remove liquid and cool, and then placed in containers or bags. They can be stored in the freezer for about 1 year without loss of taste and beneficial qualities.
  • It is very convenient to store fried mushrooms. To make canned food, before processing, you need to wash and cut the caps of large honey mushrooms. You can fry them in ghee, lard or vegetable fat. The taste of the preparations will be different depending on the added spices. Fried mushrooms are placed in sterile jars and filled with the fat in which the processing took place. The jars are immediately closed or rolled up. High temperatures leave no chance for microorganisms to survive, so such canned food can be stored in the refrigerator or cellar for up to 12 months.
  • Even large mushrooms with hard legs can be processed. Prepared delicious caviar from honey mushrooms for the winter can be stored in a cold place for 5-6 months. It is very convenient to add to prepared dishes, or serve as an independent snack with potatoes. A sandwich with caviar made from mushrooms ground in a meat grinder is a self-sufficient breakfast.

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Even slightly overripe honey mushrooms can be stored for the winter in the form of delicious canned food or frozen. If they already have hard legs, then only the caps are used for the blanks. The fibrous parts can be boiled and passed through a meat grinder along with the mushrooms selected for caviar.

How to dry and preserve honey mushrooms?

A special way to store mushrooms is drying. During this process, almost all moisture is removed from the fruiting bodies. As a result, their shelf life increases, reaching 2-3 years. But dried honey mushrooms themselves need proper storage.

For drying, you need to select medium-sized mushrooms that have opened. Before drying using the traditional method, you should very carefully select healthy specimens that are not damaged by worms. Drying occurs outdoors at room temperature, so mold or worms can transfer to healthy mushrooms.

Drying can also be done in special dryers. In these devices, the baking tray with mushrooms is heated to 50°C or more. The process is much faster, and it takes only a few hours until it is completely ready.

Store dried mushrooms in linen bags in a completely dry place. At high humidity, honey mushrooms absorb water vapor and can become moldy. During long-term storage, they need to be checked for moisture from time to time: if the caps have lost their fragility and become plastic, then the entire batch should be dried in the oven at a temperature of +70°C.

Honey mushrooms can be preserved in different ways. With proper processing, even conditionally edible agaric mushrooms become palatable and can be eaten for several months.

We offer several video recipes tested by mushroom lovers.

Any cut mushrooms, especially lamellar ones, can form toxic substances when stored fresh. Therefore, they need to be recycled as soon as possible. How long can fresh honey mushrooms be stored if there is not enough time to preserve them on the same day?

The end of warm summer and the beginning of golden autumn make us think about winter, severe frosts, and icy cold. While the autumn sun is still gently warming, it’s time to start preparing mushrooms for the winter. In addition to drying, salting, and canning mushrooms, many housewives like to prepare delicious aromatic caviar from mushrooms.

When it’s bitterly cold outside, bitterly cold, during a feast with good company, it’s nice to get a jar of delicious mushroom caviar. Guests happily spread the delicacy on toasted slices of bread, rubbed with garlic, and ask the hospitable hosts about the origin of this tasty dish. A warm, relaxed conversation ensues, where everyone has something to remember.

Use iodized salt

For preparation, you need to use only regular salt, without any additives. If you ferment cabbage with iodized salt, it may begin to rot and taste bitter. Your favorite dish will definitely be spoiled. This will happen thanks to iodine, which is part of this salt, which slows down the fermentation process. Also, the cabbage will not be crispy; mold or darkening may appear on it, which will significantly deteriorate the taste of the product.

According to some housewives, they use iodized salt and see no difference. They can be recommended to conduct a small experiment: ferment part of the cabbage with regular salt, and the other part with iodized salt. The difference will be immediately noticeable. Although salt with iodine is very useful, it is not suitable for pickling.

Preparing caviar and placing it in the freezer

  • Mushrooms are peeled, washed, cut into small strips 0.5 cm thick.
  • First you need to let the water boil, quickly cut it, put it in a pan. This way they won’t have time to darken on the cuts.
  • After 2-3 minutes of cooking, place in a colander, rinse with clean water, refill, and cook for 15 minutes.
  • Add peppercorns - 15 pcs., salt, bay leaf - 4 pcs., cloves - 5 pcs. 10 cloves of garlic are added in 5 minutes. until the end of cooking.
  • All proportions are calculated for a five-liter pan. Cook for 45 minutes. Boiled mushrooms are poured into a colander.

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When the water has drained, remove the cloves, pepper, and bay leaves. Using a meat grinder or blender, grind the mushrooms to the required consistency. Many recipes call for adding fried onions and vegetable oil, then it is recommended to simmer for 15 minutes. Stewed caviar is seasoned with tomato puree sauce with pepper or citric acid. It is better to use special freezing bags.

For better freezing, plastic bags are filled with the resulting mass to the very top, and the air is squeezed out as much as possible. The bags are quickly tied and placed in the freezer.

Caviar frozen in this way can be stored for one year. Remember: once you open the bag, you must use it immediately. Otherwise, toxic bacteria that are dangerous to the body may form in the mushrooms. The volume of each bag is calculated so that one dish can be prepared from it.

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