30-minute experiment
A week of sauerkraut
Watch cabbage turn sour.
The idea
Salted cabbage packed under its own brine gets more sour each day as bacteria make lactic acid.
The one thing you change: Days of fermenting
You need
- 300 g shredded cabbage
- 6 g salt (2 percent)
- A clean jar
- A small weight like a zip bag of water
Steps
What you should find
The cabbage gets more sour and softer each day. Fuzzy mold, pink or black slime, or a rotten smell means throw it out and start over.
Salt and time make sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is cabbage and salt, nothing else. The salt pulls water out of the cabbage to make its own brine. Lactic acid bacteria already on the leaves eat…
Read the explainer