We had fancy German food last week – spinach latkes and cabbage stuffed with mushrooms – and the whole meal was planned around a gallon of sauerkraut Sharon had been lacto-fermenting for the dinner at home.

This whole lacto-fermentation thing has really caught my attention this year. Because they’re raw, cultured foods retain their vibrancy and nutrients, plus fermentation adds enzymes that help you digest. Cultured food is weird-tasting and weirdly satisfying.

So the sauerkraut here is raw and cultured; the applesauce is also raw.  Also, strangely, they taste great together.  Sharon and I each made one, so we’re co-authoring this blog entry.

Sharon writes:

Let me preface by saying that I had never made sauerkraut before. I had never made any kind of lacto-fermented pickle, for that matter. My entire experience in this arena was limited to some okra pickles I had made over the summer (preserved in vinegar, though, not fermented) and some on-going kombucha production at home.

After reading a few articles and blogs about fermentation, I decided that probably the worst thing that might happen would be wasting the cabbage if it got moldy. Or I might end up breeding a rare form of Philip K Dick’s Bag Plague and unintentionally cause my own head to explode. Just how is one to know?*

So, with a brave face, I bought three medium-sized cabbages from the farmers market the week before this dinner and got them started on the path to probiotic deliciousness. The process is actually astoundingly easy, and goes something like this:

• Peel off the outer leaves of the cabbages to expose the first set of clean leaves within the head. Washing these inner leaves is unnecessary and can remove the pre-existing beneficial bacteria present on the cabbage leaves.

• Core the cabbages and slice them into thin threads or ribbons.

• Add 3 tbsp salt per 5 pounds of cabbage (three medium cabbages is approximately 5 pounds). Make sure your salt is just salt…no seasonings, iodide, or calcium silicate, please.

• Massage the salt into the cabbage vigorously, to encourage the cabbage to “sweat” its water.

• Optional step: I added approximately ½ tbsp of miso paste to the salt and cabbage mix and rubbed it in. This isn’t necessary to the fermentation process, but it does speed it up somewhat.

• Pack the cabbage into a clean jar, preferably wide-mouthed. Push the cabbage down hard enough that the brine it has formed rises to cover it. (If you need to make additional brine to keep the cabbage covered, combine one tbsp salt and one cup of water.)

• Place a clean weight (I used a quart jar filled with water) on the cabbage shreds to keep them submerged.

• Cover the top of jar with a clean cloth and hold it in place with a rubber band. Set your jar aside out of direct sunlight where it won’t be disturbed. Check on it the next day to make sure the brine is still covering the cabbage.

Within a few days, you’ll notice bubbles forming between the cabbage shreds. These little pockets are signs of life and should be celebrated with a short but enthusiastic dance. My sauerkraut was done in a week; yours may take slightly more or less time, depending on the temperature of your house and whether you choose to use miso paste as an accelerant. Before serving, rinse the sauerkraut, in a colander, to your preferred level of saltiness.

*Answer: if it smells bad, it’s bad. If it smells good, eat it.

Next up: Raw Applesauce

Megan writes:

My job at this dinner was to make the applesauce. Trader Joe’s wouldn’t sell me their bruised apples for half price, so I bought their pristine organic Granny Smiths. Apples are one of the top 12 foods recommended to buy organic (called the Dirty Dozen).

You can peel the apples or not; I like the tannic flavor and reputed health benefits of the skins. Because it’s raw, you will not believe how quick and easy this applesauce is. In a food processor, blend:

• 5 cored, chopped Granny Smith apples
• ⅛ c jaggery or any raw sugar
• ¼ c fresh coconut water (or raw apple juice)
• ¼ c lemon juice
• ½ t cinnamon

Let the food processor run for ten minutes to get the apples as finely blended as possible. Add a little more lemon juice or coconut water if the blending is sluggish. Makes about a quart.

This applesauce tastes so bright and alive, you may never make cooked applesauce again. And, experiment all you like with the sugar, but don’t knock jaggery until you’ve tried it. It tastes like buttercream.

Lemme toss you a freebie: Here’s what we did with the coconut meat, since we had the fresh coconut: Our friend Fred, who brought the coconut, worked up an experimental salad dressing, blending almonds, blueberries, coconut meat, beets, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, spring onions, cardamom and salt. Crazy, right? Crazy good. Something to chew on, for vinaigrette lovers like me.

The community dinner is every Tuesday night from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at HM157.  Bring $5 to contribute to the material cost of the meal.  RSVP on The Arroyo Lowdown, where the menu is posted Monday nights.  BYOB.