Buro ukon Gingamos nga Repolyo or Sauerkraut

Salt is abundant in our seas so naturally, we preserve food through sea salt not just our dried fish or fermented shrimps we call ginamos but actually we also buro or gamos the vegetables. When I was younger, I saw my father perserving iba or kamias using salt or my mother preserving spring onions wirh salt too. 

Sauerkraut is what Germans call their ginburo or gingamos nga repolyo. Since we have a word for this fermenting through salt, I believe we have been doing this too for a long time.

Since we need some extra strong guts these days, I decided to lacto-ferment cabbage when I found some beautiful picks in the market. Last week, lacto fermented some long and slender carrots and this week, I worked on the pretty cabbages.

1 kilo cabbage

25g salt

Glass Jar

I bought a kilo, actually 1.1kg, of cabbage. Choose a cabbage which is heavier and a little greener than the usual, they are what I was looking for to use. I got two heads for 1.1kg. Then I use 25g salt or about 1 1/2 tablespoon of salt. Actually, it is the 0.025 percent of the weight of the cabbage. 

Shred the cabbage, wash and drain. In a big bowl, place a handful of cabbage and salt, mix them well as if you're working on a dough or massaging some muscles. 

Then add more cabbage and some salt. Repeat the mixing until all is done. The cabbage will get limp. Cover the cabbage with towel or a wooden board for two to three (2-3) days. 

Transfer to a glass jar and let the cabbage stay underneath its juice by pressing it down using a pestle. Refrigerate and enjoy for two weeks or more. 

The limpy cabbages after massaging the salt with it

                   My sauerkraut