No Salt Fermented Cabbage Recipe
First off, you’ve got to know that probiotics are good for your stomach, especially if you have any tummy troubles like varicose, celiac, IBS, or liver related disease. Probiotics can help with healthy gut flora no matter what the disease! Try the No Salt Fermented Cabbage Recipe and let me know how it goes!
This recipe is simple to make and a batch will last for a month in the refrigerator. This no sodium version is for those of us who have liver disease like cirrhosis. I order my starter culture online and it delivers within a few days.
I just had a small bowl of my no salt fermented cabbage recipe. I hope you’ll get brave and add more fruits and veggies with every batch! Food is medicine! xo Karen:)
Check out the blog about fermenting here.
PS for info about jars, you can contact Danny in Sedona, AZ at 908-245-7328
Ingredients
- 1 head (1 pound) Napa cabbage
- Water Sea Salt or Starter Culture
- Fine red chili flakes
- 1 or 2 cloves minced garlic and ginger
- 1 TBL fish sauce or flakes (optional and I don’t use them)
- Water
- 1/2 chopped onion or several chopped green onions if you like
- 1 apple or pear (or combo if you like)
- 1 or 2 thin sliced carrots
Instructions
- 1. Take outer cabbage leaves and save for later. Course chop the remaining cabbage or run through a food processor.
- 2. Dissolve starter culture packet (or a quarter cup of sea salt in a bowl of warm water, and pour over chopped cabbage. Massage until the water begins to leech out of the cabbage. (10 minutes?)
- 3. You can opt to let it rest here and rinse remaining salt off.
- 4. Toss in about ½ cup of red chili flakes and fish sauce.
- 5. Toss in garlic, ginger, onions, and fish sauce.
- 6. Chop apple and/or pear into one cup of water and add to cabbage (don’t worry about measuring)
- 7. Stir it all up with a large spoon or by hand.
- 8. Begin to put cabbage into fermenting bottle. Use a spoon or potato masher to get it to the bottom and pack it tightly. Fold loose outer cabbage leaves about 4 times and place on top.
- Leave about 1-2 inches of space at the top of the bottle to add water so that cabbage is submerged. Put lid on with air flow tube to allow liquid to escape without letting air in.
- 9. Within a week to 10 days, your cabbage or kim chi is ready to eat. You can put the jar directly in the fridge or put into several smaller jars. It will keep for a few months and will even continue the fermentation process.
18 thoughts on “No Salt Fermented Cabbage Recipe”
I am so happy to find this post! I have cirrhosis and am low sodium/vegetarian (mostly). I have missed kraut and pickled veg of all kinds. I had no clue about the starter!! Kimchee will be in my future!! I cook all the time and my hubby and I delight at our culinary adventures. We have fun playing with seasonings and making loso versions of anything we can think of! Pickled veg, though. We hadn’t gotten father than some vinegar based quick pickles.. I can’t wait!
You’re my kind of girl. I found my starter online and it shipped within a few days. There are a few more tips I could add, like watching for any dark spots on the top and removing them… A lot of it I found on the net during my process. Danny actually said I could post his phone number. He’s been doing this for decades and is unbelievably healthy!
My dh loves kim chee. I made one batch that had a TON of red pepper and he loved it better than the store brand. I used Napa Cabbage for that batch. We make a party of cooking too. If you’ve got some loss recipes that you would like to share, I would be so happy to post them! I’m working on getting an update on the site to make recipes easier to navigate.
I had a question on the blog about the fermenting vs pickling. Sounds like you know your stuff. So glad to meet you! xo Karen:)
Karen, I have cirrhosis and varices, too. I’m thrilled to hear someone believes fermented foods are okay for liver disease. I know the probiotics are, but the fermentation process creates a small amount of alcohol, doesn’t it? Maybe I should ask Danny. But if there is any alcohol created, no matter how little, I would think it would not be good for someone with cirrhosis to eat on a daily basis. Could you look further into this or should I ask Danny?
See what you think about my above response. If you have any questions, we can always get with Danny. xoxo
Thanks for your generous sharing Karen. My friend just shared with me that he has hep C and this was a nice blog to find for me as well as him. Take care!
Hey there! I’m so glad you found the information for you as well as your friend. Karen has given so much to help others as she has been helped. She is one who really believes in paying it forward. Take Care, Dee
Hi
Can you post a picture of starter culture bag, please?
I googled for it and the recipe of raw veggies includes both the starter and the salt !
I am a bit confused as I am interested in No salt fermentation
So, if you use the starter than you do not use salt at all, right?
Conn
I just logged in and am going to post a picture of the kind I used. There is NO salt used during this process. I got mine online, but sometimes whole foods or other natural grocers carry them. xoxo Karen
Hi Karen,
I recently cleared the hep c virus, but unfortunately I still have cirrhosis. I have been wanting to start making my own sauerkraut and fermented veggies and just found a
Nik Schmitt sauerkraut crock at a garage sale for only $10. It looks brand new and comes with the weights. I was wondering if you’ve ever used one and it the process would be the same for making unsalted sauerkraut? There was no owners manual with the crock.
Thanks for all your help!
What a steal! Congratulations on getting a top notch crock! I’ve never used one, but I”ll bet there are directions online. Let me know how it goes. Making fermented veggies is a huge part of what healed my stomach with cirrhosis. Plus there are a ginormous amount of benefits.
Keep me posted and thanks for stopping by!
xo Karen
Is there not a small amount of alcohol produced during the fermentation process? How can this be good for cirrhosis on a daily basis? I’d love to do some more fermenting but am awaiting some definitive information on this. I don’t have the possibility of transplant so this is a concern for me.
Thanks!
I don’t think any alcohol is produced. I keep mine in the fridge after it’s made. There is not a fermented smell like you get with cider. Does that help?
I understand about the caution regarding a transplant. I was picky about everything that went in my mouth too. According to this site:http://fermentacap.com/alcohol-in-your-lacto-fermented-foods/ unless there is a fermented smell or fizzy bubbles, you are good. Check it out for yourself if you want to. Let me know if you find any other information.
May I ask why you are not going to list for a transplant?
xoxo Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
Hello again,
I’m finally going to make my no salt fermented cabbage. It’s so hard implementing everything I’m trying to do for my liver. I’m also taking care of my elderly parents.
I’m sure once I make it I’ll wonder why it took me so long. Oh well, better late than never!
I was wondering how much honey I am supposed to mix with the starter? You mention the honey in your post about fermented cabbage for liver health, but it’s not mentioned in the recipe. I guess I’ll start with a tablespoon or so…
Thanks for your help!
I’m curious to hear how it turned out. I read your comment online but was unable to get back. You sound like a savvy girl in the kitchen and I’m betting it turned out great.
I’ve yet to get mine jar out since we moved. You’ve motivated me!
xo Karen
Hi Karen,
I just checked the cabbage a few minutes ago. It’s been about 12 days. There was still water on top with some mold. I took off the mold, removed the cabbage leaves and weight, dipped a fork into it and took a bite. I spit it out right away because it was REALLY spicy hot and I wasn’t expecting that. Maybe I put too much red pepper flakes in it. My friend took a bite and he said that it was hot and that it kind of tasted like kimchi, but without the salt. Since I’ve never made it before and I don’t know if there’s still supposed to be water on top with mold, I don’t know if it’s good or not! LOL For now I just put the regular lid on it and it’s still sitting on my counter. Any comments would be appreciated! Thanks… 🙂
Hey girl!
I did the exact same thing one time with the pepper flakes. It was too hot for me, but everyone else liked it.
As for the mold. You did the right thing by taking it off. It’s hard to be precise with fermenting because of temperature variance in different seasons, houses, regions, etc. But if the cabbage taste was less than the kraut taste, it may be ready for the fridge.
Remember, the longer you are able to leave it out, the more probation action you get. I “finished” a batch early one time. (I think it was like 2 weeks) just because I was leaving town and didn’t trust my cat with the small batch. It was on the same porch where I kept her food.
Anyway, I’m so proud of YOU for making some kimchi. haha. Now you can consider yourself a fermenter and adjust the recipe to YOUR liking next time.
Congrats,
Karen
Ha ha about the pepper flakes! Well, thanks for the congrats on being a real fermenter now. 😉 I think I’ll give tasting it another try now that I’m pretty sure it’s safe to do, lol. I will definitely adjust the recipe the next time I make it. I normally like spicy stuff, but I think this was just a little bit too spicy for me! I’ll let you know how my next batch turns out. 😁
We were on a road trip to see family this weekend… My husband has 7 siblings with a wide age range. One of the things we talked about during our last breakfast together was how to keep our gut healthy at every stage of life. Fermening came up more than once.
Let’s stick with this and help heal our gut!! You’re a motivator. xoxo Karen