Hi everyone,

My name is France and I am totally new to all this. I need your advice. I have
been trying to eat more raw food. 5 days ago I decided to try to make fermented
cabbage. I followed a pretty simple recipe. However I did not add as much salt,
just enough to withdraw water out of the cabbage and make sufficient brine to
cover it. Then, I put the massaged cabbage in a 1/2-gallon mason jar, pressed
it down, and covered it with cabbage leaves. Finally, I put a smaller mason jar
filled with water inside to put pressure and keep the vegetables submerged in
the brine. I put the lid on the bigger jar and let it rest. On the second day,
the smaller water-filled jar was pushing so much down that the leaves went up
uncovering the vegetables. The brine was about 1/2 inch above the vegetables,
almost covering them, so they were not totally exposed to the air. There was
also bubbling, but the bubbles where dark yellowish, and when I opened the big
jar to fix the smaller jar inside, the whole thing just bubbled like crazy. At
that point, I added more water (without salt), covered the vegetables again with
the leaves, fixed the smaller jar to have less pressure over the cabbage, put
the lid on the big jar and set to rest for 4 more days. Today when I opened the
jar the smell was strong but not disgusting, however, the smaller pieces of
cabbage are slimy, bigger chunks are crunchy, and all the brine was viscous.

My question is: Is this kraut eatable? I am not sure if it went bad. I do not
want to eat something full of bad bacteria but I also do not want to throw it
away unless I am sure is bad. I made a lot, and feel guilty just wasting it.


I am sorry for the long post,

Thanks much,

France.