Cabbage is one of the most popular leafy vegetables, contributing not only to food and nutritional security but also to the economic well-being of farming households.
However, most of the time, farmers face the challenge of glut in the market that leads to very low prices.
Tonnes of the produce are further left to rot or fed to animals in times of surplus. However, adding value to the produce can help farmers save losses. Below are some of the products that be processed from cabbages.
Drying of vegetables extends their storage and consumption period. To dry cabbages, you need sharp knives, clean cold and hot water, solar dryer and suitable packaging material.
Remove the outer green cover, dirty and damaged leaves and the core of the heads. Then wash the cabbage using clean water, remove the core and shred the heads into tiny pieces.
Put the shredded cabbage into hot water for two to three minutes then remove and drain all the water.
Sauerkraut
This process is called blanching, it helps in killing germs and preventing discolouration of the dried cabbages. Then put the blanched shreds in the solar dryer and dry thoroughly.
Thereafter, pack the dried cabbages in attractive water-proof packs. Dried cabbages can be mixed with dried vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, sukuma wiki (collard greens) and spinach before packaging.
Dried cabbages can be milled into flour that can be used to enrich animal feed rations with fibre and other nutrients.
Cabbages have about 3-5 per cent sugar, thus, can be fermented to make various products. Sauerkraut is one of the fermented cabbage products.
To ferment cabbages, you require sharp knives, clean cold water, salt, brine solution, plastic sheets, fermentation tanks (wooden barrels or plastic vats) and suitable packaging materials (cans, plastic bags or glass jars).
Prepare the cabbage by removing the unwanted portions – dirty and damaged leaves as well as the core.
Fermentation
Then wash the cabbages using clean water and shred the heads into small strips using the knives. Also prepare a brine solution by dissolving 2.5kg of salt in 100 litres of water.
Place the shredded cabbage into fermentation tanks and add salt at a rate of 2.25kg for every 100kg of cabbage. Mix the salt and the shredded cabbages thoroughly and distribute to a slight concave surface at the top.
Loosely cover the tanks with plastic sheeting. Put the brine on top of the plastic cover to exclude oxygen to develop anaerobic conditions.
Fermentation will start in a few hours and should continue for 21 to 28 days. After the period, sauerkraut would have developed in the tanks. Remove the brine and the plastic sheet on top of the tank and package the product in glass jars or sealed plastic bags and store in refrigerator at 4°C. Alternatively, the sauerkraut can be packaged in cans and then pasteurised at 74–82°C for three minutes and then cooled and stored.
Only cabbages that are fully mature should be used to make products. Maintain high standards of hygiene when making the different products.
The utensils, surfaces, environment and the personnel that come in contact with the cabbage should be clean. Proper hygiene ensures good quality products.
The writer is based at the Department of Dairy, Food Science and Technology, Egerton University.
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