You guys, my house smells

[mrs.jacinthe]

like rotting cabbage.

I'm making sauerkraut and I've got the crock in the guest bathroom bathtub with the door closed. But the WHOLE HOUSE stinks like cabbage.

I've tried febreze, candles, opening the windows. Any ideas? I've got at least 3 more weeks of this smell to deal with! Arghhh.

[tarheels]

I have no idea, but what's with three weeks?

New SN: CuriousNotHelpful

[mrs.jacinthe]

LOL Tarheels.

Sauerkraut has to ferment for 3-6 weeks. No way in the world I'm putting up with this stench until mid-October, so 3 weeks it is ... hopefully ...

[TBM]

The only thing that I can think of that might work is something like this- www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1279959&cagpspn=pla

[wawa]

Is it supposed to be that stinky?? I've never made saurkraut - I know that it's a relatively smelly process what with the cabbage and the fermenting, but should it really stink up a whole house?

The only thing i can think of is to vent the bathroom air specifically - so a fan in the window pointed out, or running the fan constantly.

[Deleted]

Sept 7, 2012 13:54:31 GMT -5 tarheels said:

I have no idea, but what's with three weeks?

I am wondering the same thing. Does it take that long to cook or are you making a literal ton of it?

Can you put it in the garage or outside or something during the day. Maybe if you did that and then brought it in at night it would lessen the smell. It won't take it away since you will bring it back at night but it may be better.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Sept 7, 2012 13:58:00 GMT -5 wawa said:

Is it supposed to be that stinky?? I've never made saurkraut - I know that it's a relatively smelly process what with the cabbage and the fermenting, but should it really stink up a whole house?

The only thing i can think of is to vent the bathroom air specifically - so a fan in the window pointed out, or running the fan constantly.

I don't know. This is my first time making sauerkraut without a dedicated 'kraut cupboard' (seriously ... my grandma had one in her basement.) Our house is TINY - less than 900 sq ft - so I think it's probably ok. ??

[emoflamingo]

This is making me glad that my (very German) H does not like sauerkraut.

[mrs.jacinthe]

LOL emo. H loves sauerkraut and we had a VERY productive run with the cabbage in our garden. I didn't know what else to do with 30+ pounds of cabbage. you can only eat so many cabbage rolls, you know?

[emjacobs]

We have a rule in our family : No one cooks cabbage indoors.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Sept 7, 2012 14:20:35 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

We have a rule in our family : No one cooks cabbage indoors.

Oh, for REAL. Good rule.

[reils]

We always made sauerkraut growing up and I don't remember it being stinky until it was almost done. I might be remembering wrong though.

[pitterwoo]

I don't think it should be stinky either. It's not in an open container is it? I mean I know it has to be able to let air pressure out, but it shouldn't be wafting around I don't think!

[TBM]

When I was a kid, we had friends who owned a German bar/restaurant. They gave us a sauerkraut barrel that my mom used out in the garden for compost, and that thing smelled like sauerkraut for my entire childhood. The compost itself smelled better than the barrel (once it was out of the barrel), but everyone hated being the one who had to lift the lid to put scraps in there.lol

[Deleted]

allrecipes.com/search/default.aspx?ms=0&origin=Home+Page&qt=i&pqt=i&fo=0&rt=r&w0=cabbage&p34=SR_SortByRating&sb=ra

Lots of cabbage recipes for you. I don't like sauerkraut all that much and I certainly don't like it enough to do anything than buy it in a small jar at the grocery store.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Sept 7, 2012 14:34:39 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

I don't think it should be stinky either. It's not in an open container is it? I mean I know it has to be able to let air pressure out, but it shouldn't be wafting around I don't think!

It's the way my grandma always made it - in a (clean, obviously) crock with cheesecloth over it, then a plate and a weight.

I'm skimming the scum off daily, like I'm supposed to ... I lifted the cheesecloth yesterday to check it and it definitely looks like it's fermenting properly. It just stinks.

[thatgirl2478]

pretty sure you'll just have to wait it out - keep the windows open - I wouldn't keep using febreeze - that's probably just adding to the problem.

[pamela]

This is why DH is not allowed to try to make it at our house. Or brew his own beer.

[emoflamingo]

If I had 30 heads of cabbage, I'd be selling it to people on a street corner. Like the tv shows set in LA that have guys selling bags of oranges and tube socks. (I don't like cabbage and sauerkraut either.)

[wawa]

Sept 7, 2012 15:10:19 GMT -5 pamela said:

This is why DH is not allowed to try to make it at our house. Or brew his own beer.

Brewing beer smells good! I mean...when you boil the hops it does kinda smell like somebody lit a fat joint, but that clears quickly. the actual brewing smell always smells like delicious yeasty goodness. Like rising bread and fresh beer and yum.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Sept 7, 2012 15:22:26 GMT -5 emoflamingo said:

If I had 30 heads of cabbage, I'd be selling it to people on a street corner. Like the tv shows set in LA that have guys selling bags of oranges and tube socks. (I don't like cabbage and sauerkraut either.)

Now there's the entrepenurial spirit! LOL

(I'm trying to imagine what street-corner vending item would go with cabbage ... other than clothespins ...)

[emoflamingo]

Sept 7, 2012 15:27:01 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Sept 7, 2012 15:22:26 GMT -5 emoflamingo said:

If I had 30 heads of cabbage, I'd be selling it to people on a street corner. Like the tv shows set in LA that have guys selling bags of oranges and tube socks. (I don't like cabbage and sauerkraut either.)

Now there's the entrepenurial spirit! LOL

(I'm trying to imagine what street-corner vending item would go with cabbage ... other than clothespins ...)

Scrunchies?

[auntie]

It's why DH's family kept their barrels in the barn not the house.

[TBM]

Sept 7, 2012 14:22:57 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Sept 7, 2012 14:20:35 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

We have a rule in our family : No one cooks cabbage indoors.

Oh, for REAL. Good rule.

For some reason this made me think of the line in the movie Meet Me In St. Louis, where the housekeeper/cool says "Cabbage has a cabbage smell." We use that line whenever anyone comments on any kind of food smell.

[sjh722]

Sept 7, 2012 14:04:48 GMT -5 emoflamingo said:

This is making me glad that my (very German) H does not like sauerkraut.

Yeah, neither of us like Sauerkraut, and we are Dutch. My mom refused to cook it, I remember my grandma sending it over for my dad. Blech. It does not smell good.

Sorry you have a stinky house, jacinthe.

[kaylie]

Sept 7, 2012 13:57:40 GMT -5 TBM said:

The only thing that I can think of that might work is something like this- www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1279959&cagpspn=pla

I think this would be your best bet as well. They sell them at BBB. I used it in my rat infested NYC apartment that always smelled like dead rat because they died in the walls =). It was the only thing that worked.