Sauerkraut
This is the perfect quick project when you have an hour, and it will pay off for weeks.
Sauerkraut (Fermented Cabbage)
Shredded cabbage tossed with salt, optionally mixed with other spices, and allowed to ferment for days or weeks.
Ingredients
- 5 lb cabbage green or red or both
- 3 tbsp non-iodized salt pickling, kosher, sea or any other non-iodized variety
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds optional
- You’ll need a large clean container to put your yummy into (glass or ceramic crocks are perfect, food grade plastic buckets work great).
- Get a large bowl, big enough to hold a lot of cabbage.
- Shred the cabbage, in any texture you like. Fine or coarse, with core or without, by hand or using a food processor. As you go, put big handfuls of cabbage in the bowl, and sprinkle with salt. Layer and repeat until you have shredded all the cabbage and used all the salt.
- Massage and toss the cabbage and salt mixture with your hands, making sure to spread the salt around and get the cabbage coated.
- Place the cabbage in the container you have waiting. After every big fistful, press the cabbage to the bottom of the container. Be forceful, you won’t hurt anything. If you don’t want to immerse your hands, use something like a potato masher or meat hammer to press the cabbage down.
- Once you have pressed all your cabbage into the container, you need to weight it down. This is so that you can first encourage your cabbage to develop its brine, and second to make sure the cabbage remains submerged. Use a plate or any other flattish object that can cover most of the cabbage and fit within your container. Then put a clean heavy object on top of the plate. A large jar filled with water is usually adequate.
- Cover the whole thing with a clean cloth, like a dish towel. Every few hours, press down on your weight to encourage the cabbage to release its liquid. After a day, there should be enough liquid to cover the cabbage. If there isn’t, add brine (1 tbsp salt to 1 cup water) to cover.
Cover your crock and place in a cool, dark spot to let it bubble away. I like how it tastes after a week, but even 3 or 4 days may be enough to get that tangy flavor going. Taste every few days to see how you like it.
When you are ready to eat it, put some or all of it into the refrigerator. I have been putting some in the fridge, and letting the rest continue to ferment. Eventually, what’s in the crock will get too soft to be appealing, and too ripe for most palates. If you have anything left at that point, let it feed your compost bin 🙂