1 1/8 Tablespoon salt (non-iodized)
6. After a few days, you may see some mold floating on the surface; this is normal and harmless. Your cabbage is safely out of reach under the brine, where more desirable organisms are working their magic. Scoop out as much of the mold as you can, wash the weight jar, and you’re good to go again.
If the thought of letting cabbage sit unrefrigerated on your counter for days at a time is unsettling, just know that all the lactic acid is killing off any harmful organisms, while bringing out the flavor and nutrient content of the cabbage.
7. Taste your cabbage every day thereafter. It will start to get tangy after just a few days at room temperature. When the flavor is perfect, put a lid on your jar and put it in the fridge (the cold slows the fermentation process), and eat it up within a few weeks.
The sourness of sauerkraut pairs well with sweeter meats, which is why it’s often served with pork.
If you have any brine left in the jar when the kraut is gone, don’t throw it out! Kraut juice is a popular digestive tonic. Drink it straight, add it to salad dressing or add to any of your favorite German dishes.
Comments
15 responses to “Ward of Winter Colds With Homemade Sauerkraut”
THANKYOU, THIS SOUNDS EASY ENOUGH! WILL DEFINITELY GIVE IT A TRY.
thanks, will try it.
Why isn’t the kraut you buy in grocery store just as good for you as going by this recipe?
Most store bought kraut is pickled with vinegar. Its tasty but doesn’t have the same nutrition as fermented foods, they have good bacteria for your gut.
yup. it is. I worked at a living history site, and I asked every older woman who came through if she had HER mothers ‘kraut’ recipe. I wrote them all down. I have them in a notebook. one lady remembers her mom actually just quartering the smallest heads of cabbage and making it that way. sounds weird to me, but, I wasn’t there so, who knows. its hard to understand how people got over the ‘ICK’ factor of living w/o refridgeration(sp?)
.
Because grocery store kraut is pasteurized to increase shelf life and pasteurization kills all the good bacteria.
It’s also worth noting that you need to use non-iodized salt as iodine will also kill the good bacteria that you want.
My parents would put up 2 giant crocs of this every fall. Never really got the recipe. This one sounds perfect for me being the only Kraut lover in my house.
Crock Kraut Recipe
5# shredded cabbage
3 Tbsp. Pickling/Canning salt
Toss in the crock and pound with a mallet or heal of hand until water comes up over the cabbage. Add another 5# batch with 3 Tbsp. salt to crock and pound until water covers the cabbage. Continue until the crock is almost full OR you run out of cabbage.
Take 2 unscented 13 gallon trash bags, fitting one inside the other. Put enough water in the inside bag so when placed on top of cabbage in crock the water covers the entire area. Seal each bag up individually and leave for 8 weeks. No need for a weighted plate, the water bag does the trick. We’ve been doing our kraut this way for years and get rave reviews on the taste.
Good Luck and enjoy.
we have been making Kraut in a crock for better than40 years it turns out great each year found a great recipe in a book called Stocking Up by the Editors of ORGANIC GARDENING AND FARMING
My kraut did not ferment. It has done absolutely nothing. Time to try again. I may keep my house to cool for the fermentation to take place.
Perhaps having a senior’s moment here, but is that 1 x one eighth tsp of salt (tiny amount), 1 and one eighth tsp of salt(odd amount), or something else?
I am confused on this one too – hope they answer.
Just curious. I have bean pots will this do the same and could a water balloon do the same.
And can you can this after the facted.
As uou can see ” beginner”
I make it in a gallon jar and than transfer to smaller jars and have canned it. I think some of the probiotic and natural bacterial protection gets destroed by cooking it. (cold packing) But you don’t have to refrigerate after that until opened and still good roughage. Larry
You can freeze in freezer bags…I use quart bags.