Recipes and Stuff: Making Sauerkraut-It's what to do with all that cabbage!-Updated!

Sauerkraut-Translation: Sour Cabbage....such a simple thing but oh so good on that hot sausage on a bun with mustard and onions....yum. So after the last post of cole slaw what to do with this??

I had so much left and there is only so much cole slaw a person can stand in any given week. So I was thinking how to save for later. Cabbage will keep for a very long time in the fridge but it tends to take up space. So I decided to make sauerkraut which I will can and store on the shelf. Out of the way and in portions that are easy to handle. Who needs store bought! I will make my own! I am getting a lot out of this $1.00 head of cabbage! So this is a working post as I have not made it before. I did some research and it is such a basic thing. Only need three things....actually four but who is counting...

Sauerkraut

Fresh cabbage

Salt (approx. 2 tbl.)

A Crock or other non reactive container

Something to pound with

Slice up that cabbage like we did for the cole slaw. Thin slice off the head and chop width wise a couple of time.

Don't have a crock? Does this look familiar?

Yup, you guessed it! A crock pot insert! Mine removes from the heating part but if yours doesn't no sweat! You are not going to plug the thing in anyway! Layer the cabbage into the crock (you probably can use any non-reactive container as well, i.e. Tupperware, plastic, ceramic, glass) and sprinkle some of the salt between the layers. Pound these layers down with your tool of choice. I use a marble rolling pin.

What you will see with a little time that the salt will draw off the water in the cabbage and will start to cover the cabbage. This is a good thing. The magic is in nature herself. Most fresh veggies and fruits have wild yeast on their surface. It's that dull coating you see on grapes, plums etc. Bet you didn't know that! You can start a sourdough starter with it! That is another post. So you have sliced, chopped, layered, salted and crushed all the cabbage. Give it a little time to "soup" up. You can add a little non chlorine water to top it off. Don't want to kill any of that good stuff that will sour our cabbage. Since I have a well I never have to think about chlorine in it. Now you can do one of two things.

You can put a piece of plastic wrap over the soaking cabbage and then put a plate close to the size of the container without touching the sides or not.

We want to keep the cabbage under the liquid. The plastic wrap is an option. Then place a weight on top. You can fill some ziplock bags with water or use a can of anything wrapped in plastic, anything to keep the plate down.

Now we wait while it bubbles away and does it's thing. My reading tells about two to three weeks. Just put it somewhere where you can keep an eye on it. Scum may rise to the top. You can skim this off. After a couple of weeks we will check the cabbage and see if it is sour enough to can. If it is, then we will pack it in clean and hot mason jars and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. I will update this post as I proceed. I am at 1 week in another crock and 5 days in this one. Follow this post to see me finish this up.

Update: 11/12/13 Well I am back to this post. my batch from 10/23/2013 is ready to my taste. Not too biting. Mild actually. I got my big canning pot out and sterilized my jars. Turns out I only need two!