The awaited result...
A little over a month ago, I decided to try out making my own lactofermented sauerkraut. I had been reading about the health benefits of eating naturally fermented foods (aids in digestion and tastes yummy).
Not being sure how much we would like it, I did not go out and immediately buy a sauerkraut crock, but tried it out using what I had around here. That turned out to be an empty plastic 5 quart ice cream bucket and lid.
I started out with two large heads of cabbage purchased at the grocery store (they seem to be very reasonably priced this time of year), kosher salt (any non-iodized salt will do) and an inexpensive mandoline slicing machine I picked up at Aldi awhile back.
I peeled off a couple of the large outer cabbage leaves to use as the top layer in my sauerkraut bucket, then used the mandoline to finely shred the cabbage. This is a messy process, so I ended up with little cabbage bits scattered around. As I shredded, I packed the cabbage into the ice cream bucket, tamping it down with my potato masher, sprinkling kosher salt on as I went. I used about 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of kosher salt per head of cabbage (this can be varied somewhat to suit your taste, although you don’t want too little since the salty atmosphere is required for proper fermentation).
After it was all shredded, salted, tamped down, I used the reserved cabbage leaves to cover the shredded cabbage, and topped it with a china plate that fit inside the bucket. To add weight to press down on the plate, I filled a ziplock bag with water and placed it on top of the plate.
Within just a few hours, the cabbage had released enough liquid to cover the sauerkraut. For the first week or so, it remained on my kitchen counter so I could observe the process. However, it began to exude a less than desirable smell and was then moved to the basement to continue.
Over the last month, I checked it every few days, adding bottled water once when it needed (don’t add chlorinated tap water).
In the last week, it has developed a really nice sauerkraut smell, so today I transferred it all into mason jars (and sampled some along the way). This yielded about 2 1/2 quarts of sauerkraut, which can be stored in the basement to continue fermentation (as long as the lids are not tightened down and gas can escape) or moved to the refrigerator to stop the process at the current level of “sour-ness”.
Can you believe how easy this is? I think I’ll branch out by adding apples and caraway seeds on the next batch, maybe a few juniper berries (reminds me of our years in Germany).
It is really quite tasty, with a slightly different taste than the stuff you buy in cans… I think it is time for German bockwurst to go along with the sauerkraut. Guess what is for dinner tonight…