Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut

Ingredients

- 1 head green cabbage
- cooking salt (kosher)
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds

Method

1. Cut the cabbage in half, remove the core, then slice thinly.
2. Weigh the cabbage, then weigh 20g of salt for every 1kg of cabbage.
3. Working in batches, sprinkle the salt evenly over the cabbage and then massage it in well. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
4. Next, add the caraway seeds and mix well.
5. Pack the cabbage mixture into a glass or ceramic jar and cover it. Leave it in a cool, dark spot to ferment for 3 weeks, making sure you let any gas out daily to avoid an explosion.
6. After 3 weeks, it's ready to eat. At that point, store it in the fridge and enjoy!

[JoJoGaminG]

As a German, I appreciate that you show people overseas to make their own, delicious Sauerkraut.

[Kitkatrey]

I used to can cabbage for sauerkraut every year. Used a huge crock and had to cut up about 25 cabbage heads. Layer, salt, layer, salt, til all in the crock, lay a clean, flour-sack dishtowel over and a plate on top with a couple bricks to weigh down the plate onto the cabbage inside the crock. This is what allowe it to “burp” as it fermented in lovely So. IL heat & humidity a good 3 weeks. Skim the foam and top layer off about every 3-4 days.
Bring inside, rinse thoroughly to remove the salty brine, pack tightly in jars, poking to remove air pockets, add fresh saline brine & water bath can.
My fav recipe was adding the jarred kraut to some chopped apple with some shredded raw potatoes sautéed in butter, red wine, a little onion and caraway, (sometimes some leftover bratwurst bits) simmered on low.
Taught by a nice German woman while living there.

[bugenvila]

I'm Latvian. We put the shredder cabbage in the wooden barrels, shredded on specially made blades on wooden tray and then stumped with big wooden stumper. Everyone had those at home those days.Would last till spring into the summer. Delicious. Scrumptious. Healthy. The same is done in Russia, Poland, Ukraine etc.

[BlueberryInanimateInsanityLOL]

BIG BOWL OF SAUERKRAUT!

*_EVERY SINGLE MORNING!_*

[RandomBfdiFan]

BIG BOWL OF SAUERKRAUT, EVERY SINGLE MORNING 🗣️🔥🎸

[joanneandalifelio]

Being Dutch, my parents use to tell me how they used to make it in big barrels, much like the wine barrels and it was kept in the cellar to ferment. It is my favourite probiotic.

[lianagheorma]

As a Romanian, I approve of the recipe. This is how my grandma used to do it. :)

[xVIsAsx]

Im from Germany, my grandma's recipe also includes bay leaves and juniper berries. And you have to massage the cabbage softly for a very long time

[weisseadler]

As a European, Romanian from Transylvania we use wooden or plastic barrels 30L/50L, we start the process on October 26, we put water, whole heads of cabbages inside (make sure the barrel is stuffed well so they don't move around or float) add caraway, thyme branches, dried dill and a few hot peppers. It is left with a lead on top unscrewed to pickle for 6-8 weeks, depending on how cold the space is where it is stored, a cool place is recommended. Every week it's aerated with the help of a pipe/hose which you can insert in the barrel till the bottom and then blow into the pipe or the old way (Swabian), empty the liquid in the barrel through a tap at the bottom of the barrel and poor it right back in to it. This is how you will have pickled cabbage for Christmas to prepare all your delicious plates.

[Gogii_]

As a British/Chinese family, our family love eating this and putting it with a nice seasoned meat base and some ribs with other bits and bobs. Really fulfilling and tasteful especially in the cold, rough winters.

[eastfrisian_]

I'm German and I miss my grandma's homemade sauerkraut! When I was little, she made it herself and had a pot like this but bigger and I was allowed to help mix in the salt, I know that even though it was over 30 years ago and I still remember the excellent taste 😍

[themasao]

My grandmother made her sauerkraut in a small (<24" tall) wooden barrel. She kept it in the cool vegetable cellar off of her basement. It was covered with a kitchen towel and a large rock on a round board kept the cabbage submerged under the brine. It was delicious!

[PoloPulse]

Fun fact. In the Balkans many people do this same procedure, except they'll only cut out the core of the cabbage, and once fermented they use the leaves for sarma. Pretty easy to make

[jchany]

As a Hungarian …. So happy to see you are using caraway seeds. That’s a must with this. We doing the same process plus put a whole had in it in a barrel to make cabbage rolls.

[jennybratz]

I remember making sauerkraut with my granpa. He had antique large ceramic jugs about the size of 10 year old me. I remember stamping every layer with a big wooden mallet. He also said the best recipe is Blood Sweat and Tears (metaphorically). Man I miss him.

[Bittrhlz]

Its great if you stamp the sauerkraut with a wooden stamper into the fermenting jar. That way you not only stuff it in tighter, you also break down the tough cell membranes of the cabbage and you get a more refined result thats much less leathery and more jello like.

[emirra]

Thank you for the recipe. I'vs never seen such a jar.
In Romania we use a big barrel, we layer cabbage heads, salt, cabbage heads, salt, we add some beetroots, fill it up with water and let it sit for a few weeks. We use a small pipe ( non-metal) to blow in the water.
After that we keep the cabbage in the freezer, or in jars, and use the remaining liquid as a pro-biotic.

[barbarahampton]

My grandmother made hers in barrels...I hated going down into the basement to skim the brine but sure loved the finished product!

[valeriepvi]

I'm from Bulgaria . Sourcraft and other delicious pickles and preservatives are traditionally made here for thousands of years . Every family used to make huge variations of them with its own secrets in the recepies. Amaizing culinary heritage! Your recepy is a basic one for fast and short- term use but it's a good one 👍

[lampkanocna]

since the 1990s I remember my dad making cabbage in a plastic barrel, beaten in layers. It was packed in galoshes, my dad covered the top with boards and a field stone, and then she stood in the heat for two weeks and then at the end of autumn and the beginning of winter on the balcony. Only once did the cabbage last almost until August and it was still good to eat. I also drank cabbage juice, although it is said to be the best for a hangover.