This year we planted way more cabbage that we could eat before it went bad. We recently became very interested in fermented foods and decided to start making sauerkraut. It is an amazingly simple process.
I typically start out with about 5 lbs of cabbage. You can use purple or green cabbage. This particular time I went with one purple small jar and a bigger jar with a mix of both purple and green cabbage.
I use 2 TBS of non iodized salt (I prefer sea salt) per 5 lbs. The type and amount of salt use will determine the flavor of your sauerkraut. I like the sea salt because I feel like it is a milder flavor. This is an issue since I am the only one in our house that likes for my sauerkraut to kick me back.
Cut out the core and cut the cabbage into shreds.
Sprinkle the salt all over. Now massage the salt into the cabbage. This is done so that the salt gets worked in and the water can start coming out. After a few minutes of massaging you will see the water coming out.
Let this sit for about 20 minutes.
Now you can start getting a little rough with it. You want to start manhandling it to really work in the salt and get it mixed well. This can be done with your fist. Just push down on the cabbage with a good bit of force. Turn the cabbage and repeat the process. I like to spend a good 5-10 minutes for this part to make sure I am getting a good bit of the water out.
Now you can start stuffing your jars. You want to pack the cabbage into the jars a little at a time so that you can pack it tight enough to get out as much air as possible.
Once all the cabbage is in the jars there will be some liquid in your mixing bowl, pour that into the jar as well.
The last step is probably the most important. We are going to keep the cabbage below the water line to properly ferment and make the sauerkraut. This can be done multiple ways. This is will be totally up to you based off the materials you have on hand. The first way would be to take a ziploc bag filled about half way with water. Sit it down on top of the cabbage. You can also take one of the outer cabbage leaves that you didn't use to tuck around the cabbage to hold it in place. Both of these methods work.
They will hold the cabbage below the water while allowing air to escape. After fermenting a few batches, I purchased glass fermenting weights. These fit into the glass jars perfectly and hold everything in place.
I now put on a fermenting lid. If you don't have lids you can just cover it with a tea cloth to keep anything from getting into the jars.
This should help you get started with fermenting. Simple and easy. Hopefully this will help you in your fermenting adventures. You don't have to have the fancy equipment to get started, I didn't! That all came later after I made sure this was something I wanted to pursue!
Thanks for reading and Happy Fermenting!
