In our video,
How to Make Sauerkraut, Wendy Van Wagner and Joe Meade show us how simple it is to prepare sauerkraut at home. Assemble your ingredients: a large bowl, sea salt, a pounder, and a sharp knife. If you want to add seasonings use caraway seeds or juniper berries. Use organic cabbage for two reasons: 1) it has more sugars than conventional cabbage, so the lacto fermentation gets going faster, and 2) conventional cabbage is often grown too quickly, and it can rot instead of fermenting.
Choose the small, medium or large size of a fermentation crock.
Remove the outer leaves of the cabbages, and any bruised leaves, then cut out the cores.
Slice the cabbages thinly, using your knuckles as a guide -- or use a traditional sauerkraut cutter, or a mandoline.
Add sea salt according to the recipe. Mix the salt and the cabbage, then bash the cabbage with the pounder, as you rotate the bowl. The bruised cabbage will begin to exude liquid.
Pack the cabbage into the clean crock and press until liquid rises about the cabbage. Then add the weighting stones and be sure the liquid covers the stones.
Place the lid on the crock and
fill the rim with water to form an airtight seal. Place in a room where the temperature is 60°F to 70°F, monitor the water in the rim, and wait 3 to 4 weeks. If you like mild sauerkraut, eat it sooner, if you like it tangier, let it go longer.
Serve up your finished sauerkraut!
Would you like to make sauerkraut with NO salt, or low salt? For more on sauerkraut and other fermented foods, try
The Art of Fermentation, and
Preserving Food at Home.
