sauerkraut recipe, please

[Guest guest]

Thank you for the welcome, Judy.

 

We make our sauerkraut in a ceramic crock the way it's been done

forever. We clean the cabbages well (you'd never believe how many

little slugs and earthworms can spend their lives deep inside the

base of a big cabbage!) and then shred them with a kraut cutter.

 

For every 5 lbs. of shredded cabbage use 3 tablespoons of sea salt

and a teaspoon of caraway seeds.

 

Sprinkle the salt on the cabbage first and squeeze and knead it a bit

to get the juice flowing, them mix in the caraway seeds.

 

Cover the bottom of the crock with a few grape leaves (we don't use

any chemicals on anything), and then a few big outer leaves from the

cabbages.

 

Fill the crock with the prepared cabbage, pounding it your fists, or

a wooden sauerkraut pounder if you have one, to pack it tightly. When

the crock is about 5 " inches less than full cover the cabbage with

more grape leaves and cabbage leaves.

 

Place a plate (nothing plastic or metal should be involved) on top of

the leaves and put a weight (we have a rock that we scrub and clean

with boiling water) on top to keep the juice above the level of the

cabbage.

 

Cover the whole works with a clean cloth and put in an unheated part

of your house to ferment.

 

Every 5 days or so check to see if mold or scum is forming on top of

the juice. Skim it off, but be sure to leave the juice covering the

cabbage. The mold and scum that naturally form on top of the kraut

juice isn't really bad stuff, i.e., it doesn't mean something has

spoiled. But keeping it skimmed off will make it easier to remove

lovely clean sauerkraut later on.

 

We generally let our sauerkraut sit 3 or 4 months before eating it,

but that's because we're still finishing up the last from the

previous year.

 

I *highly* recommend _Wild Fermentation_ by Sandor Katz

< http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2007/05/17/katz/>

which will really open your eyes to the benefit of fermented foods.

 

~ irene

 

 

> Hi Irene,

>

> Glad to have you. Sounds like a nice way of living you have there.

>

> Please share your sauerkraut recipe with the rest of us. It

> sounds unique. I enjoy sauerkraut mixed with diced up Worthington

> Big Frank, celery and onions that I saute first.

>

>

>

> Thanks!

>

> Judy

>

>

>

> We've just finished putting down 25 lbs. of cabbage in the

> sauerkraut crock and we will do

> another 25 lbs. this weekend. Raw (unheated) sauerkraut is just

> the best!

>

> I look forward to reading lots of interesting recipes and

> comments on this list.

>

> Many thanks,

>

> ~ irene in WA