Sauerkraut

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to get plenty of probiotics (help with digestion) is to start eating sauerkraut regularly. Other things that are high in probiotics include kim chi, kefir, yogurt, and cultured butters.
I hope to do a post on how to make all these things individually, but today we are going to focus on sauerkraut.

Sauerkraut has many uses including giving a nice tang to salads, sandwiches and even soups. I encourage you to experiment with this great superfood. And of course it is good with sausage, lol!

• First you are going to need a cabbage, salt, knife, big mixing bowl, pint size Mason jars (seem to work best), and a wooden spoon. (Make sure not to use metal as the metal will react to the fermenting cabbage)

I have used many different types of cabbage. I do not see any difference between the end taste and texture although some cabbage (like purple) will turn the kraut a different color.

• Remove the outer leaves and core from the cabbage and slice it thin (or shred with a food processor or hand held shredder), put in a mixing bowl, add as much salt as you normally would for the amount of cabbage, then massage/mix the salt, by hand, in to the cabbage until it starts to sweat a little…

I saved the big outer leaves and core to be turned in to stock later.

• After the cabbage is well mixed with the salt start stuffing it a little at a time in to the pint size Mason jar. Make sure to pack it down as tight as possible with the wooden spoon.
• Then put the lid on the jar loosely (to let gases escape) and store in a warm, dark spot that keeps a constant temperature.
• Keep pressing down the cabbage everyday with a wooden spoon until there is enough liquid to cover the cabbage completely. DO NOT ADD LIQUID!
• In about a month the sauerkraut should be ready. Be sure to taste it regularly after a few weeks in order to notice when it is done enough for your own personal taste. The kraut can ferment for a few weeks to a few months and gets a stronger taste with age.

Troubleshooting:
The kraut is to mushy:
This has only happened to me once and I still can’t figure out what went wrong. The Internet said there might not have been enough salt in it. Also it was a rare time when I used a conventionally grown cabbage, but not sure if that had anything to do with it…
The kraut has weird stuff growing on top of it:
Fermentation is an anaerobic (without oxygen) process. If air comes in contact with the cabbage then it will start to rot (which is different than fermentation, lol). This is why the cabbage is tightly packed in to the jar and kept below the liquid. The kraut might be saved by skimming off the cabbage pieces on top and feeding it to the composting worms. Then make sure the rest of the cabbage is kept under the liquid. If you are not comfortable with that, feel free to pitch it and start over. Don’t give up! You will get the hang of it soon enough!

*The best time to make sauerkraut (outside of a highly controlled environment) is in the spring and fall. During the summer or winter it might get too hot or too cold. Variations in temperature can have a dramatic effect on the end product. An interesting side note is that, traditionally, sauerkraut and kim chi were fermented at different temperatures. Around 70 degrees F and 60 degrees F (respectively).