Homemade Sauerkraut

Okay, so we've got lots of cabbage left in the garden and I've got about 100 tomato plants in my little hothouse that I've got to get in the ground.  The cabbage is taking up the room I need so we'll harvest it.  We steam it (yum!), make coleslaw with pecans it it (oh yeah!) and we're going to show you what we do with the rest.

My cabbage crop was not consistent this year.  We had some real nice heads like this:

Nice head of cabbage

And then we had lots of medium to small heads that aren't going to mature in time and I need that space for the 'maters.  It's okay - the cabbage won't go to waste, I assure you.


Small to medium heads of cabbage (or cabbage patch kids - remember those?)

We're going to make sauerkraut today with some of the cabbage.  We'll do this in several batches so that we have it maturing at different times.  For full disclosure, I wouldn't have eaten sauerkraut as a kid.  Partially because of the name - Sauerkraut.  Translated directly, it means sour cabbage.  Does that sound appetizing?  Oh but it is!  Let's get started.

First bring the cabbage in and wash it real good, tearing off the outer leaves that may have some bug damage.

Getting started

Next, begin chopping up the cabbage...


Chop it

You want to chop it small enough to fit as we're going to be putting it in a food processor with the shredding blade on it.

We'll chop it smaller than this

We cram it in the food processor and turn it on.  In no time you've got shredded cabbage.  This could also be used for coleslaw, but we're heading in a different direction.

Shredding the cabbage

Add a tablespoon of salt.


Salting the cabbage

In an earlier post on cheesemaking, we showed you how the curds separate away from the whey.  We save the whey to use in lacto fermenting vegetables.  Lacto fermentation aids in the absorption of nutrients and plays an important role in the digestive process.  The whey we're using today was from kefir that we recently made.

Add 1/4 cup of whey to the shredded cabbage.


Adding whey

Now comes the fun part.  Roll your sleeves up and get to work.  Who needs a gym?  The idea here is to mash up the cabbage, rupturing the shredded cabbage so that "cabbage juice" is released and mixes in with the whey.  We use the head of a wooden hammer/meat tenderizer and we pound and twist. 

Stress Relief

This is what you are aiming for, right here - cabbage that is beat up and mixed well with the whey.


Ready for canning

We simply stuff the cabbage into pint or quart sized canning jars.  I'll get a wooden spoon and press the cabbage down so that I get the maximum amount in there.  As the cabbage ferments, it shrinks somewhat.

Stuffing the jars

Next we'll add a little water to the jar of sauerkraut.

And here we go.  Our work is done.  Now we'll just let time do it's job.  We set the sauerkraut out at room temperature for 3 days and then we put in the refrigerator for at least a month before eating.


Setting out at room temperature to ferment

Here is a close-up shot of the fermenting sauerkraut:

Sauerkraut

Here is a photo I took about two weeks later of the sauerkraut in our refrigerator.  It still has a ways to go before it is done.  You can see how the color of the cabbage has changed and it has shrunk a bit.  The jar on the right is Gingered Carrots.  It is something that we make using the exact same process, except instead of cabbage, you use carrots and you shred ginger in it as well.  This stuff is delicious! 

Sauerkraut and Gingered Carrots

In another couple of weeks, we'll take the first batch out and begin eating it. We'll have additional batches at different stages of fermentation to follow.  This is supposed to be eaten as an appetizer as it gets your digestive enzymes going.  This allows your body to absorb nutrients better to keep you healthier!