Sauerkraut

A couple of years ago my mom got me a really fancy German sauerkraut crock. It is extra fancy in that there are weights to hold the kraut down under the liquid, and there is a lip around the whole thing that you pour water into to keep an air seal for the fermenting kraut inside. And it is big enough to make 7 quarts of sauerkraut! This last batch is the largest I have ever made, and with the help of friends, it went very quickly.

The recipe we used is based on the one in Wild Fermentation, but really it is just salt and cabbage. We added caraway too.

1) Chop or grate cabbage, with or without hearts, however you like.

We used a blend of green and red cabbages, and tried three different shredding techniques:
1) My food processor (which has a grater blade and shreds very small)
2) My hand-me down mandoline (an orange plastic job that you might remember from the pay per view commercials circa 1980)
3) A sharp knife

My personal fave was the mandoline because it made long thin strips, and because it was even FASTER than the food processor?! woah. who needs these new-fangled electronic gadgets when you can do better without?

2) Sprinkle salt on cabbage as you go. This is because the salt pulls water out of the cabbage, which creates the brine for the fermentation process. It also keeps it crunchy.

Katz's recipe calls for 5 pounds of cabbage to 3 T sea salt

Through some scientific hand weighing, we determined that each head of cabbage approximated about 1 T of salt (the small ones a little less, the big ones a bit more). And we just poured in the caraway seeds in between in quantities less than the salt.

3) Add other veggies if you like, or herbs and spices.

4) Mix ingredients together and pack into crock (or jar or whatever food grade bucket you use).

We established a fancy system to get the most liquid out of the cabbage: using the butt end of a wine bottle, we pounded the cabbage in a bowl before transferring it to the crock, where it was pounded some more with a fat rolling pin. This got lots of liquid out of the cabbage and allowed for a jam packed crock.

5) Cover kraut with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly. Place a clean weight (glass jug filled with water) on the cover. This will keep the cabbage submerged under the brine. Cover the whole thing with cloth to keep dust off.
*This is where the fancy German crock comes in handy...no dust via the water seal.

6) Leave the crock to ferment for 1-4 weeks. It was getting cool the last several weeks already, and ours sat out about 3 weeks. The warmer it is, the faster the fermentation goes.

7) Check the kraut every so often. Sometimes a white film (aka mold) appears on the top of the liquid. This is normal and you can just scrape it off (any remaining bits will break up and be unnoticeable). It is due to air hitting the surface, but the kraut itself is under the "anaerobic protection of the brine" (I particularly like that line).

8) Enjoy! (Taste along the way til its the tang you like)

We packed up the many quarts of kraut and stuck them in the fridge. They need to be chilled at this point or they will continue to ferment. Some people can their kraut, but heating the kraut kills all of the really really good stuff (drink the liquid as a "rare delicacy and digestive tonic" says Katz).