making sauerkraut

I didn't know where else to bring it up, but I'm making sauerkraut. It relies on lacto to ferment. I'm wondering if anyone has tried their hand at it, and what some good recipes are. It looks like most people just let cut cabbage sit around with some salt on top and wait for a week. Anyone add anything else?

Eh, it's $1.99 at the grocery store.

It's better homemade... Start with a good sized jar, green cabbage, salt, caraway seeds, and juniper berries

Slice the cabbage thin into sauerkraut sized ribbons

-Put a layer of cabbage in a jar or crock (~3-4") salt, caraway, and a few juniper berries(not too heavy on the juniper)
-Make another layer of cabbage, and season again
-Lather, rinse, and repeat until your jar is full

Press the heck out of the mixture with your fist or something else flat and wide. By now, the cut and salted cabbage should have started to wilt and give off some liquid, so it will be a bit pliable. Once you've pressed the mixture as much as possible, add more and press that down too, until your vessel is full enough, but still has room to add something to weigh it down.

As it sits, it will give off more liquid. Place something sanitized on top to keep the kraut submerged (a plate, stone, jar, whatever). Anything sticking out of the top will eventually mold, but you can just pull it off and toss that part. Cover with some cheesecloth, or a lid and store it in a cool dark area for a few weeks. Skim the scum that forms on the top every now and then, everything under the liquid is safe to eat.

Every now and then give it a taste and when you like it, stick it in the fridge, throw some brats on the grill and crack open a nice dubbel.

Warning: It will look gross when the scum/mold develops on top, but it's not unhealthy... skim it off (and don't show it to anyone pre-skimmed)

TopherM said:

Eh, it's $1.99 at the grocery store.

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Yes, and beer is only $6 a sixer at the grocery store.

One of the "keys" an oldtimer told me about was to make sure to really "pound" the salt into the cabbage. He told me it was the way to get lots of the water out, and yet end up with crisper kraut.

He made huge batches in his basement, then bagged it up in 1 quart ziploc bags and froze it. It was the best kraut I ever had.

Agreed, you can really press the cabbage down hard with out it squishing or breaking once it starts to wilt.

If you don't get enough liquid out of it after a day or two, top it off with some pickle juice or vinegar to fully submerge the cabbage.

Yooper said:

Yes, and beer is only $6 a sixer at the grocery store.

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Nice one

My local farmers market has a sauerkraut booth. They usually have about 4 or 5 different flavors. I've thought about making my own, but I doubt it'd be half as good as the stuff these guys make.

we were given large ceramic fermenting pots this winter, so for the heck of it my wife tried making sauerkraut. being of eastern european descent, it's something that i grew up with so she wanted to humor me. turned out really good! it's also neat to know that bacteria from our house made that happen... true house flavor.

tip: use a food processor to shred the cabbage. also, avoid the temptation to over-salt. give it some time to react & take effect, if after a few days it hasn't softened up enough then add more.

strumke said:

If you don't get enough liquid out of it after a day or two, top it off with some pickle juice or vinegar to fully submerge the cabbage.

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my wife just used tap water.

what are people's strategy with the "bloom" that forms on the surface? to skim or not to skim?

Yes, and beer is only $6 a sixer at the grocery store.

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LOL, true, but not the snobby stuff I'm into. I'll pair a good homebrew with pretty much any food, from steak to cheetos to jelly beans. I like sourkraut, but the only thing I can ever remember buying it for is making reuben sandwitches, maybe an occational braut dog.

Plus, when you have excess sourkraut in the fridge, how do you know when it's gone sour?? LOL...just kidding....YOU'LL KNOW!

TopherM said:

I like sourkraut, but the only thing I can ever remember buying it for is making reuben sandwitches, maybe an occational braut dog.

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I think this is the other thing that keeps me from making my own.. I just don't use it all that often. But the crap at the grocery store is really the natty light of sauerkraut, not even worth making a dog or reuben with that garbage - and I've tried many different brands, even whatever whole foods has was crap compared to good homemade stuff. It lasts pretty much forever though, so I buy a $6 crock that's about a quart or so and it takes me a few months or more to eat it all.

sweetcell said:

my wife just used tap water.

what are people's strategy with the "bloom" that forms on the surface? to skim or not to skim?

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I'm not skimming during active fermentation, but later (before putting into jars) dump excess liquid with this "bloom".

Also, i always add grated carrots to the bin, about 5-8%.

just salt and water, eh? I could have swarn that there was vinegar in there....oh, wait; What does beer turn into when it gets infected with bacteria? never mind.

You can use one head of cabbage one pint(quart?) jar some water and sea salt .You really pack it in there good.You want the salt without iodide ?or iodine-(not clear on which) in it.There is some informative simple youtube versions.It is very easy and you can make it in as little as 3 days for 1 head,but it gets better with time.

You just chopp it fine or shred and mash it up real good with salt with a muddler until it gets juicy forming a brine then top off with water if needed with a bit more salt.Or i used a baggie with water in it on top to fill the airspace and seal tight-you want it packed tight under a layer of its brine (water/its juices). Thats the 3 day version.But if you want more you want a ceramic kraut Crock for extended tastier kraut.It would keep colds at bay if you ate a scoop of it every day in the winter. We always feel good or enlightened after eating it.Kinda has the same concept as real kefir which means "feel good" which you ferment milk with real kefir grains making a thinner yougurt but more drinkable yougurt and you can use this to ferment/culture your kraut too if you want

The stuff in the store is all pasterized and proably has cheap vinegar in it.This (Raw-saurkraut)is the type of stuff thats good for good healthy gut flora. The stuff in the store is dead,this is a living food that we need in a over pasteurized health-destroying society.
I remember when i first ate it,i swear i had a buzz,i felt that good from eating it.

And yeah you dont want the bloom that is mold,you skim it off get rid of it before jarring it.It can form on the layer of water on top that protects the cabbage for sitting months or weeks.Just dont seal a jar tight for that long fermenting it probably would blow just like beer ,you should get a pfssst when opening it.If you do the 3 day jar method. It will also sit and develope well in the fridge too as you eat it,just pack it back down and put in the fridge or eat a jar at a time.You also want it below 70 degrees while fermenting. I havnet made it in a while but im a bit rusty but still remember.
I guess really you could use a fermenter(big jars at target) if you could find a wide mouth and a way to use an airlock,to not deal with the mold for extended krauting.Just topp of with distilled water/sea salt and using about 1 tblsp sea salt per head of cabbage.

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I'm also glad nobody posted, "EWW, I hate that stuff!"

I grow cabbage and make kraut almost every year. Not difficult to do.

We have a 10 gal earthenware crock, and use a length of CLEAN 2x4 to tamp the cabbage down. Some folks use a knife to shred the cabbade, some have a kraut cutter; we use a vegetable shreding attachemnt on our kitchen aid mixer.

Take the heads of cabbage and remove the big outer leaves, then cut into quarters and remove the core. Shred cabbage and in a big bowl or dish pan mix 3 1/2 tablespoons of salt into each five pounds. We use canning salt or kosher salt. Put the five pounds in to the crock and tamp in in so it is a solid layer, but no need to smash it. Keep adding five pounds at a time.

When the crock is nearly full put a plate on top and weigh it down. We use a milk jug filled with water. Cover the whole thing with a towl and let it sit in a cool (not warm, not cold) place for at least two weeks. The longer it sits the stronger it gets (up to a point).

The salt will draw liquid out of the cabbage. Check after 24 hours and if there is not enough liquid to cover the cabbage, add just enough water to cover it by an inch or so. We always skim the white stuff off the top every few days and add enough water to make up for evaporation.

"I can ever remember buying it for is making reuben sandwitches, maybe an occational braut dog."

Take a rack of ribs, salt and pepper then brown well on a grill. Lay the whole rack over about a quart of sourkraut, cover and place in 200F oven for 5 hours. Great stuff.

local oktboerfest kraut eating champ in 09.... pound and a half in less thana minute... just sayin

we make kraut, kimchi, and bok choy- we love cabbage. i think i'm going to do some pickled brussel sprouts soon. We have used dill, mustard seed, anise, cardomom, and coriander with the kraut. i just made some bok choy that followed a kimchi type recipe, but i used a jamaican jerk sauce instead of the asian pepper mix. The jerk has the brown sugar going, and i usually sweeten the kimchi with something, so i'm excited to see how it turns out. go crazy with it- cabbage is like the soylent green for the most of the rest of the world- lettuce is cabbage's faggy little brother- but it gets all the digs around here... maybe due to the farting myth...

Just started one today...

1 head of cabage
1 Tbls Kosher salt

Ran the cabbage through a mandolin, tossed with salt, packed tightly into a restaraunt style 4 quart container. Covered, weighted, and covered with a towel.

Alway excited to try new things!:rockin:

I want to go to the store and buy some cabbage and sea salt. Maybe it will be ready for our next ale. We could have a brew, a homemade sausage (already made) and some real kraut. (Does this make me a doomsday prepper?) My father used to tell me a story about him getting under the house and feeding kraut to his pet hog and getting in trouble for it.

yum. cabbage!!!

wolfstar said:

Just started one today...

1 head of cabage
1 Tbls Kosher salt

Ran the cabbage through a mandolin, tossed with salt, packed tightly into a restaraunt style 4 quart container. Covered, weighted, and covered with a towel.

Alway excited to try new things!:rockin:

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one tablespoon of salt for a whole head of cabbage seems to be on the low side, IMO.

I basically followed the second recipe ion this page, omitting dill and lemon....

http://sauerkrautrecipe.org/

That being said, it was on the small side of a medium head of cabage. I am the only one in the house who eats it so I ain't making a ton.

It is making bubbles BTW...hopefully it does not detonate in the copboard

You can off gas it and diffuse it if it makes you comfortable by unscrewing it a bit quickly.

so 4 days in, lots of bubbles, and some foam at the top. Smells kinda sour


no mold though, but then it is pretty dry around these parts...

You really wont get mold till it sits if exposed to the air with water on the surface and time,humidity.and such.

We make kraut every August last year we did 200 pounds I think it was 3 or 4 15 gallon crocks good stuff!

Tried some last night...AWESOME, almost a subtle hint of bacon-Y...I ate 3/4 of a cup by itself...

jared it in 1qt Mason jars. getting more cabbage tomorrow