Sauerkraut

The bugs are starting to take a serious interest in the cabbages. It is time to make sauerkraut. Here’s how:

The only things you absolutely need are cabbage, non-iodized salt, a container and a follower (more about that later). 5 pounds of cabbage will make a gallon of kraut. Each 5 pounds of cabbage requires about 3 tablespoons of salt. Chop the cabbage, put it in a bowl and mix the salt with the cabbage. You can mix in other vegetables and flavors to suit yourself. Put a few inches of kraut into the crock or other container and pack it really tight with your fist. Keep adding the mix a few inches at a time until your container is almost full.

When the container is almost full the follower needs to be place on top with a weight to hold the kraut down. A plate or saucer with a rock on it works well for this. A cloth can be tied around the top to keep out flies. For the first 24 hours the kraut should be checked and smashed occasionally until the juice has risen to cover the follower. At this point just put the container in a cool dark place and check it every few days. Make sure the kraut stays beneath the juice and skim off some of the crud that forms on top. The kraut is ready to eat in about a week. Some people scoop out some kraut and repack the container as they need until the container is empty.

We don’t have a nice cool space to store our kraut so we can it when it is “ripe”. A hot water bath is ok for this, but we usually pressure can it.


David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/