Sauerkraut Recipe

Makes approximately 4 quarts:

The store bought canned product isn’t as user friendly as fermented product. I encourage you to try you homemade product uncooked. It’s great with pomegranate seeds as a salad, and of course it can be served in its more traditional application as a garnish for Charcuterie. It's also amazing to cook with, but you should be aware if sauerkraut is cooked the probiotic benefit is be lost. If possible, I try and just warm it when I use it in a cooked dish.

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Sauerkraut:

5 pounds of cabbage

2 tablespoons of salt

Brine as needed:

1 teaspoon of salt

1 Quart of water

Cut Cabbage as shown in photo at about 1/8^th of an inch or less. A food processor works great for this step.

Place cut cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle salt in mixing it thoroughly.

Let the cabbage sit out for a several hours pressing it down and compacting it to release the water. The sauerkraut makes it own brine. 

Pack the cabbage mixture into a large jar or crock, and do not drain off the juice. The cabbage mixture should be covered with juice.

If the cabbage mixture is not covered with juice then make brine to cover. Pour brine over it until the water is just above the cabbage. See photo above. 

Put 1 ½ quarts of brine (see above) in a gallon zip lock bag, push the air out of it and 

close the bag. Put that zip lock bag inside another zip lock bag and push the air out of it and 

close that bag.

Place the bag of brine in the jar or crock and completely cover the cabbage mixture. The bag of brine will serve as a weight and it keeps the air out of the sauerkraut. You could just put water in the bag, but I use brine in case the bag leaks. Water would ruin the sauerkraut, but the brine would not compromise the product. 

Let sauerkraut sit in a cool dry place for four weeks to ferment. After fermentation process refrigerate the product. I keep mine for four to six weeks after the initial four-week fermentation process.

This is usually what mine looks like when it’s done. Some recipes will advise you to take the mold off of the top 

during the fermenting process. I’ve never had a lot of trouble with that. I remove the discolored product before I put this in 

jars and refrigerate it.

Discussion

My background is predominantly German and French. My Grandfather was second generation German, and my Grandmother came from Alsace-Lorraine, France. Both the German and the Alsatian cultures had a fermented cabbage dish they served with preserved meats. My mother cooked with sauerkraut, but the sauerkraut I grew up with was nothing like the fermented product I make now. My mother purchased the canned product in the store. I would guess the product she grew up on the farm with would have been home made, but she didn’t make when I was growing up.

Many ethnic groups have a fermented or pickled product before a meal, which helps with digestion. The Japanese have Miso soup, the Italians serve an antipasti and if you’ve ever been to a Korean restaurant you were probably served kimchi and/or an assortment of fermented products to go with your meal. Pickles were always served with a meal at our home, but the canned products from the grocery store had lost their probiotic value. Serving canned fermented foods is a bit like muscle memory, as it’s a vestige of an activity that used to mean something. It’s a learned activity that was passed down to us through our family or culture, but its benefit has been lost to us.

The process of canning, in which we heat the product for a period of time, destroys microbes and bacteria that would cause spoilage. Really, that’s the point. Canning is a safe way to save product over an extended period of time.  Once my sauerkraut comes out of the fermenting process, I only keep it for four to six weeks in the refrigerator. If I were to put that product through the canning process I could keep it safely for over a year, but it would lose its probiotic value, which is something we need. Probiotic supplementation used to be something you would get from your naturopath, but it’s very mainstream now.

As it turns out our gastrointestinal system is host to a large population of good bacteria that keeps our digestive system healthy, boosts our immune system and balances alkalinity and acidity in the system. There are a number of ways gut flora impacts one’s health, and it’s worth looking into. Sauerkraut is one of the fermented foods that helps to keep the gut flora healthy, so enjoy this product as a healthy addition to your diet.