Sauerkraut, homemade

28/04/2013

Sauerkraut is not just a typical German thing to eat. I'm Dutch, and we eat it all the time in winter too! I never attempted to make it myself as I am used to buying it from the supermarket in the Netherlands. I also had the idea that it was quite difficult to make, so I never even thought about making it. However, it appears quite easy to make! Sauerkraut is basically fermented (white) cabbage, the word means sour cabbage.

As cabbage is in season at the moment, I decided to share my personal method. I'm not an expert, but this is how I do it (taking the photos was only the second time I made it).

Ingredients

• 700 g cabbage (use white cabbage for traditional sauerkraut. Red cabbage is good too, especially for pretty colors!)

• 2 tsp sea salt

Materials

• Sterilized glass jar (you can use any kind of storage container, as long as it's not plastic. I prefer to use a simple glass jar with lid)

• Something heavy like nice, round pebbles, sterilized

Preparation

You can make as little or as much as you want. Here I've used a quarter cabbage.

Save one outer leaf from the cabbage, that you would otherwise throw away. Shred the cabbage in thin strips. How thick you want the strips to be depends on what you like. I prefer it to be a bit coarse, so I cut it at about 5 mm thick. Place the shredded cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkle the salt on top and leave it for about 15 minutes.

Quarter shredded cabbage

Then start squeezing the cabbage; don't be gentle! The salt will extract the moisture from the cabbage, which is exactly what you want.

Start squeezing the cabbage

Keep massaging the cabbage for 15-20 minutes until it has shrunk considerably. You will see that there is a lot of brine (the liquid) in the bottom of the bowl; don't throw this out, you need it.

The cabbage after massaging for 10 minutes

Brine at the bottom of the bowl, after massaging for 10 minutes (it will be more after 15-20 minutes)

After 15-20 minutes of massaging, you can start to fill your jar that you will use to ferment the cabbage in. Take little bits at a time and squash it in the jar, as you don't want any air to be present between the cabbage. If the jar is wide enough, use your hands; I like using the pestle of a mortar and pestle.

Packing the cabbage tightly in the jar

Continue to fill your jar, bit by bit, until you nearly reach the top. Make sure that all cabbage is covered by brine, as this will prevent it from spoiling.

Take the outer leaf that you saved, wash it, fold it and place it in the jar to cover the cabbage. This will help to keep the cabbage covered in brine. I used some extra weight (a few nice, round pebbles) to hold everything under water. Whatever you use, make sure it's clean, as you don't want bad bacteria to ruin your sauerkraut.

Place the folded outer leaf on top, in the jar

I managed to pack a quarter cabbage in a small jar!

Don't forget to have a taste, before you place the lid on top and leave it at room temperature so that the cabbage will ferment.

Fermentation

It may sound a bit scary to leave something at room temperature for several weeks, but trust me, this will work! Depending on the temperature, your cabbage will start to ferment pretty soon.

I usually check the jar the morning after I made it. I open the jar and let all the gas escape. Depending on how fast it's fermenting, you want to do this once or twice a day, as you don't want your jar to explode. You will find that the jar may be leaking some brine as well; this is just the result from all the gas building up and trying to escape. This is not a problem, as long as the cabbage is still covered in brine. There is no need to keep opening the jar, once you notice that there's no more gas being produced, after a few days.

You will notice that it will start to smell pretty strong after a couple of days. It hasn't gone off, this is just what sauerkraut smells like, and it means that your cabbage is doing well :-)

Once the bubbling stops, it is in principle ready to eat. However, the longer you leave it at room temperature, the better the flavour. Two, three, four weeks.. it's all good! Just make sure that the cabbage remains covered in brine; this is what preserves it. If you find that there's not enough brine left, you can make some more by dissolving 1 tsp salt in 1 cup filtered water and add it to your jar.

Click the image to see full size. Progress of the sauerkraut.

This batch started fermenting between day 2 and 3, as you can see on the gas that's produced. No more gas was seen after day 5, but it will continue to ferment, it's just in different phases. The flavour will be pretty good at 3 weeks time, but you can leave it for way longer if you want!

Remember that this is just my way of making sauerkraut. There are millions of varieties to this; you can add different vegetables to the cabbage, use spices, use different fermenting containers, leave it to ferment a few days or a few weeks, and so on..! Once you've got the basics under control, you can start experimenting and make it your sauerkraut :-)

Submitted by Lonneke