In today's shaky economic times combined with a movement to eat more sustainably, we're turning more to DIY food-related projects. From making our own bacon to building root cellars, we're learning how to do many things on our own. In this post: making your own sauerkraut!
Making sauerkraut is as easy as slicing some cabbage up with a mandoline, salting it, packing it in a jar, and leaving it for a while. The fermentation process does the bulk of work for you, really.
This recipe from The Oregonian does the trick nicely.
Old-Fashioned Fresh Sauerkraut
Makes about 8 quarts
Crunchy texture, vibrant flavor — these are the reasons to make your own sauerkraut. This basic, old-as-the-hills recipe calls for just salt and cabbage, but you'll also need a good helping of patience. Stored at 60 to 65 degrees, fermentation may take five to six weeks. —Leslie Cole, FOODday
Ingredients:
3 quarts water
13½ tablespoons coarse kosher salt, fine sea salt or pickling salt (divided; see note)
12 pounds green cabbage (3 or 4 medium heads)
Instructions:
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add 4½ tablespoons salt and stir to dissolve. Allow brine to cool.
Meanwhile, thoroughly clean and dry a 3 gallon or larger food-grade plastic bucket or pickling crock. Work with about 4 pounds of cabbage at a time. Remove and discard outer leaves from cabbage. Rinse heads under cold running water and drain. Cut heads in quarters and remove core. With a mandoline or sharp knife, shred or slice to a thickness of a quarter.
Place shredded cabbage in container and, using clean hands, mix or layer with 3 tablespoons kosher salt. Pack firmly by pressing down hard with your fist, a pestle, or a sturdy large spoon, to draw juices from cabbage. Let sit for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, shred another 4 pounds of cabbage and repeat process, until all cabbage is in container. If juice does not cover cabbage, add enough cooled brine to cover. Top it off with a clean ceramic plate that just fits inside the crock or bucket. Weight it down with two 1-gallon self-sealing plastic bags filled with brine (so if the bags leak, the kraut brine won't be diluted), to sink the cabbage 1 to 2 inches below the brine surface. Adjust bags so they go all the way to the edge of the crock.
Cover container with a clean bath towel or pillowcase and store in a basement or other cool spot (between 60 and 75 degrees) for 2 to 4 weeks. Check the sauerkraut a few times each week, skim any foam on the surface of the brine, rinse off the plate and replace. When the bubbling stops, the fermentation is finished, and the cabbage will have been transformed into raw sauerkraut. This takes anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks; the cooler the temperature the longer it takes. Taste it every week or so if you like, but always use clean hands and utensils. (Sauerkraut should not spoil if brine has proper salt concentration and cabbage is kept submerged. If it spoils, you'll know it; it will be slimy, discolored and smell rotten. Never taste kraut you suspect of being spoiled.)
Pack kraut into lidded glass jars with brine to cover and refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep for several months as long as it's covered by liquid, and continue to cure and get crispier. Eat it raw as a condiment or side dish, or drain, rinse and cook (see accompanying recipes).
Note: Do not use regular or iodized table salt, which have chemical additives.
Related:
Learning to Love Green Cabbage: How to Pick Em', Cook 'Em, and Eat 'Em!
DIY Tip: How To Make Dill Pickles
Good Question: Where to Buy Plain Canning Jars?
Recipe Recommendation: Pickled Beets
Straight Up: DIY Cocktail Onions
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Republished article originally posted October 30, 2008.
(Image: Mike Davis, The Oregonian | Leslie Cole, FoodDAY)
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This looks great! I just read Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food and was intrigued by her sauerkraut. I think I would rather do kimchee, but may attempt this.
My husband is in charge of making our sauerkraut (Alton Brown's recipe). It tastes sooo much better than any canned or jarred stuff.
One word of warning....My ancient old Grandpa did this every year. Once while we were over visiting we heard a loud "BOOM" from the sun porch. He'd apparently not vented the crock the saurkraut was curing in....the pressure built up and literally blew the lid off the crock raining down smelly cabbage all over the place.
I make Russian sauerkraut, which does not use any water at all. It's just shredded cabbage, a shredded carrot (or a couple), a handful of salt, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Rub the mixture vigorously until juice is released. Pack tightly into a jar, put a weight on top and let ferment at room temperature for 2-3 days. When it's ready, I just store it in the fridge. It keeps well for a few weeks.
Another word of warning... it's family lore that my German great-uncle killed a neighborhood child with his homemade sauerkraut. They thought it was botulism... supposedly it shouldn't live in sauerkraut (pH is too low).... but regardless, the kid ate a big helping and died that night, and everyone else got really sick. So we were all terrified of even storebought sauerkraut as kids!
we usually can't eat 3 or 4 heads worth, so I use a quart jar and cram about 1/2 a head in there. it's a manageable amount for a first timer as well! I can't reccommend enough Sandor Ellix Katz's book Wild Fermentation. it's WONDERFUL and perfect for the first time fermentor.
I never cared much for sauerkraut until I tasted homemade sauerkraut. It is wonderful.
I hosted a pickle part in the fall of last year to show a bunch of people how to make sauerkraut and fermented dill pickles. You can see pictures from the party here. My article about making it is here
I also do not make a brine solution. If you stomp your kraut well enough you'll get enough of a "pickle up" (as my wife's grandfather used to say) that you do not need it.
Also, I use 1/4 cup pickling salt per 5lbs of cabbage.
my husband's grandmother says that you can freeze the saurkraut indefinitely and she likes the texture better than canning it.
@Bushidoka- I am stealing your idea and having a pickling party!
Yeah, my wife's grandfather froze all his kraut. Another benefit is that the bacteria survive and so it still has the strong probiotics.
Any ideas for eating sauerkraut, beyond with a meat dish? I only like a little of the stuff at a time, and my husband doesn't really care for it. Does anyone add anything to it? I have frozen leftovers from Thanksgiving.
Eaevansmd, I like it uncooked, with some diced onions and a splash of olive or sunflower oil. If cooking, saute some onions in bacon fat (or bacon pieces), then add the sauercraut. When cooked like that, it's also fabulous with hard-boiled diced eggs as a pie filling, believe it or not. The dough for that should be closer to a bread dough than a traditional flaky pie dough, though.
Eavansmd, sauerkraut is delicious with mashed potatoes. Just sautee the sauerkraut with some onions. Mix it through the mashed potatoes with some warm milk, butter, salt and pepper. It tastes awesome with bacon bits and and a pork sausage on the side. Perfect comfort food!
Thanks for a great post (and great tips in the comments)!
I also wasn't a fan of sauerkraut until I tasted some housemade stuff at a restaurant. Now I love the stuff. Can't wait to try making it myself!
As for sauerkraut sans meat accompaniment I had some sauerkraut pierogies at a potluck and they were delicious...another version of the potato and sauerkraut pairing I guess.
My mom used to make sauerkraut all the time in her German mother's big crock. I remember as a kid being the one to pound the stuff down with the big wooden mallet. Then smelling it for days as it fermented. I still love to eat it :)
You must have a house or an extra room to make sauerkraut!!! It smells really strong... so if you're in an appartement and unless you have an extra room to do it... your whole house, clothes, kids, will be smelling like sauerkraut! But sure does taste great!
I remember we made this once when I was growing up. We only made it once due to the smell. We didn't really have an extra space to put it in and as it fermented it would get smellier and smellier. Don't recall the taste.
We do Russian Sauerkraut at home, and as @bubble explained it doesn't need water at all. But we leave it at least for a week, usually longer, and after it it keeps like a month in the fridge (or more!).
Actually, the real Russian Sauerkraut must ferment for many weeks, and no days, and it's softer than the German version (or at least the one I tried). You can find it in every Russian market, and although the homemade taste great, the one that is sold (usually by old ladies ^^) have something different that I like more.
It's perfect in summer, with some roasted potatoes on the side.
The estonians do the sauerkraut like bubble & Ksenia_K described. But we rarely eat it raw later.
Usually the kraut is made with some carrots in it and is stewed/boiled with butter or oil and barleycorns (whole ones soaked overnight, chopped ones added without soaking). Black peppercorns, some salt and optionally 1-2 laurel leaves are used as seasoning. Boiled kraut with barley is eaten with either fresh boiled or mashed potatoes (can be mashed potatoes with barleycorns). Tastes especially well with sour milk/buttermilk/kefir.