Real Sauerkraut
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We eat a significant amount of traditionally fermented foods. Foods like yogurt, kefir, kombucha and real sauerkraut are teeming with beneficial bacteria and are known to improve immunity. Fortunately, they’re also simple to make.
To make real sauerkraut, you’ll need:
- Several Organic Cabbages
- Real Salt or Celtic Sea Salt
- A Jar, Crock or Fermentation Device
I won’t tell you exactly how many cabbages you’ll need, or precisely how much salt as it all depends on your jars or crocks. Suffice to say, you can make a very small amount of sauerkraut in a quart-sized mason jar or a very large amount in traditional kraut crocks. So, use your judgement.
First, shredd the cabbage finely. We shred by hand using a good quality knife. I’d advise against using a food processor as doing so will cause the release of too much liquid in the shredding process and you want that liquid released in the pounding process.
Once your cabbage is sufficiently and finely shredded, layer it in your jar or crock. We have several of these fermentation devices and we love them. Next, sprinkle that layer with salt–not too much or the brine will be too salty but generously enough so that salt crystals are visible over the cabbage.
Now, pound the cabbage until it releases its liquid. The cabbage’s nutrient-rich juices should mix with the salt and create a brine favorable to lactic-acid fermentation. Continue layering and pounding, layering and pounding until the container is full.
Now, pound it some more and make sure that the liquid covers the cabbage. If it doesn’t mix a dilute brine of 1 T salt to 1 C waterand pour the brine over the cabbage until the liquid completely covers the cabbage.
At this point, you’ll need to follow the instructions of your fermentation device. Ultimately the cabbage will need to be weighted down, and the liquid should cover the weight. Leave the cabbage to ferment for at least a week, maybe more depending on the quantity you’re making. Be wary of molds and just scrape it off if it becomes a problem. I have never encountered any mold contamination problems using this fermenter and I highly recommend them.
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hey thanks for this but I wanted to check, is the fermentation device you recommend in the last line GLASS? It doesnt seem to say it in the link….
Sarena Kopciels last blog post..Thursday Thanksgiving….
I LOVE that fermentation device. It is a glass jar but the lids are plastic. We rely on ours fairly heavily.
I have a question–I made sauerkraut per these directions, however when I tasted it after a couple days, the brine tasted VERY salty. Would it be OK to add a little water to make it less salty?
You could dilute the brine if it is too salty. Or you could just let it ferment and see what happens. I think the sour taste will counteract the salty taste.
[...] kombucha with a snack, sauerrüben with supper and so on. You can even check out my recipes for real sauerkraut and Moroccan-preserved lemons. Since fermented foods comprise such a large portion of our diet, [...]
Do you have to sterilize the equipment before use? Nothing is said about this. Many years ago I attempted to make sauerkraut from a recipe in a microbiology lab manual with my high school biology students. Unfortunately it all got contaminated and was a failure. Our cottage chees however was a success.
Rosie – That’s a good question. No, I never sterilize my equipment. I do keep everything clean of course, but I never sterilize. I’ve also never had a problem either.
FYI, the photo link on this recipe appears to be broken. It doesn’t show on the web page I pulled up, and when I tried to open it separately, I got an error page.
Thanks for the heads up on the broken link! I’ll try to fix that tonight. I used to have Nourished Kitchen set up differently and when I combined both the recipes and the posts, I lost some images.
Take Care and Thanks -
Jenny
My husband and I just made 2 10 gallon crocks of sauerkraut. It has been fermenting for about 4 weeks. I checked it the other day and find it too salty. Is there anyway we can correct this? When we process it we just put it in freezer bags.
Thanks for your help.
Judy -
If your sauerkraut is too salty, you can desalinate it to some degree by soaking it in filtered water for an hour or so before serving it. That will help to leach the salt from the cabbage. I have done this with pickles to no ill effects but have not tried it with sauerkraut. You might want to use a salad spinner to remove the excess water from the kraut.
Hope that helps!
- Jenny
[...] nourishing recipes, Get Cultured details thirteen recipes from classics like pickled jalapeños and real sauerkraut to the exotic like Vietnamese preserved limes, green salsa and [...]
My homemade sauerkraut is turning grey on the top layer. I am puzzled since it has been in the refrigerator only short. I took off the top layer, but it continues to turn grey. What’s going on?
I didn’t know that you could make sauerkraut without using whey? Anyone know if there are any benefits to using whey?
Beth -
You can prepare most fermented foods without a starter culture. Whey helps to speed up the fermentation process by inocculating the vegetables with lactic acid producing bacteria instead of relying on wild bacteria naturally present in the air, on our skin and on the vegetables themselves. Personally, I prefer the flavor of a slow, wild ferment.
- Jenny
Hi
I am from Norway and we have a traditional dish very similar to sauerkraut ( it´s called the same in Norwegian), but it is cooked not fermented. We also use caraway seeds in it.
I have never made fermented sauerkraut before, but would like to try. Can I add the caraway seeds, you think? Our sauerkraut has a sweet/sour taste to it+ the caraway seed flavor..:) It´s very good, but healthier with the fermentation.
I started some kraut last night, but now I’m a little worried that I added too much water. I did use my food processor(wish I’d seen this post yesterday!!!) so the liquid/solid ratio wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I knew that the cabbage needed to be covered with the liquid so added maybe a cup and a half of water to the mix. I think I have a total of 5 T of whey and 1 T of salt, plus a couple other spices. Will all that water dilute the salt and whey too much? Anything I should watch out for?
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