Made fresh Sauerkraut
Making sauerkraut is easy. I typically use organic cabbages, pickling or kosher salt and dried juniper berries for my sauerkraut. So lets get started.
I have a fermentation pot with weights, a lid, and a moat like rim that is airtight once the lid is placed inside the moat and the moat is filled with water. I have read a bunch of recipes that use different equipment and I am sure they work equally well. I did make a few times sauerkraut in a Korean onggi pot without a moat rim and it worked for me. Before I start filling the fermentation pot with cabbage, I rinse the pot interior twice with boiling water to disinfect everything. I also fill the inner portion of the lid with boiling water and sub-merge the two half-weights in boiling water as well.
Most of the time is spend cutting the cabbage leafs into strips. I just use a sharp knife for that since I do not have a suitable mandoline to process whole cabbages. Typically I process one large cabbage or two smaller cabbages. When I bought this crock I had no idea what crock size I needed: If I had bought a 7.5-liter crock, then definitely making sauerkraut from 2 large cabbages is no problem. On the other hand this would be a lot of sauerkraut. So I am fine with my 5-liter crock and sometimes I use my smaller Korean onggi pots if I want even smaller quantities of sauerkraut.
The rules are very simple. I choose the amount of cabbage I want to ferment and then I weigh the cabbages. Subsequently I weigh pickling salt that weighs about 1.5 to 2% of the cabbage weight and I put it into a small bowl. I also prepare a second small bowl with one or two tablespoons of dried juniper berries. Then I start cutting the cabbage leaves (I throw the hard portions of the inner cabbage core away). Every so often I move the cabbage strips into the fermentation pot and also add some of the pickling salt and a few juniper berries. Every time I do that, I use my hands to mix the added salt and juniper berries into the cabbage strips. I also try to press the salt a bit into the strips, so they bruise the strips a bit and the cabbage gets wet (they produce some "juice"). Every so often I am also using a potato masher to create a layer of sauerkraut that is more firm and needs no further hand mixing. At the very end, I add the two half-circle weights on top of the last firm layer of sauerkraut and that is it. By then I have used up all the pickling salt, the junipers, and the cabbages are all cut in strips.
Once I am done with everything and the cabbage is mashed with the potato masher things looks like below:
All that is left is possibly adding some brine (a salt-water solution of about 1.5 to 2% salt in weight to 100% water weight). I do add a brine before closing the fermentation pot, if the cabbage did not produce enough of its own juice (basically I press my fist into the already compressed cabbage and I want to see or feel a little puddle forming around my fist). Fresh cabbage typically has enough juice. Cabbage that has been stored for a while is sometimes less moist and a brine is needed. Also, the finer the cabbage strips are cut, the more natural juice develops.
Once I close the lid and fill the moat with water the fermentation starts. I typically leave the pot for a few days in the kitchen (I like to hear bubbles routinely coming through the moat water), and then I move it out into the garage where it is substantially cooler (like a fridge) and leave it there for a week or two before we start eating the freshly fermented sauerkraut. The ideal time to make sauerkraut is autumn or spring. Our garage is too cold in January and February. Making sauerkraut in summer is tricky: The fermentation starts very quickly and often the refrigerator is the only place cool enough to let the kraut further mature.
What else: My list of ingredients here is very simple. One can also add a grated apple into the sauerkraut (and use less salt when doing this). Cumin or caraway seeds are also popular spice additions instead of juniper berries. Some people make wine-sauerkraut by adding organic wine to the kraut instead of a brine (I have yet to make a sauerkraut this way). Some people prefer their sauerkraut less sour. They only ferment the cabbage strips for a few days and eat it as a salad.
Most often we eat our sauerkraut as is as a side-dish. But I have a number of more elaborate salad recipes that use sauerkraut and I make such salads from time to time. And last but not least I also have a number of German recipes that use sauerkraut in stews and I also make such dishes from time to time. But these recipes are for a future blog post.
I have a fermentation pot with weights, a lid, and a moat like rim that is airtight once the lid is placed inside the moat and the moat is filled with water. I have read a bunch of recipes that use different equipment and I am sure they work equally well. I did make a few times sauerkraut in a Korean onggi pot without a moat rim and it worked for me. Before I start filling the fermentation pot with cabbage, I rinse the pot interior twice with boiling water to disinfect everything. I also fill the inner portion of the lid with boiling water and sub-merge the two half-weights in boiling water as well.
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| My 5-liter fermentation pot. Please note the moat at the top rim. The lid is placed into the moat and then the moat is filled with water. Once the moat is filled with water the content inside is sealed off. |
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| The lid and the two half-circle weights of my fermentation pot. |
Most of the time is spend cutting the cabbage leafs into strips. I just use a sharp knife for that since I do not have a suitable mandoline to process whole cabbages. Typically I process one large cabbage or two smaller cabbages. When I bought this crock I had no idea what crock size I needed: If I had bought a 7.5-liter crock, then definitely making sauerkraut from 2 large cabbages is no problem. On the other hand this would be a lot of sauerkraut. So I am fine with my 5-liter crock and sometimes I use my smaller Korean onggi pots if I want even smaller quantities of sauerkraut.
The rules are very simple. I choose the amount of cabbage I want to ferment and then I weigh the cabbages. Subsequently I weigh pickling salt that weighs about 1.5 to 2% of the cabbage weight and I put it into a small bowl. I also prepare a second small bowl with one or two tablespoons of dried juniper berries. Then I start cutting the cabbage leaves (I throw the hard portions of the inner cabbage core away). Every so often I move the cabbage strips into the fermentation pot and also add some of the pickling salt and a few juniper berries. Every time I do that, I use my hands to mix the added salt and juniper berries into the cabbage strips. I also try to press the salt a bit into the strips, so they bruise the strips a bit and the cabbage gets wet (they produce some "juice"). Every so often I am also using a potato masher to create a layer of sauerkraut that is more firm and needs no further hand mixing. At the very end, I add the two half-circle weights on top of the last firm layer of sauerkraut and that is it. By then I have used up all the pickling salt, the junipers, and the cabbages are all cut in strips.
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| Cutting the final cabbage leaves. On the left side of the cutting board are my two small bowls with the salt and the dried juniper berries. |
Once I am done with everything and the cabbage is mashed with the potato masher things looks like below:
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| A peek into the fermentation pot: The cabbage strips are pressed together and the first half-circle weight is already placed. I did add some additional brine later before sealing the fermentation pot. |
All that is left is possibly adding some brine (a salt-water solution of about 1.5 to 2% salt in weight to 100% water weight). I do add a brine before closing the fermentation pot, if the cabbage did not produce enough of its own juice (basically I press my fist into the already compressed cabbage and I want to see or feel a little puddle forming around my fist). Fresh cabbage typically has enough juice. Cabbage that has been stored for a while is sometimes less moist and a brine is needed. Also, the finer the cabbage strips are cut, the more natural juice develops.
Once I close the lid and fill the moat with water the fermentation starts. I typically leave the pot for a few days in the kitchen (I like to hear bubbles routinely coming through the moat water), and then I move it out into the garage where it is substantially cooler (like a fridge) and leave it there for a week or two before we start eating the freshly fermented sauerkraut. The ideal time to make sauerkraut is autumn or spring. Our garage is too cold in January and February. Making sauerkraut in summer is tricky: The fermentation starts very quickly and often the refrigerator is the only place cool enough to let the kraut further mature.
What else: My list of ingredients here is very simple. One can also add a grated apple into the sauerkraut (and use less salt when doing this). Cumin or caraway seeds are also popular spice additions instead of juniper berries. Some people make wine-sauerkraut by adding organic wine to the kraut instead of a brine (I have yet to make a sauerkraut this way). Some people prefer their sauerkraut less sour. They only ferment the cabbage strips for a few days and eat it as a salad.
Most often we eat our sauerkraut as is as a side-dish. But I have a number of more elaborate salad recipes that use sauerkraut and I make such salads from time to time. And last but not least I also have a number of German recipes that use sauerkraut in stews and I also make such dishes from time to time. But these recipes are for a future blog post.
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