Homemade sauerkraut is very easy to make. This Recipe is guaranteed to wake up your favorite dishes, especially stir fry, sandwiches, salads and meat dishes of any kind.
All you need is;
6-10 organic summer cabbages (if no summer cabbage available, autumn cabbages are fine)
4-6 Tbsp pickling or Celtic salt
2-4 inches of ginger root
Crock pot OR 5 gallon food grade bucket
2 strong, no leak plastic bags (white kitchen garbage bags work great).
A few gallons of boiled Purified Water
The Process:
The cabbage needs to be organic or the pesticides will kill the natural bacterias required for fermentation. Also, organic cabbage is higher is nutrients since the soil its grown in richer in nutrients than stripped commercial soil.
Salt is necessary for the fermentation process to occur. Use only rock (pickling) salt or Celtic salt or Real Salt, never iodized table salt. Celtic salt is a whole, unprocessed real salt that is rich in minerals and trace minerals, containing roughly 35% sodium, plenty for cabbage fermentation.
As a Nutritionist, I highly recommend you use Celtic or Real salt instead of table salt for your daily salt intake.
OK…cut your cabbages (start with 4-6 for your first try, but if you have a large family, you can easily cut up 10-15 cabbages) with a sharp French knife or food processor. Cut in coleslaw size slices. Put in your cleaned, 5-gallon food safe bucket (left over food buckets from your local restaurant or grocer are perfect).
Add 2-4 inches of chopped ginger root. Try to pick ginger root that’s not too woody, the younger the better, but use whatever you can find. You can add more if you love ginger like I do! I add about 3 times that amount and it’s not too hot at all, but I LOVE ginger!
*If you’re not a fan of ginger, its no problem to omit this entirely.
*Optional, I love to add one chopped lemon at this stage, but that’s a matter of taste, some people like their foods “sour”, others don’t.
Stir Celtic or Real Salt into cabbage/ginger mix at a ratio of 1 tsp per pound of cabbage. Most cabbages are about 1-2 lbs each.
Mix well but gently; you don’t want to bruise the cabbage.
When well mixed, pound it to the bottom of the bucket with your fists or potato-masher until it’s all compacted in the bottom. Layer a few whole cabbage leaves on top (if you remembered to leave some unchopped).
Pour boiled, purified water (if you only have chlorinated tap water available, boil this water for 5 minutes) over the cabbage with an inch covering the top. So you should have about an inch of water showing on the top of the cabbage.
Fill your two kitchen garbage bags (must have no leaks; shopping bags do not work) with about a gallon of tap water each. Gently put the two bags on top of the cabbage, one on top of the other, as a lid. The softness of the bags will allow the natural gasses to escape, while keeping oxygen off of the cabbage. Do not put a tight lid on this container now. The bags of water are the lid.
Put in a cool but not cold corner of your home; don’t leave near a heating vent or out in the cold porch. OR, you can put it in a warm place (but not hot) for two days, then move to a cooler place for 2-3 weeks. I know successful sauerkraut makers who just leave it for 2-3 weeks in room temperature quite succesfully. Myself, I like to leave it in my living room for two days so that I can giggle at the little burps it makes. If you have kids, they’ll love this part. Within hours of mixing this up, the pot will start to burp for a few days, and then it will slow down after the initial fermentation slows down. Then I move it to the coolest room in my home (not the freezing porch) for about 2-3 weeks. Let sit undisturbed, savoring the tastes its about to deliver.
You can start removing the sauerkraut as you need it, for weeks. If you have any left after about a month, you should store in your fridge while you start a new batch.
Gardeners like to use up their cabbage by making enough sauerkraut to can for the year. You can do this and its OK, but fresh, uncanned kraut is superior to canned, in taste and nutrient value. However, home canned kraut is far superior to commercially canned. And sometimes you just need to do something with all those cabbages in the garden.
Note on Crock Pots; this is not essential but if you have a good crock-pot, use it. The ideal crock-pot is a Harsch Crock Pot, which has a nifty water well at the top for the lid to sit in, the water creates a seal so the gasses can escape but oxygen cannot get in. The Harsch Crock Pot is extremely solid and well made. You’ll most likely have to order this through your local health food store or online. They aren’t cheap but they work perfectly and will last long enough to be passed onto your great-grand children.
This ginger-sauerkraut is so delicious, you’ll want to give it away to your loved ones, but don’t be too generous, or you’ll soon be missing your favorite nutritional ingredient.
