If you are thinking of fermenting your own sour kraut, you probably already know all about the beneficial pro biotics and you might know how great it tastes. It's easy to make if you follow my practical instructions!
For 1 quart of kraut you'll need:
1 small to medium cabbage (the fresher the better.)
1 wide mouth quart jar
1 1/2 pint jar with lid for weight
Large mixing bowl
salt with no additivesOptional Equipment:
Kitchen scale
Electric Slicer
Fermenting Crock
Start by peeling off the outer leaves of your cabbage just to clean it up. Save the nicest piece of leaf to lay on top of your ferment. Cut out the cabbage core. Don't worry if you can't get it all.
Weigh the bowl you will be using to toss the cabbage and salt together. If your scale can measure in grams, use this setting. You can be a little more accurate with small measurements in grams. Write this number down.
Slice or chop the cabbage. The size is totally your own preference. I often slice mine with a kitchen knife but an electric slicer can save you time if you are processing 2 or more cabbages. When using an electric slicer, you will still need to chop some of the uneven pieces with a chef's knife.
Place all the cut cabbage into your mixing bowl and weigh it. Now subtract the weight of your bowl. The resulting number is the weight of your cabbage. Divide the cabbage weight by 50. This final number is the amount of salt you need to add to the bowl. This can be calculated in grams or ounces; just be sure you stay consistent! Here is the formula:
Grams of cabbage / 50 = grams of salt to add
Leave your bowl of cabbage on the scale and add salt slowly until the scale shows the grams needed. A word about salt here: most salt has additives to keep it from caking. Read your label carefully. Kosher salt, canning salt, table salt and some sea salt are all no-no's for sour kraut.
If you don't have a scale, you can still make sour kraut. A small head of cabbage takes about a Tablespoon of salt; a medium head, about 1 1/2 Tablespoons.
Once your salt is added, stir it in well. You can use a big spoon or just use your hand. Once the salt is incorporated well, you will feel that the cabbage is starting to sweat a little. Add the salted cabbage to your quart jar (or crock) one handful at a time, packing down each layer firmly. There is no need to pound the cabbage; just press down with the back of your hand or a wooden spoon. The goal is to leave no air space. A small to medium head of cabbage with fit in a quart jar. It looks like a lot after it's chopped but if you pack it in as you go, it will all fit!
You can use any glass or crock container for sour kraut. In these photos I'm using an antique crock that my mother in law gave me. (If you use something besides canning jars be sure to test them for lead with a test kit you can order online or pick up at some hardware stores.) You can also purchase special fermenting containers that have air-locks to help keep contaminants out of your sour kraut. Kraut is pretty forgiving so I encourage you to start with supplies you most likely already own before jumping into some high dollar equipment.
Once the jar is loaded, lay the reserved outer cabbage leaf on top. Press it down so it is snug on top of the chopped cabbage. (In these photos I have used a saucer that fits nicely inside my crock.) Fill your 1/2 pint jar with water and screw the lid on. This fits right into the mouth of the quart jar to weight down the fermenting cabbage. Place the fermenting jar in a pie pan or baking dish. Sometimes the water buildup is so great it overflows!
I like to leave my fermenting sour kraut in my kitchen until I see the water level rising above the chopped cabbage. This can happen right away or may take several hours. Once I see that it is well underway, I move it to a cooler location. My kitchen tends to be a little too warm for vegetable ferments. The refrigerator would be too cool to get the lacto-bacilli moving! A temperature range of 65-71 degrees is what you want. Also, keep your fermenting kraut out of sunlight.
I check my kraut about every 3 days. You can start to sample it after a week or so. When it reaches the flavor you like, just refrigerate it. It's that simple! I usually plan about 10 days to 2 weeks for mine.
If you find that your water level is decreasing, you will need to add a brine to keep the cabbage covered and out of the air. To make a brine, add 19 grams of salt to 1 qt. of non-chlorinated water. Add just enough of this solution to your jar to keep the cabbage submerged.
