Inspired by Daniel Gasteiger’s new book Yes, You Can! and Freeze and Dry It too book on canning, freezing and more, we are now fermenting cabbage into sauerkraut.
And we are shooting a video on how to make sauerkraut. Above are the two jars we are fermenting for the video. I did one batch with just green cabbage, carrots and caraway seeds, and started a second batch of sauerkraut with a mix of red cabbage and green cabbage. From what i’ve read, it seems best to use an earthenware crock or plastic container; i used two large glass canning jars.
The fermentation jars are covered with a towel and sitting on the kitchen counter, I check them every day, and watch these bubbles come out from the cabbage. You can see some bubbles in the jar of red cabbage in the above photo.
I asked on our Facebook Page for suggestions on what ingredients to put into sauerkraut, and got some great responses:
Thom: I make two types, one with just cabbage,onions and salt and the other a spicy type with cabbage,onion,garlic,carrots,radish or daikon,pepper flakes,fresh ginger,dill and salt.
Dennis: love making sauerkraut, apple and cumin is a good combo!
Woodwife: Green Just cabbage and salt.
Josh: cabbage salt and sugar to sweeten it up a bit
Michael: Juniper berries
Joe: I all ready made mine for the year its canned and put up. I canned 12 quarts I use just salt and a little sugar and a few apples.
Janet: I haven’t made sauerkraut yet, but I plan on it. I listen to your radio show podcasts on Itunes and recently purchased the book “Yes You Can”. I can’t wait for it to come in the mail. Thank you for everything that you do!! It is truly inspirational and entertaining. Keep up the good work!!! 🙂
Sunday at 6:41pm · 1 person
Claudia: you wanna get Gundelsheim or Midlessa Sauerkraut, put a McIntosh apple (cut up), bay leaves and Juniper berries as well as sugar and a beef boullion cube and let it cook for about an hour, Oh yeah, cut up an onion and put it in there as well
Sunday at 10:58pm
Gerald: We do 3# cabbage to 1 tbsp salt. Pack it down til brine forms (maybe top off) Weigh it down so the cabbage stays under the brine. Cover and wait. Sometimes we add caraway seeds, but plain ol’ kraut is best. This year we used 80# cabbage total.
Monday at 8:02pm
Gerald: I have also used the lacto-fermented brine in your artisan bread to make it sourdoughish.
Neat, all sorts of ideas here. next batch will have apples in it. I’m curious about canning the sauerkraut afterward, does that reduce its health qualities? Let me know what you think below: