Homemade Saurekraut

I was first introduced to Sauerkraut a few years ago when I found the recipe in the book 'Wild Fermentaion'. After reading about its excellent health benefits, I quickly went about and made a batch. It was simple and worked out well. I have continued to make sauerkraut on a regular basis, ensuring there is always a jar half filled in the fridge.

I was excited to discover that sauerkraut is also considered an important part of a raw food lifestyle as it contains the 'vegan elusive' B12 vitamin which is the most difficult vitamin to source on a raw vegan lifestyle. Since eliminating dairy and meat from my diet, I ensure my family get an adequate dose of B12 from a regular serve of my homemade sauerkraut. Sauerkraut is also packed with good bacteria for digestion, vitamin C for immunity and even cancer fighting properties, so plenty of reason to get yourselves some cabbages and start the fermenting process. Store bought sauerkraut sold in jars and cans, sitting on supermarket shelves does not have these same health benefits as homemade, as they have been highly heated  by the pasteurisation process to prolong shelf life, in fact they are really nothing but dead, salty cabbage. I recommend making your own because it is so good for you and it is so easy..even the kids can do it......

There is so many variations on making sauerkraut, but here is the basic recipe that I generally make as I know the kids will love it - especially Starzi who will eat this straight from the jar, bowl after bowl!


We used two and a half large green cabbages to make our batch today.



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Start by chopping up the cabbage into thin strips, or use the grater attachment on the food processor to make the job quicker



We like to add a grated beetroot to the cabbage mix to give the sauerkraut a wonderful bright pink colour. I also found a carrot that had been half eaten in the fridge, so grated it up and threw it into the batch.
Once all the cabbage is shredded, place it and the carrot and beetroot in a large mixing bowl and begin to pound it. A pestle is the best object for this job. Throw in about 3 tablespoons of salt to the mix and continue to pound the cabbage until the juices begin to release and the quantity reduces in size as is compounds.

Pounding the cabbage with salt to release juices

This 'beaten' and 'salted' cabbage and beetroot mix is carefully scooped into a large preserving jar, pushing the cabbage below the juice as you go, expelling air bubbles. Ensure that you have enough mix to almost fill the jar and enough brine juice to cover the cabbage. To help secure the solid cabbage pieces from floating to the surface, I use a large flat outer leaf of the whole cabbage and submerge it under the brine to hold the cabbage pieces down.

Compressing the cabbage and salt mix into a jar for fermenting

Your product should look similar to this after packing, with enough liquid above the cabbage to keep it submerged and enough space left in the jar to allow for expansion. If the jar is too full, the liquid will bubble and fizz over the edge and you will loose a large portion of your salt brine overnight. For the first 24 hours, place a heavy weight inside the jar to compress the cabbage below the brine solution and keep pressing it down regularly. I used a jar that fits snuggle inside the mouth of this preserving jar filled with water.

Using a weight to hold cabbage under brine solution to avoid bacteria growth

  

Leave this to sit in room temperature for a few days..longer in winter (3-5 days.) pressing down the cabbage each day. 

Here is a picture of my batch now 2 days old. You can see the expansion of the brine and the froth surfacing. There is a lot of air bubbles within the cabbage mix, so I will continually push down the liquid with a wooden spoon at the sides of the jar to release the bubbles.
The taste has evolved to a sour salty flavour with a slight vinegar flavour. 

Sauerkraut 2 days old - fermentation beginning to show in the
film of bubbles at the surface

It is now ready for the fridge after 5 days. The taste is sour vinegar taste and slightly fizzy. I have compressed the air out daily by prodding a long wooden spoon down the sides of the jar letting the air bubbles escape. I have closed off the lid and put away in the fridge to continue the process for another month or so. I will taste intermediately until the flavour is desirable and begin to eat!  

Batch is now 5 days old and ready to be stored for
a month or so in the fridge.

Remember if it smells off, then it probably is, so you will have to start the batch again. The flavour will enhance over time once stored in the fridge. I have had a batch for a year in the fridge and the flavour had developed immensely over that time. To keep the culture going, make a continual batch just as the last is finishing, by removing the old sauerkraut from the jar, replacing it with the new and replacing over the top the old batch. This will give the new batch some instant live culture. 

Here is a link to 'Wild Fermentation' and the method I follow from the book for more details.
http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=sauerkraut

Starzi already enjoying the results after only 1 month in the fridge.