Sauerkraut or Fermented Salt Cabbage
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Remove the outer green leaves and core from the cabbage.
Shred the cabbage using a hand-shredding machine or a large knife.
Salt and pack
Pack the shredded cabbage into a clean, water-tight container like a barrel or tub.
Add 1 pound of salt for every 40 pounds of cabbage, distributing it evenly.
Press the cabbage down firmly and cover with a clean board.
Optionally, place a clean cloth over the cabbage before covering.
Add a weight of clean bricks or stones to ensure the brine rises to the cover.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Provides the bulk and sugars that lactic acid bacteria ferment into sour flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the cabbage to form brine and keeps spoilage microbes in check.
The step that matters
Add the weight so the brine rises above the cabbage. Cabbage must stay submerged in brine. Exposed leaves can spoil or grow mould, so enough weight should press the brine up to the cover.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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