Sauerkraut
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice the cabbage into thin layers.
Place layers of cabbage in a container, sprinkling coarse sea salt between each layer.
Press down on the cabbage to bruise it and release its juices.
Ferment
Allow the mixture to ferment until acids form.
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.
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Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Provides the bulk of the mixture and the juices that ferment into the finished sauerkraut.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture from the cabbage and keeps the mixture safe while fermentation proceeds.
The step that matters
Pressing the cabbage with salt. Pressing bruises the cabbage and draws out its juices, which the salt needs to cover the leaves. Sufficient brine keeps the cabbage submerged, which helps favour the lactic acid bacteria over spoilage microbes.
“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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