Sauerkraut
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cabbage
Remove the outside leaves of the cabbage.
Cut the cabbage crosswise several times and shred it very fine.
Pack the crock
Pack the shredded cabbage into a clean barrel, keg, tub, or earthenware crock.
Sprinkle a little salt in the container, then add a layer of 3 to 4 inches of shredded cabbage.
Pack down the cabbage with a wooden utensil like a potato masher.
Repeat layering with salt and cabbage until the container is full.
Press the cabbage down tightly and cover with a cloth, then place a glazed plate or board on top.
Add stones or weights on top to keep the brine above the cover.
Ferment
Allow fermentation to proceed.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Provides the bulk of the sauerkraut and the sugars that fermenting microbes convert into acids.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the shredded cabbage to form brine and keeps spoilage microbes in check during fermentation.
The step that matters
Keep the cabbage submerged in brine. Cabbage left above the brine can mold or spoil. Pressing it down tightly and weighting it keeps the pieces under the liquid, where the salt favors the lactic acid bacteria that sour and preserve the kraut.
“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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