Homemade Sauerkraut

Nothing taste as good as homemade sauerkraut. Of course that is if you like sauerkraut, I am a lover of kraut and so is my family. I raised loads of cabbage this year and was so happy that our garden bunny ate only one head. By the way, he is enjoying my tomatoes way before I have and I may be doing an Elmer Fudd on him before long. Kraut is simple to make but you must have patience. Kraut takes 3 weeks to make at a room temperature of 75'. Any warmer is not good, kraut will spoil and any cooler it will just take longer to make. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek today. Note: The best way to keep homemade sauerkraut is to not heat process it, of course this means keeping it in the fridge. But due to space in the fridge I always have to process some of mine. When you process kraut you loose a lot of the good benefits of homemade kraut. Meaning the stuff that is good for you.

Needed:
15 pound green cabbage-hand shredded
8 T kosher salt
Huge crock and time.



When all of the cabbage is done begin layering cabbage, salt, cabbage until all of the salt is gone. You will mix the cabbage with your hands or a huge WOODEN SPOON. Do not use anything but wood or your hands. Metal will ruin your kraut. As you mix the cabbage it will get very watery, this is good. You want watery kraut. If your kraut is not in a good amount of liquid add brine. Brine is 1 t kosher salt to 1 cup of water. I added about 4 cups of brine to mine. You will want to weigh your kraut down with a plate. This is how I do mine. I fill a large Ziplock bag with brine and seal it. I then place it on top of the kraut, this seals off any air. I then place my plate on top of the Ziplock bag. Keep your crock on a cool dark place. Taste in 3 weeks and then fill into quart jars and process in a hot water bath for 12 minutes.