Making Sauerkraut

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DBE3D500-CA89-4875-82A1-F99A3470DCD7.jpeg 0D157F4D-5506-4769-B683-769BA8E3E1DF.jpeg So my grandma was German and used to make her own sauerkraut all the time. So I’m trying my hand at fermenting a small batch.

6lbs cabbage
“60g salt, 10g to every lb of cabbage”
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp caraway seeds
4 cloves garlic minced

pretty easy to make.

I’ll check it in 10 days
 
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Cool! I will be checking back for updates.

This is something I have always wanted to try but, have not taken the leap yet.
I will make sure to update :D
 
Mom and great aunt use to make it when I was a kid. They used a large clay pot and would pack it in and down salting as you went then sealed top off and would come back and check it in about 10 days if I remember right. Then put it in jars and can it for storage. I can remember they would put one or two cores with cabbage left on them in top with it when my grandad helped and we would pull those out before canning and was a yummy treat to eat the remaining off the core.
 
You might as well go ahead and go big, you're gonna love it. We normally get about 15 quarts a year but this year the heat got my cabbage. I refuse to buy store bought cabbage so no new this year. Still have about 30 quarts put back. This set up will last you the rest of your life. You can shred the cabbage paper thin or as big as you want it. We like it really thin. Once in the crock you have to pound the hell out of it to get the juice out of the cabbage which makes the brine. I check it once a week to make sure it has enough brine and will pound it as needed. Generally don't taste for flavor for about 5-6 weeks. Make sure you get a crock with a water seal so it doesn't dry out.

https://www.sausagemaker.com/TSM-Harvest-Fermenting-Crock-Pot-15L-p/24-1416.htm
24-1416-2T.jpg

https://www.sausagemaker.com/Harvest-Fiesta-S-S-Cabbage-Shredder-Large-p/24-1715.ht
24-1715-2T.jpg
 
My grandpa used to make sauerkraut in a big crock every year. He chopped the cabbage with an old chopper much like this one. Screenshot_20191019-180842_Firefox.jpg He would place a couple of whole cabbage leaves on the top, then weight that down with a flat rock (always the same rock, which was never used for anything else) to keep everything below the liquid. So once, after I found an old crock in one of our outbuildings, I decided to try my hand at making kraut. What I didn't know was that there was a very small hole near the base of the crock that let all the liquid leak out. So when I checked on it about a week later, the cabbage had rotted and the smell was enough to gag a buzzard. :eek:
 
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My grandpa used to make sauerkraut in a big crock every year. He chopped the cabbage with an old chopper much like this one. View attachment 162093 He would place a couple of whole cabbage leaves on the top, then weight that down with a flat rock (always the same rock, which was never used for anything else) to keep everything below the liquid. :eek:
Yep, the whole cabbage leaves on top of the kraut and below the weights is the key to good kraut. Have to be able to see the brine above the leaves.
 
You might as well go ahead and go big, you're gonna love it. We normally get about 15 quarts a year but this year the heat got my cabbage. I refuse to buy store bought cabbage so no new this year. Still have about 30 quarts put back. This set up will last you the rest of your life. You can shred the cabbage paper thin or as big as you want it. We like it really thin. Once in the crock you have to pound the hell out of it to get the juice out of the cabbage which makes the brine. I check it once a week to make sure it has enough brine and will pound it as needed. Generally don't taste for flavor for about 5-6 weeks. Make sure you get a crock with a water seal so it doesn't dry out.

https://www.sausagemaker.com/TSM-Harvest-Fermenting-Crock-Pot-15L-p/24-1416.htm
24-1416-2T.jpg

https://www.sausagemaker.com/Harvest-Fiesta-S-S-Cabbage-Shredder-Large-p/24-1715.ht
24-1715-2T.jpg

this is what I need for sure! My grandma had one like it when I was a kid.
 
I eat more sauerkraut than I used to, but not enough to justify making it. A bag of Boar’s Head cost about $2.

I eat a lot, but just recently found out that that commercial canning processing cooks out all the beneficial microbes and probiotics. So it was one of the reasons I wanted to start making my own.
 
I love the stuff.

I watched Alton Brown make a batch of it. Seems fairly easy.

I'm sure I would find a way to ruin it.
 
Water bath processing after you pull it out if you are going to keep it a while.
 
DECA887F-573D-41E0-8031-7CD17A35328A.jpeg
did not get the jars open this morning before they bubbled over. But it’s already starting to smell good.
 
I love sauerkraut but it comes out the back end as fast as it goes in the front end.
Only thing I eat that is that quick.
Not worth the good flavor.
:(
 
I love sauerkraut but it comes out the back end as fast as it goes in the front end.
Only thing I eat that is that quick.
Not worth the good flavor.
:(
That sounds useful to keep on hand... just sayin.
 
10 day update, lost one jar. I must have packed it tight. It bubbled out all the brine and the center smelled rotten.
The other 3 are good, really good. Put on in the fridge and are eating it, the other. We are gonna let go to full German.

Definitely going to buy one of those ceramic carafes to make it in one large batch.
 
I know I’m missing a inside joke, but yeah, needs to be shredded , mines cut thick in some of it .
 
This really brings back memories...
My grandparents were German as well.
I can recall driving to to their house and dad would comment ( a block away)... “Well Nana is making kraut again” I can still remember seeing the crocks fermenting on the porch covered with cheesecloth ( not to mention the
smell ) What I really loved more was her pickled red cabage and home made
Pickled Herring....!
 
This really brings back memories...
My grandparents were German as well.
I can recall driving to to their house and dad would comment ( a block away)... “Well Nana is making kraut again” I can still remember seeing the crocks fermenting on the porch covered with cheesecloth ( not to mention the
smell ) What I really loved more was her pickled red cabage and home made
Pickled Herring....!

‘I love Pickled Herring! Now I’m gonna have to make some LOL
 
So sadly calling this experiment a failure...

all jars now smell and taste like dill pickles.. seriously, it’s like someone poured pickle juice in shredded cabbage. I can’t figure out where the “dill” flavor came from. The only thing I can think of is when the temps dropped it got pretty cold in the house and it killed the fermentation process. So I’m gonna try it again.
 
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