Homemade Sauerkraut

A few months ago, I decided to try and make some homemade sauerkraut.  My family loves that briny cabbage.  All the recipes I looked at made the whole process seem so simple.  Why was I paying more for a jar of commercial sauerkraut than I was for an entire head of cabbage?  I was worried we wouldn't like the home fermented sauerkraut.  I was worried it would just mold and I would end up with a bunch of nastiness. I didn't have a giant earthenware crock or a place to put the crock.  How could I make my own sauerkraut?

Well, one day I stumbled upon a recipe for a per quart jar of sauerkraut.  Really, it wasn't much of a recipe.  Cram a quart jar with chopped cabbage, add in some salt and a sweetener if you want, then fill it up with some boiling water.  Then let it do it's natural thing for a bit of time in a dark area.  Voila!  Homemade sauerkraut!  I figured this was a doable amount for an experiment of home fermentation.

I bought a small head of green cabbage and brought it home to try.  After chopping up all that lovely cabbage, I crammed it into four quart jars.  I used a wooden spoon to cram it in there nice and tight.  I left a good inch of headspace ala most canning recipes.  Then I added 1 teaspoon of canning salt and 1 teaspoon of local honey into each jar.  I topped them all off with boiling water, leaving the headspace.  I put lids and rings onto the jars just tight enough to keep the lids in contact with the jar,but not tight enough to stop any liquid from escaping during the fermentation process.  Then my little beauties went into a plastic bin in the back of the cupboard for five weeks.

A. M. A. Z. I. N. G.

This is the best sauerkraut I have tasted since going to Leavenworth and tasting the authentic German foods there.  I am definitely going to make some more of this heavenly fermented goodness.  So simple.  So delicious.

Tonight we are eating the sauerkraut with kielbasa for dinner.  MMMMM!

 

 

***Update***

Since writing this post, I have had issues using regular table salt in canning recipes.  After some research I learned that using table salt can affect the flavor of your end product.  I have changed the post above to using canning salt.