Ships coming to the new world would take on barrels, I mean barrels, of freshly put up fermenting cabbage that would last them far into the voyage and provide sailors and passengers with vital Vitamin C, which is produced by the resident bacteria living in anaerobic conditions. The Chinese were practicing fermentation of vegetables thousands of years ago, the Romans were taking it on board to the Middle East, and of course, Europeans caught on to sauerkraut likely from the far east and it became a staple in their diet.
Why? This alchemical food improves digestion by introducing probiotics into your gut, increases bioavailability of nutrients from the cabbage, creates Vitamin C and other B vitamins, and the list goes on. Did I mention fiber? How about simply being a bit acidic and stimulating to the digestion. Many people know of KimChi, which is the Korean version of this kraut, made with a variety of vegetables flavors. Koreans have it on their table for most meals. Do you see why?
Green Cabbage is elegant & simple
The bacteria that create the fermentation of sauerkraut are also remarkable for not allowing pathogenic bacteria to survive in the anaerobic environment of the jars, vats and barrels. Reread that sentence, because this bully type of behavior is exactly why you want these probiotics in your gut!
Voila, amazing food that travels extremely well without refrigeration! Isn’t that modern!
What is it about this simple cabbage that ties it to such an amazing role in human physiology and history? It’s those leaves…they just host the perfect array of naturally occurring beneficial bacteria on their surface. Almost by magic, once you begin the process, you need not add any other store bought cultures; cabbage has all of it for you. Food for the masses I tell you! If you have salt & cabbage, you have health-giving food during ocean voyages and for everyday fare!
Some folks make sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables two additional ways—one method is to use whey from the cheese making process, which also has lactic acid producing bacteria swimming in it, the other way is to purchase a commercial culture in a package and add that. If you want to lower the salt content, you may want to consider these options. The amount of salt that I use below is fairly standard and not a salty final product.
The purpose of the salt is to create a sterile environment inhibiting any pathogenic bacteria from rotting your lovely cabbage before the good bacteria get a foothold and create the acids that preserve the food, create that sour flavor, and allow themselves to remain alive for your eating and health pleasures.
Now let’s get started.
Ingredients:
Purchase a fresh cabbage—firm, green, about 5 pounds (2.25 Kg)
1 Tablespoon Salt (15 g.)—sea salt preferred personally, but Kosher, or other salt is just fine.
Boil 1 quart of filtered water. Add 1 Tablespoon (15 g.) salt, dissolve and let cool. This will be extra liquid to top off the vegetables once in the jar.
Equipment:
A large, long knife, or a food processor or reliable grater
A very large and wide bowl
Stainless steel tongs or forks will do
About 4 to 5 quart size sanitized mason jars or equivalent. You can use one container, such as a gallon jar or a crock that may hold the gallon of shredded cabbage. You’ll want a couple of inches of room at the top to limit overspill as the fermentation can move gases up and out of the jar, thereby increasing the volume of the contents. The sanitation can simply be a full cycle in the dish washer including drying.
Some type of blunt stick with which you can pound the cabbage & push the shreds into the jars.
A sanitized chopstick or stainless steal skewer or a slender butter knife could do, to release air bubbles.
Now here’s a creative moment where you must plan ahead Once the shreds have been put into the jars, a non-corrosive flat disc needs to be laid upon the surface and submerged by a weight to limit the oxygen contact with the shreds, thereby limiting rotting, and encouraging fermentation.
I have selected small rocks from my life’s collection, boiled them, and employed them as the weight over a carefully cut piece of plastic which was fashioned by cutting the rim off of a small yogurt container lid. Folded like a taco, it is easily inserted into the typical wide-mouth mason jar.
If you are using a crock or a bowl, a close-fitting plate may be perfect.
So gather up your rocks, plastic lids, or other versions of these ideas.
Pause to admire the fabulous intricacy of nature and the sublime green colors
Let’s get shredding.
Remove only the outer most leaves of your cabbage which may have been contaminated by it’s voyage to your kitchen. Cut in half or quarters and remove the core.
You have a choice of slicing or grating your cabbage. I’ve done the entire cabbage with a knife, which yields elegant long strands of cabbage. Alternately, the grater can produce a finer texture, similar to the food processor fitted with a grater attachment. If you use the slicer attachment, do experiment first that the slices are narrower than ¼ inch. If you end up with a good deal of stiffness due to the width being a bit too wide, just take a knife to the pile and have your way with it. All of the strands will wilt, but you will know how you want it in the end, so chop if you need to.
Tossing the Salt and Cabbage
Put all the cabbage into that big wide bowl. Sprinkle with the salt. Then toss away for a few minutes until you think the salt has been well dispersed. At this time, some people use a blunt tool to pound the cabbage to further release juices. Leaving the cabbage a total of 45 minutes to one hour, toss every fifteen minutes.
As you visit the bowl for tossing, you should start to see the cabbage sweat. The concentrated salt is drawing water out of the cabbage. This cabbage water creates a medium for the lactic acid bacteria to live in. We want this liquid, so if you don’t see too much of it you will want to pound!
After the 45 minute mark, begin to load the shredded, sweaty cabbage into your jars or crock.
Jars: Push the strands in and pack the jars as compactly as possible, doing some additional gentle pounding. Leave 2 inches of room. Whatever amount of green liquid you have left over, divide among the jars. As you compress the strands in the jar, liquid will rise. If there is not enough to come up to the top and cover the cabbage, add some of the cooled salted water. Don’t go overboard, as your new sauerkraut will continue to extrude water on it’s own. IF you get into a habit of making sauerkraut, you will find some cabbage has much more water in it than other, and you will simply adjust the brine as necessary.
Crock: When using a wide crock, which is just a ceramic bucket, you can try an alternate method of layering the shredded cabbage with sprinkles of salt. This is an oft mentioned method, especially when dealing with large quantities. If choosing this method, then skip the salt & wait for weeping mentioned above. Just cut the cabbage & get layering with salt. This method can be used in jars,it’s just a bit impractical! Proceed with the covering explained below.
Employ the weight system you have devised, laying the plastic lid or plate on the sauerkraut. Let the liquid come up over the edges. Make sure there is no air underneath it. Our goal is to keep air away from the cabbage so that errant bacteria cannot set up. Hopefully your “lid” is very nearly inside the rim of your container so no strands of cabbage creep out.
Keep at a steady room temperature, in the 70’s for 3 to 4 days where you can keep an eye on it. This means, out of sunlight, and not on a window sill. Bubbling will occur which indicates that the fermentation process is happening. You may want to slip a plate under the jars just in case you filled them a bit full– liquid may be pushed out of the jar by the gas bubbles. Hopefully after a few days you can smell the sourness developing. I do not leave a tight seal on my kraut, it seems to hamper the development of a proper smell, and the off-gassing fills the sealed jar. I let the gasses go and the kraut begins to smell wonderful. After the sourness is underway, less vigilance is required, just check on it every few days. Keep at a steady temperature.
Warmer summer temperatures in your home will certainly stimulate faster reproduction of the lactic acid bacteria, and of course, cooler winter household temps slow the culturing process down. Just keep this in mind!
Do put a clean dish towel or paper towel, kept in place with a string or rubber band, to keep dirt and curious kitchen creatures away.
Hard for modern folks to digest, is that I leave mine on the counter for weeks, maybe a month or more, until it tastes just right.
You can begin to dip out of your kraut after a few days, but keep in mind that you must keep the utensils and the process of serving it very sanitary. At that time, if you plan on plundering the new loot, take out a few servings at a time and let the batch be!
The artist in you will revel in this culinary blast of color
Variation:
I offer you a delicious variation in color and flavor that was
shared with me by my friend Pia:
Follow the above instructions for preparation, but add to the cabbage the following:
2 green apples
3 medium carrots
2 medium beets
10 peppercorns
about 1 TBS to 2 TBS ginger.
This particular set of ingredients would best be grated by hand or in a food processor. Of course,you’ll probably need more containers or a larger single container.
Toss as above with the salt or layer in a crock with the salt. Expect a little more bubbling, and you may see a bit of a scum or foam that you will want to spoon off daily due to increased amounts of sugar in the vegetables. Pack the jars with at least 3 inches of room! (a bit more than solo cabbage) The bubbling will settle down eventually. Last batch of this one I made was left on the counter for about 5 weeks.
See the lids submerged just below the surface? That's my mom with me!
Signs of trouble will be a result of contamination:
- Mold on the top of the shreds or darkening of shreds–scoop off until you reach uncontaminated shreds. Top off with cooled salt brine & replace with sterilized lids
- Strange smells other than a lovely acidic sourness–have you had a lid on tightly? Leave off for a day and smell again. If still strange, follow the instructions for mold. You may have some contamination in the top layers. If the smell doesn’t resolve, read on.
As a human being you have been blessed with a great tool–your nose. Do not underestimate the sensitivity of your nose, especially with respect to your personal tastes and digestive tolerance. What someone else’s stomach can tolerate with regards to strange foods may not be amenable to your body. The nose sends the signals to a very primitive part of your brain that makes good decisions for you. So if your food smells wierd, always remember, when in doubt, throw it out!
