Sauerkraut? Any body make it?

[mrcman]

Afternoon,

We got our cabbage sliced, packed in the crock, plated and weighted. Starting tomorrow I'll keep the water down some and in a couple weeks we'll put it up in jars. We only did 50# this year as we got over to the cabbage farm late.

You just can't beat real sauerkraut. Any body else on the site make it also?

Tony

 

[Carol Dee]

I would love to. I LOVE sauerkraut but am the only one that eats it here. 50# would make WAY too much !!!

 

[so lucky]

Carol, you could make a quart for yourself and keep it in the fridge. It lasts for months. I have been making it for about 2 years. Mostly I have success, but have had a couple of failures. One time it got an odd pink mold in it---stunk to high heaven. My most recent fail was leaving the kraut to ferment too long, which resulted in limp, soggy kraut. Great sour taste, but the mouth feel was not something I could handle. The batch we are eating now is not very sour at all, but has good crunch, and isn't salty.
I have 4 heads of cabbage waiting for me to cut up and "beat down." My DH takes spells wanting to eat it every day with supper, which is a great digestive aid.
I don't process/can mine. I have been told not to heat it very much, so as to not kill off the good bacteria. We eat it cold, like a condiment.
If you can't eat slaw, or regular store-bought kraut, I urge you to try fermented kraut. So gentle on the digestive tract. (But don't eat the whole jar at once)

 

[lesa]

So lucky, have you already posted how you make yours? I have several cabbage I should bring in- and I would love to try kraut again. I failed at it twice...

 

[canesisters]

So, HOW do you make it?
Do you have to go get a bunch of extra stuff (spices, etc) like with making pickles?
Does any cabbage work? Or is there a better/best type?

And.. what happens if you eat the whole jar???

(sorry, been looking for a reason to use that one)

 

[majorcatfish]

fil has a 100 gallon crock so we let him make it when done he will ship a good portion to us along with some ring bologna and salt raising bread for christmas....

how many more till christmas

 

[mrcman]

so lucky, we remove the weight , plate and cloth every day and wash them off with really hot water to keep any molds from growing. Then put everything back on the kraut. Then the next day we repeat the next days until we're ready to put it up. I learned this from my dad who learned it from his dad and we've never had a batch go bad.

canesisters, we don't add anything other than salt. we add 2 ounces per 5 pounds. That's the only thing we add. I hear that some folks put different things in their kraut but we like it this way best. We always buy kraut cabbage. I'm not certain what the difference is but am not big on changing things that seem to work for me.

Tony

 

[Ridgerunner]

I made this earlier this year from my spring Flat Dutch cabbage. I put a quart in the fridge to eat off of and canned the rest.

I make it pretty much like Mrcman but instead of having to worry about the mold, I use this crock instead. If you keep the slot filed with water, it forms an airlock and the mold cant grow. The only thing I add is salt and saltwater if I cant get enough liquid from working the cabbage.

 

[lesa]

Ridgerunner, where did you get that crock??? That looks perfect!

 

[seedcorn]

I made small batches. Last time I used a 2 gallon plastic container at Walmart. Used a water filled gallon bag to weight it down. Ferment it in basement.