EPISODE 27: Making Sauerkraut - Thanks Johannes!

Have you tried sauerkraut? It’s a simple food that is very good for you! It’s full of Vitamin C and was a great way to store nutrient food to ward off scurvy during long sea faring trips.
Our son Joel calls us from the Navy while making the kraut - He just entered the Nuclear school for training. Julia, Army National Guard, has a conversation too - at the end.
Our first foreign exchange student, Johannes Faust, exclaimed that our sauerkraut in America was terrible. I asked him if I would get the German Sauerkraut from Aldi, if he would like that? We tried that and it was just a little better he said.
What next? We make our own! Johannes said his grandmother made the finest sauerkraut. Angel and I started investigating and we started making it ourselves!
We purchased the crock and lid from Bear Hardware in Nashville, IN https://www.bearhardware.com and we got the bricks from Grabill Hardware in Grabill, IN
Do you need these? Not really. You could make kraut in Ball jars.
How do you make kraut? Watch the video!
Cut the cabbage off of the core. Weigh the cabbage. Calculate 2% of the weight of the cabbage in salt. I ended up not using quite that much, but it wasn’t too much less. Slice the cabbage very thin and then 1-2” in length. Layering the salt and cabbage helps to breakdown the cellular structure, release the cabbage juices. Let the cabbage/salt mixture sit for 20 minutes, and then it will break down much quicker and easier with your hand massaging and kneading the cabbage.
The cabbage is now under the liquid and to keep it there, we use grape leaves to help keep the crunchiness of the cabbage (this works for dill pickles too because of the tannins, instead of alum!). Next the large outer cabbage leaves go on top of the grape leaves, next the bricks to hold it all in place and submerged.
Take the crock to a basement or a cellar to dark cooler area, but not too cool. The temperature of 60-70 is great to get the fermentation started. I ended using about 1.25% salt. The salt is required to get the fermentation started. Too little salt and it will just rot. Too much salt and it just won’t ferment or take too long.
Enjoy!

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