| previous | next |
Title: Making Sauerkraut > Part 1
Categories: Preserve Pickle Vegetable
Yield: 6 Crocks
| 15 | lb | Cabbage, firm |
| 11 | ts | Salt, pickling; for each 10 quarts of cabbage |
[This recipe is pretty much how my Mom used to make it- JW]
Select firm, green cabbage. (This will yield about thirty quarts of shredded cabbage.) Let stand at room temperature for one day. [Remove the outer leaves-JW] Wash, quarter, remove cores. Cabbages should be dry before grating for sauerkraut. Shred or cut about the thickness of a dime.
Thoroughly mix the pickling salt with each 10 quarts of shredded cabbage. As each batch is salted, get ready four-quart to six-quart crocks. Pack the cabbage firmly, but not tightly, into the crocks, pressing down with a wooden spoon or paddle.
Lay a clean cloth over the cabbage with a plate on top that fits just inside the crock. It is important that the cabbage is covered by the tight fitting plate; it may spoil otherwise. Weight with a stone or a gallon jar filled with water. The weight should be heavy enough so that the liquid just reaches the bottom of the cover. To vary the weight, use heavier or lighter stones or fill or empty the jar as needed as fermentation increases.
[Or use a plate or wooden board weighted down with a clean stone. -JW]
Allow cabbage to ferment at room temperature (68 F. to 72 F.) for nine to 14 days. (The lower the temperature, the slower the fermentation.) Change and wash the cloth, adjust the weight, and skim off the scum daily. Fermentation has ended when bubbles stop rising to the surface. Taste at the end of a week and can when taste suits you.
To can your kraut, use hot, scalded quart jars. Bring kraut to boil with three quarts water. Pack lightly into jars, filling spaces with liquid. Process in a boiling-water bath for 15 minutes.
From: Sam Waring Date: 03 Jun 96
[Canning will stop the fermentation process so that the kraut won't get stronger tasting. My mom used to freeze hers for the same reason. A Dutch neighbour used to just jar it and keep it in a cool cellar. Her kraut gradually got stronger as it aged. (She also used to let it ferment 21 days not 14.) Roslind's Dad used to put the large wooden barrels in the cellar so his probably got pretty strong too.- JW]
More on canning the fermented kraut... From: Marianne Riolo-Minahan
Remove kraut from jars into an enameled pot and heat to 200 degrees f. (just below boiling.) Strain kraut, reserve brine, pack into hot mason jars. Pack jars tightly. fill the jars with brine, leaving 1/2" headspace for all size jars.
With a table knife, remove as much air as possible. Seal jars and process in pressure cooker @ 15 lbs. pressure for 0 min. Remove jars from cooker to wire rack, to cool.
SUGGESTION: When packing jars with the kraut, leave 2" to the top of the jar, then fill with the juice leaving the proper head space, as some of the juice boils out during processing. Note: 40 lbs shredded cabbage makes 30 pints.
From: Marianne Riolo-Minahan
Sam Waring again:
If your grandmother made sauerkraut, it is likely that she used this recipe or one very close to it. Huge stoneware crocks of sauerkraut were a common sight in spring houses and cellars on farms in the past, and farm children were assigned the task of skimming bad kraut and scum off the tops of these crocks.
From: Jim Weller Date: 05 Oct 97 National Cooking Echo Ä
| previous | next |