Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut

Created: June 13, 2020

Ingredients
  • 1 medium cabbage, any color that you prefer
  • 4 Tbsp of whey (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp of good quality sea salt (if you don’t use whey, increase the salt to 2 Tbsp instead)
  • Filtered water
Kitchen Equipment
  • Wooden board
  • Knife
  • Measuring spoon
  • 1 L Mason jar
  • Bowl to mix
 

Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage.  It can be made with red or green cabbage. It is full of probiotic bacteria and contains vitamins and minerals. Since it contains full digestive enzymes, it is considered a great healing remedy for the digestive tract. It helps stimulate the production of stomach acid, therefore eating it with meals help improve digestion. You don’t need a starter to make sauerkraut, because the cabbage has natural lactic acid bacteria which will perform the fermentation process. 

Retain a couple of outer cabbage leaves.  You will use them later to cover the shredded kraut. 

Using a very sharp knife or mandolin, finely shred the cabbage.

Place shredded cabbage in a large bowl.

Add the salt into the bowl. If you have whey available, add it as well.

Massage the cabbage with your hands for about 10 minutes.  The salt will help draw the water out from the cabbage. 

Place the cabbage with the salty water that you got into a wide-mouth 1 L  mason jar. 

Press the cabbage down to make sure it gets completely submerged below the brine. Don’t over pack the cabbage. 

If needed, add filtered water into the jar, leaving 1-2 inches of space from the top.  Make you do not fill the jar till the top.  This will provide room for the brine to expand during the fermentation process.  

Cover the shredded cabbage with the leaves that you set aside at the start. 

In addition you can use fermentation weights like the one in the picture below to keep the kraut submerged under the brine.  Remember that the liquid should always cover the ingredients you are lacto-fermenting.

Cap with the lid and seal tight.  Leave it outside the fridge to ferment for about 1 week.  The lid should fill hard to the touch when it is ready.  Once ready, keep it inside the fridge.

Download Sauerkraut Recipe