Sauerkraut tastes great with sandwiches, hotdogs, potato salad, or as a side. The sky is the limit.
Easy Recipe:
1 Cabbage, white or red
1 Tablespoon Sea Salt without Iodine
Filtered water
Glass canning jar
Quarter cabbage and remove the cores. Then slice the cabbage thinly, 1/8-inch thick is perfect but it doesn’t have to be perfect. Chop it the way you want.
Once you’re done, place the sliced cabbage into a large bowl and mix with half the salt. Let the cabbage sit until it starts to wilt and release liquid—about 10 minutes to one hour.
After letting cabbage rest with the salt, it’s time to massage. Squeezing all this cabbage has several benefits. First, it helps release the liquid from the veggie. It also helps work salt thoroughly into the mixture and softens the cabbage up even more, so you get that just-right sauerkraut texture.
Pack tightly into the clean glass jar. Use your hand or a wooden tamper if available like this.
Mix the other half salt in water and mix until salt is dissolved. Pour over packed cabbage to one inch from the top.
The cabbage needs to be weighted down do the cabbage does not rise. I use a weight like these to hold the cabbage down. You can also save an outer cabbage leaf. Fold and place at the top of the jar under the weight.
Cover the jar with a coffee filter or a cheese cloth. I prefer to use pickle pipes. It allows your jar the protection of being covered and it has a small hole in the top where it burps. Learn more here.
Store the jar on a plate for 3-4 weeks on the counter out of direct sunlight. It is ready to eat when the bubbling has stopped. If it smells bad, don’t eat it. If smells good, try it. If you are concerned about spoilage, there are test strips you can use to test the ph balance like these. The safe ph is below 4.5.
When fermentation is complete, remove top and weight. Cover with a plastic lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. Eat 1 tablespoon to 1/2 cup every day. Start with 1 tablespoon and work up to more. To change up the taste, add garlic, carrots, peppercorns, juniper berries, carraway seeds and more. Have fun experimenting.
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