Multiple friends have been inquiring frequently as to when I planned on having more sauerkraut for their eating pleasure. My process is very basic but yields delicious traditional kraut. Finally got around to a batch today. Ordered this to do a large batch instead of many half gallons.
Grabbed 7 heads of cabbage at the local Amish store. They were marked local so who knows. Each one was halved, cored and then cut again for quarters.
Broke out the mandolin and off to slicing nice and thin. Here are the first two ready for the next step.
For every 1 lbs I use 1 1/2 t sea salt. For every 3 lbs. I add 1t mustard seed, 1t caraway seed and about 10 Juniper berries. Toss it all really good and rest for 10 minutes or so.
Work aggressively then by hand squeezing and pressing until it’s good and moist. Transferred to the container and rinse repeat till 6 we’re done (forgot the 7th). Press more until almost submerged in the brine forming.
This style “crock” has a plastic and silicone disk used to press down and force out air keeping everything submerged.
Lid on and to the counter to let the Lactobacillus do it’s thing. I’ll taste in three weeks but am guessing the sweet spot will be 4-6 weeks. My half gallon ferments were too salty at 3 and perfect at 4. Not sure if I’m supposed to burp this thing or not so will play it by ear. I may add the 7th cabbage tomorrow. That’s it for now, thanks for looking.
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