SAUERKRAUT

Making sauerkraut is easy! Why make sauerkraut? Because you can and because some people actually like it and it is a way to use up all those cabbage from your garden.

Ingredients/equipment

1. Ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket about 1-gallon
2. Plate or bowl that fits into the crock
3. One head of cabbage
4. 3 tablespoons of sea salt
5. Plastic gloves

Alternate additions for a different flavor can be apples (whole or sliced, herbs and spices, onions, garlic,greens, brussels sprouts, turnips, beets,etc)

1. Chop or grate cabbage finely or coarsely, with or without hearts. Mix green and red cabbage to add variety.
2. Place chopped cabbage in the crock along with a little sea salt and some of the other ingredients as you go. Press down hard with your fist on the crock ingredients as you go. The salt pulls the water out of the cabbage and creates a brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting. Brine inhibits organisms and enzymes that soften it.
3. When all of the cabbage is in the crock, cover with the bowl or plate and put a quart jar of water on top to serve as a weight that encourages the brine to pull water out of the cabbage.
4. Periodically press down on the weight to help the exchange of water into the salt brine until the brine rises above the cabbage. This can take up to 24 hours as the process is slow. If the brine does not rise above the top (ie must cover all the cabbage in the crock) in 24 hours, add enough Sea Salt water to bring the brine level above the top. Make the salt water by adding a teaspoon of Sea Salt to a cup of water and stir until it is totally dissolved.
5. Leave the crock to ferment in an unobtrusive corner of the kitchen where it won't be forgotten. Check it every day or two. The kraut needs to remain below the surface of the brine to allow for the anerobic digestion is happening.
6. A moldy scum will form on the top. DON'T WORRY! It is a normal part of the process. Just skim it off, wash the bowl and replace the weight. On the other hand, you really don't have to worry about it if you don't skim it off or not. You can in fact just let it form into a complete scum cover and it comes off easier.
7. Taste it after a few days. Take out some of it to eat if the taste is right and put it in the refrigerator. Leave the rest in the crock to continue changing in flavor.

ENJOY !! Try a different recipe next time.