Bernie and I have really enjoyed the sauerkraut we’ve been making in our crock. Last summer I took some pictures of the process we use and I am just now getting around to posting them. We’ve been using a crock to make our sauerkraut, but you don’t need one. A plastic bucket or glass container will work as well.
We used a mandolin slicer to slice up our cabbage.
We’ve used a knife and cutting board in the past. Either works just fine.
We slice the cabbage and put it into our crock as we go. When we have about two inches or so of cabbage, we sprinkle salt over it. The ratio we use is about two tablespoons of salt to four pounds of cabbage. Just make sure the salt has no iodine. Iodine inhibits the fermentation process.
After we get a couple inches of cabbage, we sprinkle it with a little of the salt and then tamp it down. I have used my fist to tamp it in the past. I’ll be honest – it was a little painful! What we used the last time we made sauerkraut works the best we’ve found so far – the pestle that came with our tomato sieve. It works like a champ!
Whatever you use or do, you need to really bruise up the cabbage and release the juices. We’ve learned this step is the most important step in making great tasting sauerkraut.
Just continue adding sliced cabbage, a little salt, and then tamping. This is what it looked like when we had filled the crock as much as we wanted.
We let it sit about 20 minutes. And then we checked it.
We were just tickled pink that it produced so much brine! In the past we’ve had to add brine that we made, but this time it produced enough of it’s own. Did I mention the pestle did a great job? Well, probably Bernie’s strength using the pestle made all the difference, but still……..
When we’ve had batches that did not produce enough brine, we had to make our own. We use about two tablespoons of salt (without iodine) to 1 quart of water and bring it to a boil. Once it cools, we just pour it over the cabbage. But when we really tamp the snot out of the cabbage we found it produces enough brine of it’s own.
Once we added the weights on top of it, we could see the brine covering the entire batch.
And that’s what you want – brine completely covering the cabbage and the weight that you use. And you want to use a weight – it’s important to keep all the cabbage under the brine. If you don’t have weights, you can use a plate and put a gallon jug filled with water on top of the plate. It doesn’t have to fit side to side, you just want to be sure you’re cabbage stays under your brine so it can properly ferment. If you don’t have a cover for your container, you may need to add a little brine from time to time. Just keep an eye on it.
We let that batch ferment about 6 weeks, and I honestly think it was the best batch of sauerkraut we’ve ever made. It was very tangy and had a wonderful texture. I would say it was the best batch of sauerkraut we’ve ever made.
We’ve made homemade sauerkraut several times in the past 25 years, but we’ve not experimented much with other vegetables. Last year I fermented a batch of green beans with onions, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them!
Do you ferment vegetables? What is your favorite? And would you share your recipe? 
