Sauerkraut!

Aaron really likes sauerkraut and wanted to try making it this year. I grew a few red cabbages, but I remembered visiting my favorite "farm stand" store in Bingen last year and seeing their ginormous cabbages for .19/lb. They had them again this year and for the same price. We knew our friend Kathy was going to visit on her way home after a long road trip in her Tiger and that she wanted to get a bunch of cabbage, so we went to Dickey's and were not disappointed. This specimen is actually one of the smaller ones at 18 pounds. We had several that were 23 pounds!


Aaron tackling the beast.


Hard at work, cutting the cabbage as thin as we could. We worked in 5 pound batches. For every 5 pounds we added 3 tablespoons of canning/pickling salt.


We tossed the salt in.


Then added it to our 5 gallon food grade bucket. Every time we added a batch, Aaron tamped it down tight (really tight as it turned out, Kathy said she had never seen so much liquid at the top!) The liquid comes out as the salt draws it out of the cabbage cells. We got about 45 pounds of cabbage in this bucket.


I was so glad Kathy was there to show us how she does it. To maintain an anaerobic environment she uses this technique:


She takes a clean garbage bag and presses it flush with the cabbage. Then pours water on top of it to keep it weighted down. We then twist tied the bag shut, put a towel over it with a rubber band and put it in a cool place. Now we wait a few weeks and will then be able to can it for storage! Am I the only person that is amazed that sauerkraut is just salt and cabbage?! I can't get over how awesome this fermentation process is. I'm not a huge fan of sauerkraut, but I'm hoping I can warm up to this homemade version, it's supposed to be much better - of course.