Sauerkraut or bust!

Hi,

For years I have contemplated making sauerkraut. I may have done it long ago, but I was stopped by a known unpleasant by-product of fermenting sauerkraut: there is a strong odor during the first week.

If I had a basement where I just stored stuff and cleaned laundry, then I would have made sauerkraut long ago. Unfortunately my office is in the basement, which means I am sharing quarters with the fermenting the sauerkraut. I am also not alone, which means my experimenting may cause a potential symphony of complaints.

This year I broke down to temptation when visiting a farm, I saw beautiful freshly picked specimens of winter cabbage for 50 cents a pound. I bought just over 19.5 pounds of cabbage for the first ever sauerkraut fermentation. Stinky days may be ahead of us, but there is delicious sauerkraut ahead. I hoped.



When I got home, I washed my 4 gallon glass jar in hot soapy water and rinsed with hot boiling water from the tea kettle. I then removed the outer leaves of the sauerkraut, cut out the core and began finely slicing the cabbage. Once I had one cabbage in the jar, which filled it nearly half way, I added three tablespoons canning salt (pure salt with no flowing agents). I mixed the salt thoroughly into the cabbage, then waited for it to begin releasing liquid. A few hours later, the cabbage had collapsed quite a bit. I prepared the next cabbage, once in the container added three tablespoons salt and mixed it together with the wilted cabbage. The next morning, I added the final cabbage and salt. Once wilted thoroughly the cabbage reached the neck of the jar. There was natural cabbage liquid covering without an added drop of tap water.

I then carried the cabbage down to my work room to store it underneath a table undisturbed. I washed a canning jar filled with water and a plate, then rinsed with boiling water. I used the plate and canning jar to weight the cabbage. I still needed a bit more liquid to fill the gap. I brought a quart of water to a boil, adding 1-1/2 tablespoons canning salt and allowed to cool to room temperature. I used this to top off the off the cabbage, then placed a clean bath towel to slow evaporation and access to dust and spores in the air.

To ferment cabbage, you need temperatures in the range of 60 to 75 degrees. The lower the temperature, the slower the fermentation and it is speeded by heat. Thus fermentation can be 4 weeks at 75 degrees and 6 weeks at 60 degrees.

I then walked away and waited for the bad odors to being. Nothing happened, no odors, no complaints, no nothing. After a week, I peeked under the towel to see bubbles:



The bubbles were a good sign fermentation had begun. I would check on it every few days. Sometimes I would prepare more salt water to bring the liquid level up. Inevitably, at least in my experience fermenting pickles, I do get yeasts growing on the surface:



You can scrape these yeasts daily, but their fast growth means they are back in no time. I then resort to adding 1/4 to 1/2 white vinegar to supress the yeasts. This works for a week or less, but it keeps the daily maintenance down.

Evidence of sauerkraut's fermentation has concluded when there are no more bubbles produced. Since this was my first effort, I wasn't 100 percent sure when the bubbles stopped. In my estimates, I think it was done maybe a week before I believed it.

Since the weather had gotten colder, I put the sauerkraut on a side porch to cool down and stop any lingering fermentation. When it got even colder, then I put all 19+ pounds in my refrigerator.

I finally started digging into the sauerkraut last week. I made a choucroute dinner of sausages cooked in sauerkraut. Everyone enjoyed the newly produced sauerkraut, which despite my efforts to cut thin was coarser than commercial sauerkraut. I then made a statement to my family, "Let's hope we don't get sick tonight. If we are all up with projectile vomiting, then maybe the sauerkraut was the source." Fortunately my family has a sense of humor and didn't go into psychosomatic spasms of cramps. We managed to go through the night undisturbed.

Once tested, I could then bring sauerkraut to a LTHforum function without fear of causing mass illness:

Photo by Ronnie Suburban

If you want to learn more about making sauerkraut, then please give this a read.

Regards,

The problem is how do you store it? Ideally can it, but that's a lot of work for kraut.

Hi,

Refrigerated sauerkraut will last a few months. If I had cool storage area with temperatures under 60 degree, it could probably keep. The advantage of refrigeration it keeps any yeasts from taking off.

Canning is not a big deal, though of course I have everything needed. If there had been a pasteurization method suggested, then it would have been canned already. Pasteurization would have allowed the sauerkraut to retain the bit of crunch it still has. The heat and processing time of regular water bath canning would have softened the sauerkraut completely.

I'm giving away and cooking with the sauerkraut at a fast enough pace there will not be much stored beyond the holidays. The glass container is taking up a lot of refrigerator real estate presently.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I'm giving away and cooking with the sauerkraut at a fast enough pace there will not be much stored beyond the holidays.

Cathy,

I'm quite enjoying your sauerkraut, fresh, clean flavor and I like the slightly coarser cut as it yields a bit more crunch.

Nice job, when are you starting the next batch.

Enjoy,
Gary

I just purchased the Harsch Fermenting Crock Pot http://www.simply-natural.biz/Harsch-Crock-Pot.php which comes with two 'stones' to weight down the ingrediant and a unique water seal cover that eliminates the need to scrape or add vinegar to control the yeasts.
There are pickles in it right now so I have yet to make kraut but that is next.
Nice kraut!-Dick

Hi,

I finally found the time to buy almost 30 pounds of winter cabbage to make sauerkraut. On Sunday, I sliced two heads of cabbage mixing in 3 tablespoons canning salt (no additives or flow agents) per head to help release liquid. Monday evening I sliced the 3rd cabbage head, added additional salt and waited for the liquid level to climb. I finished the last head this evening.

This afternoon a friend dropped in, breathed deep while announcing our house smells of sauerkraut. That is an odor that must really carry, because there is some distance from the kitchen to the front door. We didn't notice this odor, in fact I still don't, though she was right on the money.

Hopefully this kraut will finish fermenting before I need the container for brining my turkey.

Regards,

You are an inspiration! Whilst not at the large scale you are using, we are also making sauerkraut this year. We got a huge cabbage from our CSA and my parents, who are of Polish extraction, happened to be visiting last weekend. I used my Benriner shredder to get fine cabbage shreds, which we sprinkled with Kosher salt and put into the crock which we had removed from my crockpot. My dad used a potato masher to squash down the cabbage and induce it to release its juices faster. By the time he was done, the cabbage had exuded enough liquid to cover the shreds-- nice fresh farm cabbage thanks to Angelic Organics.

We used about 3T Morton Kosher salt for 5 lbs cabbage. I used a gallon freezer bag filled with water to cover the top to restrict air access, then put it into the cool pantry. It is bubbling a little and looks good-- I didn't notice any stink, but my nose may be shot after many years in a science lab. We had a party on Saturday and noone said anything though!

We will probably taste it this coming weekend, or maybe wait a week. Even my 4-year-old daughter loves sauerkraut, so I'm hoping it will be a big hit. Next year, more cabbages and a real crock! This is so amazingly simple!

Cheers, Jen

Update: The Harsch fermenting crock with water seal made 20 liters of perfect pickles and they sat in the crock from January to last Friday when we emptied out the remaining pickles into half gallon jars and filled the Harsch crock with 20 liters of shredded compressed cabbage and salt. $5 purchased a bag of beautiful large white heads of cabbage from a commercial grower here in Wisconsin.
Cabbage is busily fermenting as evidenced from the sounds made as the CO2 bubbles through the water seal of the Harsch crock. All one has to do is to keep the seal full of water and no skimming or anything else is needed.-Dick

Jen,

According to my information, to fully ferment will take 4-6 weeks depending on ambient temperature. If it is ready next week, I will be interested in your opinion on the texture and taste. In Jewish delis, you can buy partially fermented (new pickles) to fully fermented pickles. In my other life, there were different levels of fermented cabbage to buy that paralleled the pickles from partially to fully fermented available at private markets in Eastern Europe. You were encouraged to take a small portion to taste before buying to get the right level of sour for your tastes or recipe.


budrichard,

The closest source of fresh from the fields white cabbage is 50 cents a pound. So I can just get pea green, how many pounds did you likely get for your $5?

" how many pounds did you likely get for your $5?"

Picture a 100# potato sack full of large white cabbage. Since I made up the batches for the crock in 1-2KG lots and probably filled the crock with at least 10 batches and had three heads left over, I would estimate at least 20 kg.
Gitzlaff Farms is on Hwy E, East of I-94, about 2 miles. They farm commercial cabbage. I found that the heads sold/used for kraut are larger/whiter than the green cabbage one typically sees in grocery stores.
Trivia: Frank's Kraut used to be made in Franksville, a few miles up the road from Somers in Racine County but production was transferred to Ohio about 10 years ago but cabbage is still grown in the area. Franksville even had a Kraut Festival but this was canceled in 2003. Anyway there is lots of cabbage grown in the area.
Update: Kraut is bubbling away as evidenced by the noisy bubbles coming through the water seal.-Dick

budrichard wrote:" how many pounds did you likely get for your $5?"

Picture a 100# potato sack full of large white cabbage. Since I made up the batches for the crock in 1-2KG lots and probably filled the crock with at least 10 batches and had three heads left over, I would estimate at least 20 kg.
Gitzlaff Farms is on Hwy E, East of I-94, about 2 miles.

Thank you! I will visit them next year. I think those large white heads are referred to as winter cabbage. They can be left in the field overwinter, then collected as needed.

Can you offer a rough timeframe when I can expect to buy these cabbages from them? I am guessing October, though you may have a better sense.

Regards,

They probably did that in the past when refigeration was not common and people were not so odor aware. We once had a field of left over cabbages next to our house and by Spring, it was pretty ripe about 30 years ago. Common practice now is to complete the harvest which is still in progress and then turn over the fields. I will stop in and ask when this is generally available but remember that it always is dependant on weather. This summer started out very wet, turned into a drought and then sporadic moisture. But nothing really seems to affect the cabbage anyway. They also use large moving irrigators. -Dick

Sauerkraut update-- we tried some of ours today, at 2.5 weeks, and it was delicious. I simmered it with butter, onions, and apples. My husband said he would like it more sour, so we will try it again next week. It was so absolutely delicious I couldn't stop eating it-- and so unbelievably easy to make. Next year I need a bigger crock.

Cheers, Jen

P.S. Right out of the crock, the sauerkraut was very crunchy, but once simmered it had a good texture-- soft but not too soft.

Anyone making sauerkraut this year? With cabbage at $0.09 per pound at the A&G (Belmont and Central), who can resist? The A&G sales circular this week even declares "krautin' time!". So, here is my big jar with about a dollar's worth of cabbage:



Next year I have to remember that my jar can fit 20 pound of cabbage. Two things came in very handy with this project: first, my Benriner (inexpensive but effective Japanese slicer) and my energetic 5-year-old (for sprinkling salt and mashing down the cabbage.)

My father, who grows cabbages back East, made 75 pound of sauerkraut this year. Wow.

Cheers, Jen

Hi,

It is on my list of things to do after next weekend. Previously, I gave my sauerkraut away as well as kept some in the refrigerator. This year I am going to can some of it.

It took me years to commit to making my own sauerkraut, because everyone kept advising the first week it would be smelly. In the 20-40 pound range, it didn't do enough to deter me. I'm sorry I didn't try it earlier.

I look forward to your opinion of next week's taste test. I had not eaten mine in incremental batches, so you're adding to the body of knowledge.

Regards,

JenM wrote:Anyone making sauerkraut this year?

I am!

Second year in a row for me. I made about 6 lbs. of cabbage-worth, one from my CSA box and another from Stanley's. (Stanley's cabbages are currently selling for .18 cents/lb. (which is high for Stanley's), but I have to say, they are some beautiful specimens. Very crisp.)

Here are some pics of the process, which is incredibly easy, for amazing results to last you the winter:

If you don't mind really thin-sliced kraut, then this device is a sauerkraut-maker's best friend:



Then, you put the cabbage in a bowl with salt (I use about 1/2 T. per pound) and caraway (if desired), and mash it up for about 10 minutes to release its juice.



After a 10 minute-or-so pounding, it looks like this:



Cabbage, becoming sauerkraut (it's bubbling already):



Sauerkraut on, folks!

aschie30 wrote: Sauerkraut on, folks!

Wooo! That is great-- a sauerkraut club!!

aschie30, is your sauerkraut in a sealed jar??? Do you have to release the pressure every now and then?

My method is slightly different-- as taught by my Polish father, I layer the shredded cabbage into the crock, sprinkling with salt as I go, and mash it down also as I go. It takes some serious force, but it compresses a lot and releases a ton of juice. I use 4 Tbsp Diamond Crystal Kosher salt per 5lb of cabbage. This brand is fluffy, so there is less salt per volume measure-- I would use less with another salt brand.

Cheers, Jen

JenM wrote:

aschie30 wrote: Sauerkraut on, folks!

Wooo! That is great-- a sauerkraut club!!

aschie30, is your sauerkraut in a sealed jar??? Do you have to release the pressure every now and then?

My method is slightly different-- as taught by my Polish father, I layer the shredded cabbage into the crock, sprinkling with salt as I go, and mash it down also as I go. It takes some serious force, but it compresses a lot and releases a ton of juice. I use 4 Tbsp Diamond Crystal Kosher salt per 5lb of cabbage. This brand is fluffy, so there is less salt per volume measure-- I would use less with another salt brand.

Cheers, Jen

Yeah - I do open it to release pressure now and then, but there's a lot of headroom for the gas. I did the same thing last year and nothing exploded.

I use Diamond as well - for the first cabbage I used 1 T. per 1 lb., so it was too salty. For the second cabbage, I scaled back to 1/2 T. per pound, figuring it would all even out, so I think my ratio is approximate to yours. (4 T. per 5 lbs.).

I think I'm going to make some Kraut too! I remember my German grandmother's crock of sauerkraut stored in her root celler. Why do I remember a layer of salt on top? You had to dig underneath it to get to the kraut.

Our kraut went into a 20l Harsch crock about two weeks ago. The standard add is 3tbls salt/5# cabbage. Winter cabbage is about $5-6/net bag from the grower who is picking every day they can get into the fields. There are about 6 heads per bag.The heads are huge and at 15# are very hard to handle as even my 12" Wide chefs knife must cut around the head rather than thru the head. But the cabbage is hard and very sweet.
I just did kimchee in my 5l Harsch crock with the same cabbage.
I had previously fermented locally grown chiles in that crock and have now bottled the resulting hot sauce. A very hot version of Tabasco made with jalapenos, habeneros and cayeene peppers.-Dick

This is all so intriguing! I would really like to try to make some sauerkraut this year. I don't have a crock (and don't want to make a big investment) but I do have a good sized food quality plastic storage container. Would that work?

And could the kraut be bagged and frozen when it's done?

Thanks!

I bought a glass jar at Walmart for about $7.00 to put my kraut in. It held about four heads of cabbage. Does anyone know if you rinse the kraut (of excess salt) before cooking with it?

razbry wrote:I bought a glass jar at Walmart for about $7.00 to put my kraut in. It held about four heads of cabbage. Does anyone know if you rinse the kraut (of excess salt) before cooking with it?

It depends how far along in the process you are. If it's mid-winter, I usually rinse, not so much because of the salt, but to take off some of the excess brine and "soften" the taste a bit. If your kraut has only been the jar for a few weeks, it will taste more like cabbage than kraut and you might not want to rinse.

budrichard wrote:I had previously fermented locally grown chiles in that crock and have now bottled the resulting hot sauce. A very hot version of Tabasco made with jalapenos, habeneros and cayeene peppers.-Dick

Could you reveal your source for locally grown chiles? I am probably too late to the party this year, but next year...

Thanks, Jen

JenM wrote:

budrichard wrote:I had previously fermented locally grown chiles in that crock and have now bottled the resulting hot sauce. A very hot version of Tabasco made with jalapenos, habeneros and cayeene peppers.-Dick

Could you reveal your source for locally grown chiles? I am probably too late to the party this year, but next year...

Thanks, Jen

The farmer is a personal friend of mine. I would patronise your local farmers market next year and find out who is growing hot chiles and put in an order. Most chiles sold in stores these days are a TAM cross and have had much of the heat bred out of the them/-Dick

Last fall I took Nance Klehm's "Wild Pickling" class and we made sauerkraut, kim chi and pickled beets. Making the sauerkraut was so much fun and totally hands-on. We actually punched down the cabbage with our (washed) hands instead of using a masher. And we did not have crocks or jars, we used sterilized small pickle buckets. I actually made the kraut with this attitude of "Well, I don't like sauerkraut, but I'll just make it and give it to someone who does." It sat fermenting on top of my fridge (with a heavy bowl keeping the cabbage under the water and a tea towel draped over the top) for 4 weeks. It never smelled at all. After the 4 weeks I sampled it and it was super tasty. Crunchy, briny (but not too salty) and bright. I transferred it to several jars and it kept in the fridge for 11 months and never got mushy. We usually ate it alongside sausages or pork chops. But a few times I just ate it straight from the jar. My best friend is German and she took one bite out of the jar and then took the whole jar home.

I just made another batch 2 weeks ago. I couldn't find my plastic bucket from last year so I started the cabbage in the lid of one of those cake covers (for bringing them to parties). It seemed a little too wide so I transferred the cabbage to a ceramic mixing bowl. Again with a heavy-ish ceramic bowl pressing down and a tea towel on top. It's looking good.

Much has been written about the potential health benefits of eating pickled vegetables. Nance directed us to Sandor Katz's "Wild Fermentation" book and website, www.wildfermentation.com. I re-visited it a few weeks back just to freshen my memory on the technique. It's got recipes for sauerkraut as well as sour pickles.

I'll let you know how my kraut comes out in a few weeks.

bjt

Hi,

Today I hit the farm circuit picking up good deals along the way. The Hippie Farmer wanted 50 cents per pound for organik (sic) winter cabbage, which I felt was too much for some pretty dinged up cabbage.

My last stop was at the Patyk Farm just east of Von Bergen's on 173 between Richmond and Hebron. There was one lonely winter squash sitting there. I waited for someone to come out to talk. I felt I waited a shade too long and decided to leave. Good timing though, as John came out as I was about to roll away. When I learned the cabbage was ten cents a pound with three more in the back. I gladly waited for my haul of 35 pounds of winter cabbage for $3.50. I bought a dozen large eggs to round up the bill to $6.

Three heads are hand-sliced, salted and waiting to collapse. A little later this evening, I will add the fourth cabbage. I plan to place the cabbage to ferment between the furnace and water heater. Convenient to check on and a boost of added warmth.

The laying hens were making great progress pecking away at a broken up squash. They will have eggs to offer into winter as long as the girls produce. If you want the Patyk's phone, please PM me.

Regards,

Four weeks after starting the sauerkraut, I pulled some out and braised it with apples, onions, butter, and chicken broth. It came out great. I gave it a light rinse, as we like our kraut strong-- my husband said "it has real authority." Is anyone else cooking their kraut yet? Now I need to save this-- I might try freezing or canning some this year.

Here is the braised sauerkraut in its native habitat, with a grilled brat and a slice of Polish rye bread.


Cheers, Jen

JenM-

The kraut looks great!

-Mary

Hi,

I am only at week one in fermenting my kraut, though Jen's kraut reminds me to start earlier next year.

I went a little light on weighting, which could have been tragic if I didn't check on it. There were several things involved. According to the sauerkraut fermenting information, you're supposed to have one gallon capacity for every five pounds cabbage. I had 35 pounds cabbage in a five gallon container or under capacity by two gallons.

I was confident I was alright, because I had compressed the cabbage to 75% capacity of the container. I added a bit more brine and weighted it with one quart jar (instead of the recommended three).

If I hadn't kept a daily check on my kraut, I might have spoiled the entire batch. When sauerkraut ferments, it produces bubbles. Eventually enough bubbles to cause the well packed kraut to fluff up.

On Thursday morning, I found the upper edge was no longer under brine. I added more brine (1 quart water brought to a boil, 1.5 tablespoons salt dissolved, then cooled to room temperature before adding to the kraut). Weighted it and walked away.

On Friday evening, the upper layer was exposed again. I added brine, then weighted with three filled Mason jars.

I checked today, to find it happily perculating along.

Probably if I had weighted it better from the get go, I would not have had these heart stopping sauerkraut dramas.

Regards,