My mom had this pin that simply said "IT'S EXCITING TO BE POLISH". Whilst the font being all caps implies that there is an audible urgency to this statement, I have found that being Polish isn't terribly exciting at all. Until today. Today I made sauerkraut. Hold on. Let me rephrase that. TODAY I MADE SAUERKRAUT.
What sealed this exiting deal for me was that I grew cabbage in my garden for the first time this year. i have never ever successfully grown anything from the brassica family. I have tried broccoli, brussels sprouts, and kale. each and every time the plant has succumbed to an infestation of silver aphids. Those aphids are dicks. Nothing eats them! So i took extra care with my companion planting this year to prevent an infestation, rather than treat, and completely inundate my cabbage plants with nasturtium, marigolds, rosemary, and thyme. I also planted mint in pots surrounding the cabbage area (mint is too invasive to just plant freely). check it:
I found 100 recipes on Pinterest. Which is weird because the recipe is literally "put salt on cabbage. keep cabbage submerged in brine. let it sit. eat it". The recipe has 4 steps and that is only if you consider the actual eating of the food you made a step in the recipe.
The recipe I followed had the prettiest pictures. But it also had the wrongest opinion about salt. I adjusted accordingly. It called for 2 teaspoons of kosher (or other non-iodized salt) per pound of cabbage. My dude was just under 4 pounds.
Pretty Picture Blog Lady likes her stuff on the less salty side (crazypants). Since there was a pretty hefty stem that probably accounted for a significant percentage of these almost 4 pounds, I decided to not overthink it and I used 8 teaspoons of kosher salt.
So, slice up your cabbage and throw it in a nonmetal bowl. Metal reacts with the salt or something. It's Science.
Sprinkle the salt all over your cabbage and massage it with clean hands (please!). Those of you who are a fan of a massaged kale salad will find this step familiar. Those of you with eczema on your hands will find this step excruciatingly painful. Let your relaxed cabbage sit for an hour. The salt will start to break the cabbage down and will cause moisture to be released. Again, Science. That moisture is the brine. It is the Sauer for your Kraut. Besides making things tasty, it is also what will be preserving your cabbage.
It's amazing to see how much less space the cabbage takes up.
With your still clean hands, jam that stuff in a jar. you can use a huge mason jar, or a jar you just got at IKEA last weekend that you originally planned to use when you stage your house when it goes on the market in a few months. you know, whatevs jar you have hanging around. While the jar must be clean, like your hands, and you conscience, there aren't any heavy hitting sanitation requirements like there would be with canning. Just jam the kraut in there and press it down as much as you can with your fist. You could probably use a spoon but I don't think it would get as compact. You want all of the cabbage to be submerged in the brine. If any cabbage is not submerged, it will mold. you don't want to eat that. That isn't blue cheese. That's gross.
Here is where i just have to trust humanity to not lead me astray. Do we seal this up? heck no. we throw a towel on that and call it a night. seriously. okay, there is another step. you need to keep the cabbage compacted and submerged. You can buy an actual fermentation crock and a weight that is perfectly sized to press your kraut down. I filled a smaller jar with water and put it on top. Since there is Science, it is possible that some of the brine will venture over the sides so it's good to have a tray or high class tupperware to catch any spillage.
THEN you cover it up and call it a night.
