How I make sauerkraut

 Yesterday the weather was like a summer's day so I spent most of it working in the garden. Today is a completely different kettle of fish. It's grey, miserable and not particularly warm so I decided to make a big batch of Sauerkraut. It's the simplest thing to make as all you need is a white cabbage and some good salt..

                 

 Don't use table salt as it has chemicals added. For each kilo of cabbage you need between twenty and thirty grams of salt.  Slice the cabbage fairly finely and remove the core. Put it into a large bowl and sprinkle the salt over it.  Now massage that salt into the cabbage for about ten minutes. Gradually you will feel the cabbage becoming wet and eventually you will see a small puddle of brine in the bottom of your bowl.

                     

Pack the cabbage tightly into a glass jar and pour the brine over the top. If there isn't quite enough brine to cover it all simply make up a fairly weak solution with water and pour it over the  cabbage. You need to make sure that the cabbage is submerged in the brine.  You can use a piece of clean cabbage core or a cabbage leaf and that is what I did when I made my first batch.  After discovering how much we liked it I bought some glass weights from amazon. Now this is important.......  Leave the Sauerkraut on your kitchen worktop so you won't forget about it. You must release the fermentation gases every day for seven days by opening the lid of your container. You will hear it hiss. After seven days you can put it into your fridge and that will slow the fermentation down. I stand mine on a small tray in case it spurts when I release the gas. I found that it became even tastier the longer I left it so I am hoping to make a few big jars and leave them for a month or two before eating the Sauerkraut

                                                        

  I have never had commercially produced Sauerkraut so don't know how it compares. If you like pickles  you will probably like Sauerkraut  and it is incredibly good for us.  Have a read online about just how amazing it is. I made two batches as I had hoped for a pink Sauerkraut. In one bowl of cabbage I added a few finely shopped beetroot leaves and stalk. I was hoping for a deeper pink colour but my leaves and stalks are a bit small. I think it may develop a better colour as the salt continues to pull the moisture out of the cabbage and beet,.

I added a few beetroot leaves to this batch