How To Make Old Fashioned Sauerkraut

If you've always wondered how to brand former fashioned sauerkraut, you're in the right place. In this article, I provide pace-by-step instructions, along with photos, for how to make sometime fashioned sauerkraut.

What is Old Fashioned Sauerkraut?

Homemade sauerkraut with blackness pepper and parsley in wooden bowl on rustic groundwork.

Before I go into the step-by-pace instructions for making sauerkraut, I first want to provide my definition for old fashioned sauerkraut.

Put simply, I'm defining old fashioned sauerkraut as lacto-fermented sauerkraut that is fabricated with simply 2 ingredients: cabbage and table salt.

Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut

Since I mentioned lacto-fermented sauerkraut, I want to briefly explain what is meant by lacto-fermentation.

According to The Spruce Eats, in stage ane of lacto-fermentation, you submerge vegetables in a alkali "that is salty enough to kill off harmful leaner." In stage two, lactobacillus organisms convert sugars such as lactose into lactic acid. This process does ii things. It creates an acidic environment that preserves vegetables, and information technology also provides a tangy flavor.

Some popular lacto-fermented foods include:

• Radishes
• Snap peas
• Cabbage
• Garlic
• Kimchi
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Turnips

You are probably familiar with some of these already. Lacto-fermented cucumbers are often referred to as sour pickles, and basic lacto-fermented cabbage is frequently referred to equally sauerkraut, which is the topic of this commodity.

Pro tip: People sometimes use the words, "pickle" and "ferments" interchangeably.  To learn how I ascertain them differently, read my article Pickling Vs. Fermenting | Are Pickles and Ferments the Aforementioned?

How to Make Quondam Fashioned Sauerkraut

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Now permit'due south become into how to make old fashioned sauerkraut. At the terminate I'll likewise provide instructions for canning sauerkraut, and the pros and cons of doing so.

Get together Your Ingredients and Tools

The very offset step in making old fashioned sauerkraut is to gather the ingredients and tools. The cracking news is, since former fashioned sauerkraut is so uncomplicated, information technology doesn't require a ton of ingredients or tools.

Ingredients

As I mentioned above, there are only 2 simple ingredients in sometime fashioned sauerkraut:

• Cabbage
• Table salt

In terms of the type of cabbage, evidently old greenish cabbage that y'all tin can buy at nearly whatever grocery shop works great. Organic cabbage is ideal, but not 100% required. Start with organic if you can.

In terms of salt, 2 popular options are kosher salt and canning and pickling salt. However, the simply salt y'all tin't use in fermenting is tabular array salt, or any other salt with iodine.

In another step, I'll explicate how to figure out how much salt to apply.

Fermenting Tools

Fermenting tools are as well very bones. In this article, I demonstrate using mason jars, together with this stainless steel fermenting kit that I purchased from Truthful Leaf Market.

Pro tip: Utilize this link to go $5 off your first purchase from Truthful Leaf Market:

I chose this kit because I dearest using mason jars, and since the parts are sturdy and made from medical grade stainless steel, they should last a lifetime.

The following are pop fermenting options that yous tin choice up on Amazon:

• Fermentation Crock
• Fermentation Weights
• Kraut pounder

Note that a kraut pounder or wooden meat tenderizer are pop tools, but since I don't accept one, as y'all'll see a flake later in this commodity, I just used my hands as well as a wooden spoon.

Y'all'll also need a large, non-reactive bowl.

A kitchen scale, is helpful when it comes to being precise with the table salt to cabbage ratio, simply isn't absolutely necessary.

Thankfully, kitchen scales are very inexpensive, and there is a broad range of them available on Amazon.

Set the Cabbage

Once you've gathered all the ingredients and tools, it's fourth dimension to prepare the cabbage.

Preparing the cabbage is the most time-consuming function, just it isn't difficult.

Remove Outer Blemished Cabbage Leaves

I got a fleck carried abroad removing cabbage leaves, but I didn't desire any "yuck" in my sauerkraut.

First, after washing the cabbage, remove the outer leaves. You'll notice the leaves probable have some tears, are a bit wilted on the edges, and may take some blemishes.

As yous can encounter in the photo above, I err on the side of removing more than rather than less leaves. I don't want to ferment any cabbage that is less than perfect, but you don't need to be quite as desperate equally I am. The master matter is to remove the beginning couple of leaves.

Remove the Core and Shred the Cabbage

Next, I like to remove the cabbage core. I do have ane friend who leaves the cadre in her sauerkraut, but most if not all recipes that I've read for sauerkraut recommend removing the cadre.

One time you've removed the core, cutting the cabbage into wedges, then thinly piece the cabbage.

Add Table salt to the Cabbage

Though information technology'due south a flake difficult to see, I put the salt on the basin full of cabbage and then used my hands to mix information technology in.

As I mentioned above, two popular types of salt used in fermenting are canning and pickling salt, and kosher salt. (I used kosher table salt.) The main affair is to avert salt with iodine.

In terms of the proper ratio of salt to cabbage, this is where it gets a little catchy, simply don't worry, it doesn't have to be complicated!

The article, How Much Salt Do I Use to Make Sauerkraut provides the following iv methods:

• Gustation
• Volume (using measurements)
• Weight

When it comes to volume, or using measurements, the book, DIY Pickling (available on Amazon) recommends using four teaspoons of pickling salt to two pounds of cabbage.

Since I recently bought a kitchen calibration to employ in breadmaking, and since I wanted to be more precise, I weighed both my cabbage and my salt.

Since the commodity I linked to above on how much table salt to use recommended a 2% alkali, that'due south what I went with.

Hither'south the simple formula for determining how much salt to utilise for a 2% brine:

In my example, later I prepared the cabbage, the cabbage weighed 1021 grams. 1021 (grams of cabbage) ten .02 = 20.42 grams of salt.

If you lot're not used to working in grams or used to weighing your food, here's an thought of what this looks similar in terms of book/measurement:

1021 grams = 2.25 pounds of cabbage

twenty.42 grams = 4.79 teaspoons salt

This is very close to the measurement ratio recommended past DIY Pickling higher up, of four teaspoons of pickling salt to 2 pounds of cabbage.

Allow the Cabbage Rest

Once you've added the salt to the cabbage, mix information technology into the cabbage and let it rest for most an hour. You don't need to beat the cabbage, merely you do want to mix in the table salt well.

The salt will draw the water out of the cabbage and create a brine. This brine plays a crucial role in helping the cabbage ferment, so don't toss it!

Here's what the cabbage looked like when I commencement added the salt in:

You tin see that the bowl was very total of cabbage, almost to the betoken of overflowing when I first added the salt.

Hither's what it looked like just xv minutes after I added the table salt:

I was surprised past how much the cabbage shrank merely 15 minutes after adding the table salt.

And hither's what it looked like subsequently an hour:

It's amazing how much the cabbage shrank within an 60 minutes after adding the salt

It's astonishing how much the cabbage has shrunk down! While you can't see it, there is a lot of brine under the cabbage in the bowl.

Pack the Cabbage into a Mason Jar or Crock

A canning funnel makes it easier to put the cabbage into the jar

Now information technology'due south time to pack the cabbage into your stonemason jar, crock or whatever container yous're using. About ii pounds of cabbage will fill a quart size mason jar.

While it's not completely necessary I used a canning funnel to make information technology easier to put the cabbage into the jar.

Pro tip: Even if you don't practice any canning, I recommend having a canning funnel on hand. They make it easier to make full bricklayer jars with everything from flour, dehydrated food, and anything else you desire to store in mason jars. You can get a canning funnel inexpensively on Amazon.

As you lot put the cabbage into the jar, utilize either your hand or a wooden spoon to pack the cabbage downward. It's important for the cabbage to be firmly packed into the jar.

Once you've packed all of the cabbage into the jar, you can top the jar with remaining brine. Information technology'southward of import to make sure that all of the cabbage is covered with brine. Just exist sure to exit plenty space for a weight (or as I demonstrate in the side by side pace, a pickle helix).

Add a Weight and Lid

Now it's time to add a weight or pickle helix likewise as a lid. The lids that come with the fermenting kit I apply has a valve on superlative that allows gases to escape. If the lid you employ doesn't have a valve, shut the lid, but don't spiral it too tightly.

Put the pickle helix within the jar after packing your jar with the vegetables you are fermenting. When you put the lid on, it pushes down the curl to go along everything under the alkali.

Allow to Ferment

I put the sauerkraut in a cabinet to ferment so it would be out of the light. Note that I put a plastic tray underneath information technology just in example some of the alkali bubbles up and leaks out.

At present information technology's time to let your cabbage turn into sauerkraut through the fermentation process!

The platonic fermentation temperature is between 60 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, if like me, you live in a warmer climate, fermentation can take place at a higher temperature. During the summer my home can dip into the low eighties for a short period of time, until we experience uncomfortable and plough on the air conditioner. Since we live in a warmer climate, nosotros set our thermostat at 78 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, and it works fine.

The main deviation with a somewhat higher temperature is that the fermentation procedure may accept place faster. If yous alive in warm climate, you can use a 3% alkali instead of 2% since more than salt slows downwards the fermentation process.

If fermenting in a warmer surround, yous can start tasting your sauerkraut after a week to come across if it'due south to your liking. If the temperature in your home is between 60 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, start tasting it around ii weeks in. The longer you let it go, the sourer it will be.

One time it's to your preferred level of tartness, remove the weight (or pickle helix) and store in the refrigerator. I similar using these lids that I buy on Amazon when putting my sauerkraut in the refrigerator.

The season will keep to develop over the side by side month, simply you lot can consume it as soon every bit it's fermented. Information technology will last in the refrigerator for several months.

How to Can One-time Fashioned Sauerkraut

Before I get into the instructions on how to tin can old fashioned sauerkraut, I want to say that I personally don't recommend canning information technology. The reason is that the canning process kills good for you probiotics, and the probiotics are the master reason I make sauerkraut. Too, since sauerkraut lasts in the fridge for several months, you don't demand to worry about it going bad any fourth dimension soon.

Having said that, if you have a bumper crop of cabbage, or y'all managed to get cabbage super cheap and bought a lot of it, you may non have room for all of it in your refrigerator. In that case, canning is a way to preserve information technology and make it shelf stable.

Hither's how to can former fashioned sauerkraut

When canning sauerkraut, I prefer the raw pack method.

First, thoroughly wash your jars. Yous tin can sterilize the jars if desired, simply that's not 100% necessary.

Pack the sauerkraut into the jars, and cover with the brine. Go out 1/2 inch headspace. Debubble the jars, and then check the headspace once again and add more brine if needed.

Wipe the rims and add together your lids.

Water bath can pint jars for 20 minutes, or quarts for 25 minutes, adjusting for altitude.

Notation: If yous alive more i,000 feet in a higher place bounding main level, adapt the canning time, as I explain in this article How Altitude Impacts Canning | How to Adapt Canning Recipes Based on Your Altitude

Related Articles

If you lot enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these related articles:

• Fermenting Radishes
• What are the Best Cucumbers for Pickling?
• What is Pickle Well-baked and How Can You Use It?
• What is the Pickling Process?
• What are the Unlike Types of Pickles?
• Pickling Vs. Fermenting | Are Pickles and Ferments the Same?

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