Homemade sauerkraut
Homemade sauerkraut recipe in the canning category
Recipe ingredients:
- 48 pounds cabbage
- 1 pound salt
Recipe method:
- Let cabbage heads stand at room temperature for about 24 hours to wilt. This causes the leaves to soften slightly and become less likely to break when cut.
- Wash the head and remove outer leaves. Cut heads into quarters and remove the cores.
- With a sharp knife, shred 5 pounds of cabbage 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
- Place the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with about 3 tablespoons of the salt.
- Mix the salted cabbage with your hands or with a stainless steel spoon and let it stand 3 to 5 minutes.
- Wash a 10 gallon crock with soapy water, rinse and scale it with boiling water.
- Pack salted cabbage into the crock. A brine will form as you press the cabbage down.
- Repeat the shredding and salting in 5 pound lots until the crock is filled to within no more than 5 inches of the top.
- The brine should cover the cabbage. If it does not, add additional brine by heating 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt with 1 quart of water.
- Cool the brine to room temperature before adding it to the crock.
- To cover the cabbage and weight it down to keep it submerged in the brine, fill a clean, large, heavy plastic bag, such as heavy duty trash bag, with water and lay it over the cabbage.
- Fit the bag snugly against the inside walls of the crock to prevent the surface of the cabbage from being exposed to air. This will prevent the growth of a yeast film or mold.
- Add more water to the plastic bag, if necessary, to keep the cabbage submerged.
- Seal the bag with a twist tie. Cover the crock with plastic wrap.
- Fermentation will take place from 3 to 6 weeks depending on the room temperature. The ideal temperature is 75 degrees F. At 75 degrees F fermentation will take about 3 weeks, at 70 degrees F, 4 weeks, at 65 degrees F, 5 weeks and at 60 degrees F allow about 6 weeks.
- Tightly packed in covered containers, the kraut can be safely kept in the refrigerator for several months. If you do not have space, can the sauerkraut.
- Canning the sauerkraut:
- Bring the kraut to a simmer. Do not boil.
- Pack it into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal.
- Process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes for quarts or 15 minutes for pints.
- Start counting the processing time when the water in canner starts to boil.
Tags: homemade, sauerkraut, recipe, canning, recipes, cooking