Homemade Sauerkraut

 Start with a nice home grown organic cabbage...remove outer leaves and rinse off any dirt.  Try not to get too much water into the inside of your cabbage.

Boiling water used to disinfect your crock.
Just like with canning, etc, always disinfect your pots/jars/crocks.

Use Kosher Salt...not your regular salt, your cabbage will get soggy!

We borrowed a nice cabbage slicer from a neighbor and Mom got to show off her muscles!  Do not cut off any digits ~ you'll need those!

The slicer 

Shredded cabbage

Adding Kosher salt

 The idea is to layer shredded cabbage and salt...pound away as you do this.

Pounding the cabbage

Notice the liquid coming up ~ that's from the cabbage

 What worked well for us was my Mom shredding the cabbage while I pounded it.  Jiggly arms and all...great fun!

Place a plate over the cabbage

Plastic wrap/bag over the top

Add something heavy to weigh down the plate.

The cabbage will rinse and fall and sometimes it may spill over!  This is ok.  Don't put your crock in a warm spot...furthest from the heat source is good.  Remove the weight for awhile if it is spilling over.

Sauerkraut Day 15

We ate some the other day on Day 15.  It was wonderful.  We will can it up in the next few days when our schedule allows.  SO YUMMY!