Kraut

Today was such a lovely day I decided to make a batch of kraut in my outdoor kitchen. My outdoor kitchen consists of a long table, lawn chair, the hose and my trusty 2 burner wood cook stove. I had my lovely assistants helping me.


Making kraut is fun and easy. I like to make a verity of krauts such as the ones I made today. Carrot and onion kraut and Apple onion kraut. There are endless things you can add to your kraut such as caraway seeds, peppers, Dill, fruit and herbs.

To start I peeled 2 # of onions from my garden.

I cut them in half and sliced them thin. Now there is a myth out there that the cabbage needs to be sliced as thin as a dime, not true. You can chunk, slice or dice your cabbage. I just like to have nice sized pieces, not too big and not too small.


I next peeled and shredded 2 # of carrots.


Next I cut 2 large heads of cabbage into quarters and remove the core.
For this batch I sliced the cabbage into thin strips.



As I finished slicing each quarter of cabbage I added it to my pot and tossed in a handful each of the shredded carrots and onions and about 2 t salt over it all. I repeated this layering with each quarter of one head of cabbage then I mixed well.


Once I had one cabbage worth done and in the pot I mixed well with my hands. I slice and layer the remaining cabbage using the same method. Once I have the last of the cabbage, onion, carrots and salt in the pot I mixed well again.

Once mixed well cover with a cloth and let it sit a good hour or two. At this point it will be moist and you can squeeze water out of it easily.

While I let the cabbage mix sit, I peel and shred 8 apples. I add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the apples and mix well, cover and set aside. Now it is time to start packing the cabbage mix into the jars. I add a couple of huge handfuls of the mix to the jar and then push down firmly with my fist. This releases lots of juice. I add in a couple more handfuls of the mix and press down firmly again. I repeat this till I have used half the cabbage mix.

By this time there is a lot of juice on top of the cabbage. This is what you want.

I add the apples to the remaining cabbage mix and mix well.
I do the same method of packing this batch as the previous one.
I now fit a quart sized zip lock bag so the bag is in the jar and the top is open. I add 2 teaspoons of salt to this bag and 2 cups of water. I zip it closed removing as much air as I can and then smooth the bag over the top of the cabbage. This will help to weigh the kraut down during the fermentation process as it tends to like to rise and needs to remain under the brine.

The bag is weighted down with a glass of water.


I cover a cookie sheet with sides on it with plastic garbage bags. This is in case the brine over flows during the fermentation process. Not a fun mess to have, much easier to toss a bag then do all the scrubbing.


I cover the jar and glass of water with a gallon food bag that you use a twist tie with and secure with a binder of sorts. I use a rubber band.
The finished jars are placed on the covered cookie sheet and then covered with a towel to keep light out ( I have thicker towels under the light weight one)

This is left for 2 weeks to ferment. At that time you can place it in the fridge and it just tastes better with age (6 months is wonderful!) or you can can it.

To can heat kraut in a stainless steal pan until l nice and hot (add water if there is not much brine). Ladle and lightly pack into sterilized jars. I use pint sized jars as it is just me and hubby here. Process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Recipe I used:
9.5# cabbage
2# onion
2# carrots
about 8 T salt
8 apples

I'll do a picture post of the canning process in two weeks! LOL