Sauerkraut

What do you do when you have 8 heads of cabbage all ripening at the same time? Sauerkraut! It's surprisingly easy to make. All you need is cabbage, salt, and a large food grade plastic or crockery container.

I didn't have to buy a new large container because I already had one. Remember the ueberlarge container I got for the Limoncello? That was perfect for the sauerkraut.

Here's what you do: slice the cabbage as thick or thin as you like. Layer it in the container, then lightly sprinkle salt on top. Continue the cabbage/salt layering until you reach the top. Believe it or not, this container was filled to the top with cabbage when we started.

Put the lid on and wait one day. By the end of the first day the cabbage will have wilted into itself and you will notice all of the moisture that has come out. Now you will need a plate that fits over the cabbage and some sort of weight to hold the plate down. We used two gallon size plastic baggies filled with water and a dinner plate that fit perfectly in our container. At this point the cabbage will need to stay under the liquid. If enough liquid hasn't come out of the cabbage yet to completely cover it, you will need to add enough to do so. It's important to keep the cabbage under the liquid so it will get pickled and not be allowed to grow bacteria (which would happen if air got to it).

Now you just have to wait several weeks. If you notice a scum building up on the surface of the water simply skim it off. The main thing at this point is to keep it all under the liquid.

After about four weeks it should be ready to go. You can leave it longer too, so long as the temperature in your house or wherever your container is isn't too warm. We kept ours on the counter in the kitchen.

I must admit I was a bit hesitant about trying it out at first, but I added some caraway seed and it wasn't looking too bad.

It tasted just like sauerkraut! Now, if you don't hear from me again, then never mind!