Give it a try and make your own sauerkraut at home and ferment some vegetables. One benefit of eating kraut is that you will be getting those beneficial probiotics that support your gut health. To start getting some live active cultures in your diet start with a healthy diet and add probiotics foods such as kefir, miso soup, kimchi or sauerkraut.
There are several experts in the internet and my two favorites are Sandor Katz, his website Wild Fermentation has tons of information on how to become your own expert of sauerkraut. The other inspiration about how to ferment other vegetables comes from the Fermentistas of FermentWorks. I suggest both of their books. Ok, let’s get started.
Start with good quality cabbage, I buy organic cabbage, shred it and mix in celtic sea salt. For each 2 pounds of cabbage, I add about 1 tablespoon of celtic sea salt or more. This salt will help to form the environment of lactic acid bacteria. Later you can add any spice you like.
Massage and rub cabbage to form a brine. At this point you can see the vegetable juice forming and I taste a few bites to see if I like it.
Add seasonings such as turmeric, cumin, chili powder, oregano, curry powder, add any dried herbs you like.
You can’t see the brine but once there is enough brine it is ready to go in the mason jar.
Add cabbage to the jar and push down to make sure you don’t leave air pockets. Leaving air pockets will cause problems so every day check that there is none in the kraut. You might have to push everything down again.
Fill jar with soft cabbage then top with the rest of the brine for cabbage to be submerged. You will need a filler to keep veggies down below the brine. Use a large cabbage leaf and then use the ziploc bag method that Fermentistas taught me to do. It works wonderful. Place a freezer ziploc bag inside the jar and place water to give it some weight. Remember keep veggies away from oxygen. I place the jar on a plate for any accidents- such as if I didn’t leave enough space for CO2 to escape.
I also have Kraut Source a fermentation lid which really makes it very easy. That’s it, after a day I taste again, yum. Keep it fermenting in the counter covered with a clean towel out of the sunlight for days or weeks. Use clean spoons or wooden spoons every time you serve. My kids like it when I ferment about a week but sometimes I can push it to two weeks or more. Then when is ready, cover with the mason jar lid and store in the refrigerator.
I am sure I might be forgetting a thing or two so here it is again the two websites where you can find more information on tips and tricks of fermenting foods.
http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/
I love that you are adding many spices I have not seen on other recipes! Curry, chili powder – those are both things I have yet to see when looking through the web for sauerkraut recipes to make! I absolutely love curry and I am curious what sort of flavors this would have on the end product of the sauerkraut after all the fermentation takes place. I am going to have to give your recipe a try! Thank you for sharing!
Hello Billy, you will get a kick out of the krauts when you add spices, much more flavor for salads and sandwiches. One of the popular ones that I have made are with turmeric, garlic and another one is chili powder, oregano and crushed red pepper. Another one is curry powder and cumin. You are welcome!