Preserve Your Cabbage the Old-fashioned Way | Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

Published 2020-09-16
Even if you don't grow your own cabbage, it's easy to find it on sale at the store. Use this old-fashioned method to preserve your cabbages and make the best homemade sauerkraut-- it's easy to customize and you only need 3 ingredients (spoiler alert-- one is water)! CLICK SHOW MORE FOR RECIPE

SUPPLIES:
Redmonds Real Salt: shop.redmonhttps//shop.redmond.life/collections/re…
Glass Weights: fermentools.com/product/fermenting-weight/
Trellis & Co Fermenting Lids and springs: www.pntra.com/t/TUJGRklGSkJGTEtHTE5CRkpIRk1K?url=h…
Airlock lids: fermentools.com/product/4-pack/
Kraut Stomper Tool: www.pntrs.com/t/TUJGRktKSEJGTEtHTE5CRktFSUhJ?url=h…
Fermenting Crocks: www.pntra.com/t/TUJGRktKSEJGTEtHTE5CRktFSUhJ?url=h…
My Garden Hod Basket (in the background of this video): www.pntra.com/t/TUJGRktKSEJGTEtHTE5CRktFSUhJ?url=h…
How to Use a Fermenting Crock: www.theprairiehomestead.com/2019/09/how-to-use-a-f…

📔 NEW The Old Fashioned on Purpose Planner: A Planner for Homesteaders, BY Homesteaders! www.prairieplanner.com

👩‍🌾 Old-Fashioned on Purpose T-Shirts & Hats! homesteadswag.com/

🐓 LIVE OLD-FASHIONED ON PURPOSE:
+ The Prairie Homestead Cookbook: homesteadcookbook.com/
+ Learn How to Cook Like a Homesteader: heritagecookingclass.com/
+ Learn How to Can (Safely!): learnhowtocan.com/

🌎 OTHER PLACES WE HANG OUT:
+ The Old-Fashioned on Purpose Podcast: oldfashionedonpurpose.com/
+ The Prairie Homestead Blog: theprairiehomestead.com/
+ Follow Along on Instagram: instagram.com/theprairiehomestead

🍽 RECIPE: How to Make Sauerkraut
Yield: 1 quart

NOTE: You’ll only need one quart-size jar for one medium- sized head of cabbage.

Ingredients:
+ 1 head green cabbage
+ 1 tablespoon fine sea salt

Instructions:
1. Wash the cabbage and remove any wilted outer leaves.

2. Quarter the cabbage, remove the core, and slice the cabbage into thin strips. (I shoot for around 1/4" wide.) Try to make the strips as uniform as possible, but don't feel like they have to be perfect. Oh, and side note, you might want to avoid the temptation to use a food processor for this step. I find it quickly winds up being cabbage puree.

3. Place the strips in a large bowl, and sprinkle sea salt over the top.

4. Allow the cabbage to sit for 15 minutes or so, and then start mashing. There isn't a right or wrong way to do this — just use your hands, a mallet, or whatever blunt object you can find to mash/knead/twist/press/crush the cabbage. The goal is to get the juices flowing.

5. Mash/knead for about 8 minutes. Hopefully by the end of this process, you'll have a lovely pool of salty cabbage juice sitting in the bottom of your bowl. Taste the brine, and add more salt if necessary. The brine should taste quite salty, like sea water.

6. Place a couple handfuls of cabbage into the jar, then thoroughly pack down with a wooden spoon. The goal is to eliminate as many air bubbles as possible.

7. Repeat the packing and mashing until the jar is full — just make sure to leave about 2-inches of headspace at the top.

8. If there is enough liquid flowing from your cabbage to cover it completely, congrats!

9. If you need more liquid, dissolve 1 tablespoon fine sea salt in 4 cups water. Use this brine to top off the jar. This is important, because if you don't completely submerge the cabbage in liquid, it's susceptible to mold and other gunk.

10. Cover the exposed cabbage with brine, leaving 1-inch of headspace at the top. If you’re having troubles with the cabbage floating to the top, you can weigh it down with a glass weight, or even wedge a piece of the cabbage core on top to hold it down. Any cabbage that is exposed will need to be thrown away, but you were going to toss the core anyway, so it's no big loss.

11. Affix a lid or airlock to the jar (fingertip tight), and set aside in a room-temperature location, out of direct sunlight, for at least one week.

12. Place a small plate under the jar, as they have the tendency to leak a bit and spill over.

13. After a few days it’s a good idea to “burp” the jar once a day, to release pent-up gas.

14. Taste and smell your kraut after one week. If it's tangy enough for your tastes, move to the refrigerator for storage. If you like a bit more tang, allow to ferment for a bit l

All Comments (21)
  • Thanks for watching! To get the full recipe-- click "show more" in the show notes!
  • @bigdogbob845
    I have a good size garden and always have more cabbage than we can use. I have made my sauerkraut for many years using a food grade 5 gal bucket with a large dinner plate that is slightly smaller than the inside of the bucket, then I put a smaller bucket half full of water (for weight) on top of the plate to keep the cabbage completely submerged. Use only non-iodized Kosher or sea salt and clean filtered water, cover with a pillow case to keep out dust or bugs. Let it ferment in a cool dark place and check water level every three of four days, depending on heat / humidity. Enjoy
  • @DuyanFarms
    Thanks for sharing your sauerkraut recipe. It's Kimchi season here in South Korea. Lots of earthen pots sitting outside loaded with cabbage, garlic and chilies. I think that if you took your "kraut stomper" for a few spins on a belt sander it would fit in the mouth of your mason jar. :) Cheers. ~Mike and Ester~
  • @deetoday7078
    My grandmother used a 5 gallon crock and layered cabbage and salt. She weighed it down with a heavy ironstone plate placed upside down and had a large rock, reserved for this purpose, placed on the plate. She checked it regularly, pushing it down each time. It was delicious. I remember buying sauerkraut for the first time from the grocery store and was appalled at the sour tasting stuff. It couldn't come close to homemade.
  • @ElliottRodgers
    Before he passed away I used to know a Polish gentlemam Henrik who was old school, former pilot n WW2. He used to make his own sauerkraut, tasted amazing with kabanos sausages and smoked sausages.

    He used to make his own rolled herrings, wine and vodka. First time tasted his vodka about 30 years ago, served cold, he said "Never smoke when you drink my vodka Elliott. " I thought it was to avoid spoiling the taste. it was so strong had I been smoking it would be a fire risk!
  • I love homemade sauerkraut. My dad made homemade sauerkraut. He used a large ceramic crock, a wooden board, cabbage and pickling salt. It was very good. I have a mixed Slavic ancestry, which includes Polish and Ukrainian. My late paternal grandmother was half Polish and half Ukrainian. She also made great homemade pickles. She taught me how to make pierogies when I was a child. One of the fillings she used was sauerkraut and onion. They were great. Both of my late grandmothers made great homemade pickles. I'm from a very large farm in Alberta, Canada. The water we had was from a well, and was so good. These country recipes are very good. Cheers!
  • @sandrapride1046
    My mom made sour kraut in a big crock. She covered it with a ceramic plate with a brick on top and a towel over that. We would sneak little nibbles.
  • Very well done video! 😊 I personally don’t knead my cabbage. I salt it, and then leave it for 20minutes. The salt pulls the juices out. When I stuff it in the jar, the juice really comes out. 😁
  • @artandsoul2
    I use the tamper from my vitamix to stamp it down in the jar. It works great!
  • @indoorsyren3955
    I grew up in the south where they don’t eat a whole lot of sauerkraut. I only had it 2-3 times in my life before I moved to Pennsylvania 19 years ago, and I didn’t like it because it was probably that canned stuff. A local farmer up here in PA gave me some to try and I ate it to be polite. Boy was I surprised at how good homemade is! I’ve been hooked ever since. Thanks for this video. I think I’ll make a batch soon.
  • @tammym4280
    Jill you are the BEST, without doubt. I can hear my Grandma's German voice in your instruction. And she would say 'Turn the stomper over and use the skinny end my dear".
  • @bobpayne830
    First of all if you have a local woodworker that does lathe work they can modify the masher to fit the jar. I hope that helps. Lastly my friends grandma would trim up the core and push it in the middle of the jar. She fermented for 4weeks. The core would be crunchy like a quality pickle. Thanks for the video tutorial.
  • @lazyldy
    I won't touch that canned stuff in the grocery store. My stepfather used to make several crocks in the summer/fall when his cabbage was in. His crock was about twice the size of the one on your table. I would then go to a local meat market that made their own Polish sausage. OMG. That sausage and kraut was the best ever. I haven't had it in about 20 years and now your video has me wanting to try my hand at it.
  • My Great-grandmaw put up a sixty gallon barrel of sauerkraut for her family. She insisted on using the late flat Dutch variety. When she got the barrel half full, she'd add a layer of cabbage cobs (cabbage cores) for a mid-winter treat. Get you a mint Julip muddler for pounding your sauerkraut in the Mason jar.
  • Thank you so much Jill. I’m new to fermenting. I’ve canned for years but have been afraid to ferment. I grew cabbage this year and just harvested it. Today I make kraut!
  • @parkerfam2006
    I was just watching a video on Townsends channel on saurkraut. He said steer clear of using an antique crock because it could be lead glazed on the inside instead of salt glazed like newer ones. Of course that would all be determined by the age of your crock, but something to consider.
  • @suecollins3246
    You have to know what I use for a 'krautpounder'. I live on a citrus farm and recently they brought in a huge pile of orange wood for fires. And I just lifted a lovely round length with nice clean flat-sawn ends from the top of the pile, took it into the house, scrubbed the living daylights out of it and dried it in a low oven for twenty minutes to sterilise it (it smelled wonderful!). One rather rural-looking kraut pounder!
  • @billylallen2662
    I like adding apples and carrots to my sauerkraut, also they make kraut pounders for mason jars