Homemade Sauerkraut

I have read about Spoon Bread in Southern Cookbooks, Erma. Thanks to you, I have a number of them on my shelf, but I have never tried to make it. We had it at Williamsburg, I think, and I remember thinking that it was sort of a cornbread soufflé. I think you’re right, this must have been invented as a way to serve cornbread at fancy dinners.

Have you ever made Sauerkraut? Yesterday we used up the excess garden cabbage that was threatening to split open and ruin.

I still have my German great-grandmother’s kraut cutter. Wicked tool it is too. Get a little careless, and you will have thin sliced fingers. Guess that is why they never let me shred the cabbage. I just got to mush the cabbage and pickling salt together. We made it in 10 gallon stoneware crocks and stored it in the underground well house while it “worked” or fermented. It was a rather heady smell.

Today, of course, with our mania for food safety, everyone cans the kraut, but before the days of canning, kraut was just stored in big stone crocks in a cool place. My husband’s father used to tell of being in Germany during World War II and going into abandoned farmhouses and feasting on the jars of kraut. Soldiers were told to not eat food they found as it might be poisoned, but he ate it any ways. It was a welcome relief after days of G.I. rations.

Homemade Sauerkraut:

Shred the cabbage finely with an old fashioned wooden kraut slicer, or in a food processor with a fine slicing attachment. You want fine threads of cabbage. For every 5 pounds of shredded cabbage use 3 ½ tablespoons of pickling salt. Mix well with your hands in a large pan. Gently press into a large stoneware crock. Repeat until the crock is filled to 6 inches of the top.

Rule of thumb is for every gallon in your crock, you will need about 5 pounds of cabbage. So, the standard 10 gallon crock uses about 50 pounds of cabbage.

Press the cabbage down firmly enough with your hands to extract enough juice to cover. Cover crock with a clean cloth. Place a pottery plate or dessert plate (something that will fit down inside the crock, directly on the kraut) and weight it down with a jar filled with water.

Keep the crock at 65 degrees so it will ferment. Check the crock daily, and remove any scum as it forms. Wash and scald the cloth often to keep it free from scum and mold.

The fermentation is complete when no bubbles rise which is usually about 10 to 12 days.

If you have the space, like an extra refrigerator, pack the kraut into heavy plastic bags with the zip lock storage fasteners, and keep the fridge. It will keep for months that way.

For canned kraut, pack the kraut into hot, sterilized quart or pint jars to an inch of the top. Add enough juice to cover the cabbage. (If more juice is needed, you can make a weak brine by mixing 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 quart of water.) Screw the bands on tight and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Fifty pounds of sauerkraut makes about 15 quarts.