Sunday, April 15, 2012

Old Fashioned Sauerkraut


Ingredients for One Quart of Sauerkraut
1 medium to large organic cabbage (green or red is fine)
2 tablespoons of sea salt
Special equipment
A food processor with both a shredding disc and multi-purpose blade
A one quart wide mouth glass canning jar
Directions
Cut the organic cabbage into quarters and remove the core. Place the shredding disc on your food processor. Shred the cabbage. Put the shredded cabbage into a mixing bowl along with the sea salt. Stir until the salt is very well-distributed. Let the salted cabbage sit for fifteen minutes to allow the sea salt to begin to draw out the natural cabbage juices. Return the salted cabbage to the food processor work bowl, but this time have it fitted with a multi-purpose blade. You may have to process the cabbage in batches if your food processor isn't large enough to handle the entire cabbage all at once. Press the pulse button on your food processor 8 times, only holding it down for 2 seconds each time. This will break down the cabbage enough to get out the juices you need, but still leave it in large enough pieces for the final sauerkraut to have a good texture.
Place the processed sauerkraut into the glass canning jar. Press down the cabbage until the juices rise 3/4 of an inch above the cabbage. A rubber spatula works well for this task. Put the lid tightly on and place the sauerkraut in a cool (but not cold) dark place for 5 days. A dark cupboard is a good spot for this. Move the sauerkraut to the refrigerator at the end of the 5 days. Refrigerate the sauerkraut for at least one week before serving. The flavor will continue to improve with age, and it will hit its peak at 4 to 6 months.


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