Sauerkraut II
This sauerkraut uses only two ingredients, cabbage and salt, and lets time do the rest. The salt draws water out of the shredded cabbage to form its own brine, which preserves the leaves as they sour. Working the salt in by hand and tamping the cabbage down with a potato masher keeps the shreds submerged. The method also gives timings for summer and winter batches, and two ways to store the finished kraut.
Instructions
Strip the old outer leaves from the cabbage heads. Cut each head into quarters and cut out the hard core from each piece.
Shred the cabbage. Put it in a large pan with the salt and mix thoroughly with your hands so the salt reaches all of the shreds.
Pack the salted cabbage gently into a crock, pressing it down with a potato masher as you go. Stop when the crock is nearly full.
Cover the cabbage with a cloth, set a plate on top, and weigh the plate down. Leave it to ferment, which takes 6 to 8 days in summer and about 12 days in winter.
Check the crock every day and skim off any scum that forms on the surface.
When the kraut tastes sour enough, you can leave it in the crock and seal the top with paraffin wax. You can also pack it into sterilized glass jars, topping up with enough brine to fill each jar, and process the jars for 15 minutes at a temperature just below boiling.
Make it personal.
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