German sauerkraut recipe—utter these phrases and your thoughts is full of photographs of cozy kitchens and yummy meals. Sauerkraut has a culinary heritage with recipes from plain cabbage-fermented sauerkraut to gingery beet kraut and Hawaiian kraut, which were handed down for generations. It’s a dish celebrated for its tangy taste and well being advantages.

German Sauerkraut Recipe

Yields: one to 2 quart jars of sauerkraut

Components

• 1 head of inexperienced cabbage (about 2 to 2½ kilos)
• 1 to 1½ tablespoon kosher salt
• 6 bay leaves
• 20 entire black peppercorns

Preparation

Take away the outer leaves from the cabbage and discard. Wash the cabbage with chilly water. Lower in half lengthwise, and take away the core from every half. Shred the cabbage into thinly sliced shreds, about 1/8-inch thick. You too can use a mandolin or cabbage shredder for this step. Attempt to maintain the shreds uniform in measurement in order that they ferment evenly.

Acquire shreds in a nonreactive bowl, equivalent to glass, plastic or stable chrome steel. Add salt and blend nicely. Use clear arms (take away nail polish and jewellery or put on food-safe gloves) to combine the salt with the shredded produce, squeezing and mashing together with your fists to tenderize the cabbage. You too can use a picket tamping instrument for this course of, however be intentional about not over-mashing the produce or it’ll flip right into a mushy ferment.

Therapeutic massage the cabbage combination till you may decide up a fistful and squeeze liquid out of your fist. As soon as the liquid drains out, you’re able to switch the cabbage shreds right into a clear quart jar. At this level, combine within the peppercorns in order that they’re evenly unfold all through the kraut.

Jarring Sauerkraut

Switch the kraut right into a clear quart jar, and gently stick the bay leaves inside the kraut and the aspect of the jar, cautious to not break the leaves. Depart one to 2 inches of headspace (room from the cabbage combination to the rim of the jar). Use your fist or cabbage tamper to tightly fill the jar. Pour any extra liquid from the bowl into the jar(s) as nicely. This liquid is the brine that the sauerkraut will ferment in.

As soon as crammed, there must be sufficient brine to cowl the kraut shreds. If there may be not sufficient liquid, test once more within the morning, and infrequently, sufficient might be produced in a single day. You’ll want some weight to maintain the cabbage pushed beneath the brine. Retaining the shreds submerged beneath the brine is the important thing to a profitable ferment. There are weights particularly made to suit jars, however you too can get artistic – see the “suggestions part” beneath for different choices. Wipe off the rim of the jar, add the mason jar canning lid, and tightly screw on the ring.

German Sauerkraut Fermentation

On this conventional German sauerkraut recipe, fermentation will occur for 2 to a few weeks and might go as much as six. The temperature of the house the place you might be fermenting will decide how lengthy it takes. The hotter a room, the sooner it’ll ferment. Ideally, it is best to ferment between 60 to 75°F. Hold out of direct daylight.

Burp the jar every day, particularly at first when the ferment may be very lively; unscrew the lid briefly and tighten it again on to permit any built-up fuel to launch. At the least as soon as per day, you’ll have to make use of a clear utensil to push down the load and submerge the cabbage once more. Scoop away any items of meals floating on prime of the brine to keep away from mildew.

Style take a look at the ferment after the second week. If it nonetheless tastes of uncooked cabbage, enable it to ferment one other week and style once more. Some folks desire a really bitter and comfortable sauerkraut and subsequently will ferment nearer to the six-week vary. As soon as fermentation on this German sauerkraut recipe is full to your liking, switch the jar into the fridge, with the brine and all.

Fermentation doesn’t cease as soon as the ferment is transferred to the fridge, nonetheless, it does sluggish the method down. The style and texture will proceed to vary; subsequently, it’s finest loved inside six months.

We take pleasure in this German sauerkraut recipe with many meals in our family and look at it as a completed veggie aspect dish that may be added to a wide range of meals; it’s not only for bratwursts and pork chops.

Sauerkraut Suggestions & Methods

• Should you don’t have a glass jar weight, you may improvise through the use of an simply detachable small food-grade glass dish that matches contained in the jar. When you’ve got a smaller glass canning jar that may match into the mouth of the jar you might be fermenting with, you should utilize that to maintain the produce pushed beneath the brine.
• You might substitute tremendous sea salt as a substitute of coarse kosher salt. Seek the advice of a salt conversion chart.
• Count on foam-like effervescent, a minimum of within the first week of this ferment. It’s utterly regular.

This German sauerkraut recipe has been tailored from Can It & Ferment It (expanded 2020 version) with permission from Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. For extra sauerkraut recipes, try WECK Small-Batch Preserving, and WECK Residence Preserving by Stephanie Thurow.

This German sauerkraut recipe story was written for Interest Farms journal on-line. Click on right here to subscribe.