Sauerkraut 101

Last summer, when I began my quest for reducing gut inflammation through diet, I became interested in home fermentation.  Fermented foods are found in the traditional diets of cultures (ha ha, cultures, get it?) all over the world.  Yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha, pickles and many more fermented foods contain probiotic bacteria which populate the gut and aid in digestion.

Fermenting food also makes the nutrients more bioavailable, makes the food more digestible and makes it last a lot longer without spoiling.

One of the easiest things to ferment is cabbage.  You don't need a starter culture; the lactobacillus bacteria that makes sauerkraut is all around us.  The salt in the brine keeps other, undesirable bacteria from growing,  but the good probiotic sauerkraut critters love living in a saline environment.

All you need to make your own sauerkraut is a head of (preferably organic) cabbage, a couple of tablespoons of salt,  a big sharp knife, a large bowl and a clean glass jar.  I used an empty Bicks Pickles jar.

First, I washed the cabbage and removed the outer leaves.  I saved them to use in the final step.  I chopped up the cabbage into slices about 1/4 inch thick, put them into the bowl and sprinkled on 2 tablespoons of kosher salt.

Next, I got my hands in there and started squeezing the salt and cabbage together.  The instructions in my recipe says to "massage the salt into the cabbage until the cabbage is limp but still crispy and there is a significant amount of watery brine in the bowl".

Now, I don't know how much "a significant amount" actually is, but I worked that cabbage for almost 10 minutes, and I did get quite a bit of liquid out of it.

Then I took the cabbage, one handful at a time, and transferred it into my jar.  I used the pestle from my marble mortar and pestle set to pack the cabbage down tightly in the jar.  I was a bit worried that a whole head of cabbage wouldn't fit in one jar, but it really packs in there!  I poured all the brine in on top, and there was more than enough to cover the cabbage.  I used one of the outer leaves to cover the shredded cabbage, so it can't float to the top during fermentation. 

Lastly, I covered the whole shebang with a coffee filter and fastened it on with an elastic band.  This allows the gases produced by fermentation out, while keeping things like mold and fruit flies from getting in.  I left the pestle in there, too, to weigh down the cabbage and keep it below the brine line.

After a few days, it started to form bubbles among the cabbage.  A few days later, there were a lot more bubbles and it was starting to smell like sauerkraut.  

I first tasted it at 7 days, and it tasted pretty good, but still quite salty.  I left it a couple more days, then tasted it again.  Much better!  So, I put it in the fridge and ate some for dinner.

The texture is pleasant and crisper than store-bought sauerkraut.  The smell is yummy, and the flavour is awesome.  I think next time I will use a little less salt, but other than that, I love it.  As a first foray into the arena of fermented food, I call it a success!