At this year’s Maker Faire, I learned how to make sauerkraut. The hands-on workshop was put on by Todd of Happy Girl Kitchen which I’ve enjoyed their fine products many a time. Who knew sauerkraut was so easy to make? Apparently not me.
Basically, it’s just cabbage and salt. That’s it. And time for the microorganisms to do its fermenting thing, given the right conditions, you’ll have crunchy, tangy, homemade sauerkraut. In a nutshell, chop up the cabbage, add sea salt, mix and squeeze the bejesus out of the cabbage to draw out the water to create a brine. The brine allows the cabbage to ferment and not rot or soften.
Add other optional spices such as juniper berries or red pepper chili flakes. Pack into a jar and place a folded cabbage leaf on top to help keep the cabbage submerged in the brine. It’s bright green when it’s freshly packed, see above photo.
Over the next 24 hours, press down on the cabbage to force the water out until the brine rises above the level of the cabbage. After several days, start tasting the kraut, it’s done when it tastes good to you. Store in the fridge. For a handy, more in-depth, how to make sauerkraut in a mason jar (that doesn’t rely on my memory) click over to The Kitchen.
The jar I came home with is now much lighter in color, and has fermented to the point where I’m ready to dig in. I suppose I could have eaten it straight out of the jar, but I already knew exactly what I was going to do with it.
I’ve been scarfing down the Not-A-Reuben Sandwich from the blog Glitter and Glue. Simple and easy to make, it has everything I like – corned tofu on rye bread with kimchi, vegan mayo and avocado.
I’ve always left out the kimchi as I never seem to have any, but now I have sauerkraut to put on my sandwich. It was good without a fermented condiment but it’s nicer with, especially since I made it myself.
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Your kraut looks great! I’m glad to hear that you liked my sandwich. It’s one of my faves, too!
Thanks, it’s actually pretty fun to make your own kraut. Such a yummy sandwich, some day I’ll have to try it as you originally wrote it with the kimchi. :-)
Nice! You must be proud of your cabbage lab!
So I looked up what the ‘corn’ meant on corned beef/tofu and it apparently refers to large corns of salt rock. So there you go, that is my new lesson for the day. I went on a raw food course to learn how to make sauerkraut and still not tried it 3 years later! thanks for reminding me how easy it is and that i am a fermented food sloth! Rectifying that now!
I’m just happy the sauerkraut turned out as I haven’t made all that many fermented things before. Yep, corned is just putting the tofu into a brine. A raw food course sounds fun. Since the workshop I went to was hands-on, that made it much easier to learn and remember. :-)
That’s SO COOL you learned to make your own sauerkraut!
It actually was pretty fun. :-)
I love sauerkraut, but I’ve never been brave enough to attempt to make it myself. I did try making kimchi, but the results weren’t pretty. They went right past fermented into… I don’t know… just plain wrong. Glad you’ve had more success, I might work myself up to giving it another go!
I’ve tried making kimchi before but it just came out okay, I haven’t made it again. Making sauerkraut seems easier, the key I think is making sure the brine covers the cabbage so it doesn’t go bad.
Looks like I will have to made some sauerkraut soon now that I’ve made kimchi already. I usually get store-bought sauerkraut but you’ve convinced me to make some. It’s true how simple condiments can take a sandwich to the next level. :)