Home made Sauerkraut, and how I make it the German way

What gives me the authority to teach you how to make sauerkraut, and how to cook it to make it taste like the Germans serve it?

Glad you asked.

I was born and raised in Germany, and by the time I moved to America at age 20, I had eaten barrels of this healthy, probiotic-filled fermented vegetable and seen various German grandmothers make it themselves.

So you see, I'm kind of an expert (in sauerkraut, as well as bread, chocolate and beer. You know, the essentials).

Let me show you how to make kraut, which is so much healthier (and cheaper !!!) than buying the canned crap.

~Update: I teach a self-paced online fermentation course, where I teach how to make sauerkraut, greek yogurt, beet kvass, kombucha and no-knead fermented bread. Click here for more info. You get my ebooks, demonstration movies, recipes and a private Facebook group all for $39!~

Our house feels like a giant fermentation vat. 25 pounds of Sauerkraut are cheerfully bubbling and fermenting. Next to the Kraut crock, a half gallon jar of cucumbers is quietly stewing in its juices, waiting for salt and whey to start the lacto-fermentation process. Cheese is aging in the crawl space under the bathroom. Next to the cheeses rest a few left over bottles of blackberry and beet wine. Yogurt is doing its magic in my home made yogurt incubator. All these substances are broken down by bacteria, yeasts and various microorganisms in the name of health.

We make and eat this stuff because it is supposed to be good for us. Fermented foods improve digestion, restore proper balance of bacteria in the gut, are rich in enzymes, have higher vitamin content, and help us absorb the nutrients we're consuming.

I have made Sauerkraut successfully for several years, and over time, many people have asked me how I make it. I don't know why people think being German makes me such an expert. I guess I did eat a lot of Sauerkraut in my childhood (although it was not home made). So let me show you how I make Sauerkraut from scratch, and then I will share the absolute best way to prepare it for dinner.

Recipe for Sauerkraut:

The recipe I have used for years comes from an old, beat up book called “Stocking up” by Rodale Press.  Here's how I do it:

Get your hands on some beautiful, organically grown cabbage.  I grow a bunch in my garden just for Sauerkraut.  How many pounds of cabbage you need depends on the size of the cabbage and on how much kraut you want to make.  I usually use 30 to 35 pounds.  

Wash the cabbage and remove any outer leaves that have slug holes or bruises on them. You might encounter the occasional earwig crawling frantically out of the cabbage while you do this, or a lazy slug hiding between the leaves.  Don't worry too much about these critters... they find their way out. If not, it's extra protein for you.

Don't ask me why my daughter wears plastic shoes with high heels in the garden, or why she wears them period.

Cut the cabbage in quarters and cut the tough inner core out of the pieces. Cut them small enough to put through your food processor with the shredding blade attached. If you were really groovy, you would use a non-electric Kraut cutter, especially made for this process, like this nice wooden one. But I love my Cuisinart, and it makes the job really fast.

I cut enough to measure 5 pounds of shredded cabbage into a bowl. Then I add 3 tablespoons of canning/pickling salt to the cabbage in the bowl and mix it around with my hands. This is kind of like cheese making – a very tactile, messy process.

I let this sit for five minutes. (In the meantime, I shred the next five pounds). After sitting in the salt and softening up a bit, I put this layer of five pounds into my 5 gallon sauerkraut crock. At this point, some people use fancy wooden Sauerkraut stompers, but I use my hand to do the following: press on the salted layer of cabbage with your hand until the juices come up.

Then you keep adding layers of five pounds shredded cabbage, mixed with three tablespoons of salt. Keep pressing down after every layer.

This year, I alternated the layers of cabbage with shredded carrots, which made it all more orange and strange-looking, but I think it will taste great!

After you added the last layer, put a plate on top of the cabbage.  The plate should fit snugly inside the crock. You really want to cover the cabbage tightly, otherwise it may spoil. I weigh down the plate with something heavy, like a mason jar or two filled with water, or ziplock bags filled with water. You want enough weight to keep the cabbage submerged in its juices. I cover the whole thing with a towel, so no bugs or curious kids can fall into it...or toothbrushes, since I keep the crock in the bathroom.

Ferment this whole thing at room temperature (68 to 72) for a week or two (or more, depending on the temperature). It will start bubbling, which is really fascinating and a little weird.

If scum forms on the surface, just take it off with a spoon. When bubbles stop rising to the surface, your Kraut is done.

After a few days it starts to bubble.

It's a little weird, right?  You know what I'm saying?

When it's done, you can either can it in a hot water bath for 20 minutes (which I used to do), or keep it in the fridge as a healthier snack without all the good stuff killed by canning.

Your house will smell krauty and a little sour during the fermenting. You should walk into my house right now, with all the fermenting cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, and cheese drying before it's packed. Then you add the aroma from the goat barn, and you got country air!

I like to eat Sauerkraut raw, but if you want to make a real German dinner, here's what I do:

Fry up an onion in butter. A nice sweet Walla Walla fresh from the garden is perfect for this. Add a cut up (cubed) apple to the onions. When the onions are nice and opaque, add some great sausages. Let that sizzle for a while. When the sausages are almost done, add the Sauerkraut with some caraway seeds. My Mom used to add Juniper berries, bay leaf and peppercorns. You could add some white wine if you want to be fancy.

Serve it with some good beer and home made bread or potatoes, and everyone will love it.  Enjoy!  Guten Appetit!

Watch my one minute video on my online fermentation course below and get a sense of what it's all about!

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~Reminder: I teach a self-paced online fermentation course, where I teach how to make greek yogurt, beet kvass, sauerkraut, kombucha and no-knead fermented bread. You get my ebooks, demonstration movies, recipes and a private Facebook group all for $39!~