How to Make Sauerkraut
I love growing things. And, when winter comes, the itch to cultivate my own food doesn’t go away… it just moves indoors to the “Fermentation Station” on my kitchen counter! A few years ago, I discovered how simple, fun, and easy making fermented vegetables like sauerkraut is, and I’ve been hooked ever since– Fermenting vegetables brings life into your kitchen and onto your plate. It adds flavor, unlocks nutrition, and is a fantastic way to preserve a local harvest for long into the season.
Sauerkraut is one of the easiest fermented vegetable recipes to make and a great one to start with. All you need is a few simple ingredients and materials and some patience. Read below for some tips and some other great resources, and give it a try!
And, please consider joining Gallatin Valley Farm to School for our upcoming Family Fermentation Workshop on December 6th (learn more at this link) to learn more about sauerkraut and make some alongside your family and GVF2S instructors!
Jars of red cabbage sauerkraut
Our starring players: salt, Cabbage, and some really important little buddies
All that sauerkraut takes to make us cabbage and salt. That’s it. Some people like to add spices, and other veggies, but those things are all add-ons. The basic recipe really only takes cabbage and salt.
The other key ingredient is lactobacillus bacteria, but you don’t add them; they add themselves. Lactobacillus bacteria look like little rods or sausages and they are all around us. They are the key to making the whole thing happen– and the good thing is, they are pretty easy to keep happy and growing, and when you do, they do all the hard work of making cabbage into sauerkraut for you!
Lactobacillus bacteria- the little buddies behind sauerkraut!
What’s going on in the crock?
Making sauerkraut, or any fermented vegetable, is all about creating the right environment for lactobacillus bacteria to thrive and letting the little buddies do their thing. I think of it more like gardening than cooking: you’re creating a good environment and letting something grow.
Lactobacillus eat food and salt and produce acid and carbon dioxide. As they live and multiply, your sauerkraut gets more and more acidic. Bad bacteria do not like low-oxygen, acidic environments, so as the sauerkraut becomes sour, it is actually being preserved by the acid. Before refrigeration, this kind of pickling, known as lactic acid fermentation, was one of the main ways to preserve a harvest, making cabbage and other veggies into something that could be shelf-stable for months.
Your “crock”
The other key tool for fermenting sauerkraut is a crock or other container– but it does not need to be anything fancy! The most important things to remember when choosing a fermentation container are:
It should be non-porous and non-reactive. Glass works great.
It should fit your food, with some space in the top for expansion and bubbling as the lactobacillus bacteria let off gas– a few inches of space at the top is fine. You also don’t want something so big that there’s too much space and just a bunch of extra oxygen.
You’ll want a way to keep the vegetables under the brine. There are a lot of options for this, discussed more below.
Start chopping and salting
The prep process is simple: cut up cabbage and add salt. You can slice your cabbage any way you like, but most people prefer thin strips.
As you cut, salt the cabbage occasionally, massaging and mushing it a bit as you go if you remember. You don’t need a ton of salt– about 1- 1.5 Tbsp per three pounds of cabbage should be fine. Taste a bit with clean hands as you go: you want it to taste like salted cabbage, but not inedible.
As you cut and salt the cabbage, you will see liquid start to leak out into your bowl– don’t throw that away! That is your brine!
Pack your cabbage, salt, and brine into your container (see below), pushing down as you go, squishing out air bubbles and releasing more brine. Eventually, the brine will rise above the cabbage– if you have a dry cabbage and that’s not happening right away, just walk away for 20 minutes or so and come back, and usually that fixes the problem.
Under Brine, All will be Fine!
The brine is a key part of the process: by keeping the vegetables under the brine, you are discouraging bad bacteria growth and encouraging lactobacillus to thrive and start making the ‘kraut sour.
There are a lot of ways to ensure that your vegetables stay under the brine and out of oxygen, usually using a combination of a “follower” and a “weight”.
A Follower is anything that sits over the top of your shredded vegetables to hold them all down. Often people use a larger, unshredded cabbage leaf, a plate, or some other large, clean, flat object. I’ve even used a cut-up piece of an old food grade plastic container. A follower isn’t necessary if you have a wide enough weight or if your vegetables aren’t floating up past the weight to the top of the brine, but they can be a nice tool.
Weights also come in many forms, and don’t need to be expensive. A clean jar filled with water or boiled rock can work great for a weight. A plastic ziplock bag filled with water can be a weight and a follower combined. If you do a lot of fermentation, glass fermentation weights can be a great investment, but are not necessary.
Some people also like to use an airlock system when they are making sauerkraut. Airlocks come in many different shapes and forms, and make it so that as the lactobacillus produce carbon dioxide, the oxygen leaves the crock and can’t get back in. This creates even a safer environment for your sauerkraut to ferment, but is totally optional.
Traditional German sauerkraut crocks feature an airlock system, but many manufacturers including Ball have also started making airlock tops that can go on glass jars. There are also a lot of creative DIY airlock ideas out there on the internet for those of you into googling– I personally like to make my own airlock systems using a MasonTops widemouth jar (they sell them at Owenhouse Ace), and a 3-piece water bubbler airlock valve and a #6 cork from a local brewery supply store.
Vegetables fermenting with airlock lids in my kitchen counter “Fermentation Station” (Purple sauerkraut is on the left.)
You will also need something to cover your kraut/weight/container if you’re not using an airlock, so that dust and insects don’t get it. Some people prefer a loose towel, while others like to screw on a lid. If you use a lid, though, be careful! The lactobacillus will produce gas, sometimes vigorously, so you need to unscrew and “burp” your container at least once a day to make sure that your glass doesn’t explode from pressure build up.
It just takes time…
The last key ingredient to Sauerkraut is time. Find a spot for your sauerkraut crock to hang out at room temperature for at least a couple of weeks. As long as everything stays under the brine, you should be good. If a light colored film develops on top you can just skim it off if it bothers you. You shouldn’t see other kinds of mold develop, so if something goes really funky, use your best instinct.
Taste it every so often starting after about a week (though it may take longer than that!) When you like the flavor, stick it in the fridge or root cellar to slow down the process. It can keep for a long time, but remember it is a live food.
Learn More!
If you want to learn more and make sauerkraut, there are some great resources out there:
Come to our Family Fermentation Workshop at Oboz on December 6th! We will learn a little more about where Sauerkraut came from, teach kids knife skills, and each family will make a jar of sauerkraut to take home!
Sandor Katz is one of the nation’s experts on Sauerkraut. His recipe is great and is available for free online at this link. I highly recommend also reading his recipe in addition to this blog before you start your first batch of ‘kraut!
My favorite book for sauerkraut and all things fermented (pickles, kimchi, condiments, and more!) is Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey.
This blog from little eco footprints also gives a good visual walk-through of how to make sauerkraut.
Eat More!
If you can’t wait a few weeks to eat your own sauerkraut, never fear! You can buy locally-fermented vegetables right here in Montana! There are a number of local Montana businesses that make fantastic fermented food!
Farmented Foods makes delicious sauerkraut, among other ferments, and iHo’s Korean Cuisine in Bozeman makes fantastic KimChi if you are interested in trying out sauerkraut’s cousin. RootCellar Foods and the Bozeman Community Food Co-Op are great sources (and are both GVF2S Sponsors!) and you can also find fermented foods at a number of other local grocery stores in the Valley.
I hope you’ll give sauerkraut a try this winter! If you do, please let us know by sharing a photo on social media and tagging @gvfarmtoschool or sending us a note at lunchbox@gvfarmtoschool.org!
