I got a little adventurous today and decided to start a batch of sauerkraut made out of red cabbage! I had done regular cabbage before and it comes out amazing, and thought it would be cool to try red cabbage, the color alone will be enough to entice me to eat it.
In order to create this recipe, I made use of this amazing sauercrock. It is really a game changer, and it is a traditional style crock that can be used to ferment all kinds of foods.
The crock can be found under this link:
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This crock is amazing. Put it on a place in sight so you can keep an eye on the water in the rim. The rim needs to stay filled with water because it seals the oxygen out of the crock, so when you see that it is low, add water to it.
If you are interested in trying the recipe I used to create this sauerkraut, please follow the steps below:
4 lbs red cabbage, sliced in very thin strips or shredded
2 tbsp salt – use salt without iodine, and keep the rule of one tbsp per 2 lbs of cabbage,
1 tbsp juniper berries
1 tbsp caraway seeds.
Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage, then cut off the bottom white stem, you can easily compost this stem 🙂
With a sharp knife, cut thin strips of maybe 1/4 inch, and then roughly chop. Put all this in a large bowl, add salt and really stir and combine the salt. The salt is essential as it will allow you to extract liquid from the cabbage, you will keep this liquid in the crock with the cabbage to let the cabbage ferment over the course of about 2 to 3 weeks.
The timeframe depends on your taste, and on the temperature in your home. The higher the temperature of your home, the shorter the fermentation span.
One thing to note is that the liquid will not really come out of the cabbage without you putting your elbows into this crock to help it along a bit! Use the pounding stick to mash and pound the cabbage to really pack it down and get those juices to flow on the top! I included the rest of the spices before pounding it down to really pound them into the cabbage.
You can pound the cabbage all at once, and even take breaks and pound intermittently over the course of a few hours. When you pause, or when you are done, put the weights on top of the cabbage.
When you are ready to start your fermenting process, make sure that there is about an inch of liquid covering the weights – you can add unchlorinated water.
Once you add the water to the crock, and to the rim, leave it be and mark your calendar at two weeks from the date you are making it so you can taste your sauerkraut. You can use it as as early as two weeks, or you can also let it go for a few months, though that depends entirely on how strong of a flavor you enjoy.
Let me know if you make this recipe!
Smakelijk eten!
Inga’s Creations 