Homemade sauerkraut is one of the trickier things to cook, but it can be easily done with the necessary instructions and absolute cleanliness.
How can you can your own sauerkraut?
To make sauerkraut yourself, you need 10 kg of white cabbage and 250 g of pickling s alt. Cut the cabbage into strips, mix it with the s alt and let it ferment. Then soak the sauerkraut in sterilized jars at 90 degrees for 30 minutes.
Wake up sauerkraut for storage
For six liter jars of sauerkraut, you need around 10 kg of white cabbage and 250 g of pickling s alt. The jars must be sterile, especially when making sauerkraut, otherwise the lactic acid fermentation will be impaired. If harmful bacteria are present, the herb spoils. So sterilize your jars shortly before you use them by boiling them or heating them in the oven at 100 degrees for ten minutes. So that lactic acid fermentation works well, divide the amount of cabbage into several smaller portions.
Preparing the herb
- Clean the white cabbage and cut off any wilted or damaged leaves.
- Quarte the cabbage. If it is particularly large, it can also be eighths.
- Now cut out the white stalk. The hard leaf veins in the outer leaves are also removed.
- Cut the cabbage pieces into fine strips. To do this, use a sharp knife, it's easier with a plane.
- Put the cabbage strips in a large sieve and wash them thoroughly. Drain everything well.
- Then pour the chopped cabbage into a large clay pot, glass pot or food-safe plastic bucket.
Do not use a metal container.
- Mix the cabbage with the s alt, about 3 tablespoons per 2 kg of cabbage. Mix the whole thing well with your hands. You can also work the mixture with the potato masher. It is important that the cell walls in the vegetables break down and release the juice.
- Press the cabbage firmly in the container so that the juice collects over the cabbage.
- If the cabbage shreds have not produced enough juice, you can help by covering them with brine. The lye is made from 22.5 g of curing s alt and 1 l of water. Boil everything together until the s alt has dissolved. When cool, pour the lye over the herb.
- Press the herb well again and then place a suitable plate or board on top and weigh the whole thing down with a clean stone or a large glass filled with water. It is important that the cabbage continues to be pressed and is covered with brine.
- Cover the pot with a clean tea towel and refrigerate.
Fermentation begins after a short time. It lasts between three days and six weeks. Bubbles form in the pot. If no more bubbles form, fermentation is complete. You can store the finished sauerkraut in smaller jars after fermentation. Again, ensure extreme cleanliness. Preserve in the canner at 90 degrees for half an hour. Set the oven to 175 degrees. As soon as bubbles form in the glass, it is switched off and the glasses remain in the oven for 30 minutes.
