Many of us rely on a daily probiotic to keep our gut functioning optimally. But did you know that you can easily get all the probiotics you need from a whole food source?! I love making this sauerkraut because it not only supplies my probiotic needs, but it is also a cruciferous vegetable that is loaded with vitamins and fiber. If you want to incorporate this into your diet then read on to learn how to make this easy delicious traditional fermented sauerkraut.

What You’ll Need
This recipe is so very simple! The only ingredients you will need are cabbage and salt. That’s it! I like to go with organic cabbage or locally grown cabbage either from my own garden or from a farmer’s market. Also, I suggest using a high quality salt like sea salt or Himalayan salt. Avoid using iodized table salt.
The supplies that you will need are a cutting board and knife, a large bowl, and a mason jar and wide funnel. In addition, you’ll need something to pack the sauerkraut into the jar. You’ll need something to weight the cabbage down once packed and a kitchen scale.
The kitchen scales are not 100% necessary, but I do find that using them gives the best most consistent results. We’ll go more into this in the next section. Additionally, you can use whatever you can come up with for a weight. The important thing is that the weight is clean! You can purchase special fermenting weights, but I have actually always used a jelly jar filled with marbles!

Preparing The Ingredients
Preparing the ingredients is so very simple! In order to get the cabbage ready, all you need to do is slice it thinly. I start by cutting a head of cabbage in half and removing the core section by making triangular cuts around the stock. Simply pull out the core and discard or compost. Now remove a couple of the outermost leaves and also compost. Cut the cabbage into thin pieces as if you were making coleslaw.
To prepare your salt, you’ll need the kitchen scales. Start by weighing the cabbage that you just chopped. I like to place a bowl on my scales and zero it out. Then you can get an accurate weight of your cabbage. You will need to find 2% of that weight. So for instance if you have 100 grams of cabbage, you will need 2 grams of salt. This is simply an example. You’ll most likely have much more cabbage than this! You can find your 2% weight by multiplying the cabbage weight by 0.02.
The reason why I mentioned that the kitchen scales are option is because you could make the recipe without the scales. It just won’t be as precise. You will just need to use approximate measurements. For example the average medium head of cabbage weight 2 pounds or 900 grams. This would be approximately 18 grams of salt. Since there are approximately 6 grams of salt per tsp, you would need 3 tsp of salt for a medium head of cabbage. You could use this approximation to determine how much salt you need based on your head of cabbage. Again, this is definitely not as precise. I suggest using the scale, but if you’re in a pinch, you can still make it work!

Mixing Your Traditional Fermented Sauerkraut
Now that you have chopped your cabbage and measured your salt, you are ready to mix. Begin by evenly pouring your salt over your cabbage. If you want to reduce your hands on time, you can let the salt set on the cabbage for about 10 minutes or so to let it start to sweat.
Begin massaging the salt thoroughly into the cabbage. Take handfuls of the cabbage and squeeze it together to work the salt into it. After several minutes, you should start to see liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl. If this is the case, you’re close to finishing this step. Once the cabbage has reduced to about 1/3 of it’s original bulk, you are ready to start packing.

Allowing Fermentation To Happen
In order for your cabbage and salt to turn into traditional fermented sauerkraut, it needs to, of course, ferment. To achieve this, you’ll need to tightly pack the cabbage into a clean jar. I do this by adding a scoop or two at a time into my jar and tightly packing it down into the jar with a flat bottom utensil. Keep adding more and more cabbage and packing it as tightly as you can into the jar. As you pack, you should have more and more of that liquid coming to the top.
Stop packing when you have about an inch of space at the top of the jar. At this point, you will need to make sure that enough liquid has come to the top and is covering the cabbage. If there isn’t much liquid at the top, let it set for about 10 minutes or so then return and pack again. Repeat this a few more times if needed.
If you absolutely can’t get the liquid to cover the cabbage, you’ll need to top it with a tablespoon or two of brine. (This is a last resort and you should be able to get enough liquid from the cabbage alone). However, it is very important that the cabbage is submerged in liquid or it will mold. If you need to make a bring, it will need to be a ratio of 1 pint of water to 1 tablespoon of salt dissolved and cooled. Only use as much of this as you need to cover your cabbage.
At this point, all that’s left is to weight the cabbage down. As I mentioned before, you can certainly use actual fermenting weights. Or you can improvise like I always have and use a smaller jar that can set on top filled with something heavy. Regardless, the cabbage needs weighted down one way or another. Then loosely cover with a cloth or fermenting cover. Now simply let the jar set out at room temperature (70-75 degrees) for about 3 weeks. You can keep fermenting if you want, but the longer it sets the stronger it will get so keep that in mind!

Storing Your Traditional Fermented Sauerkraut
Once your sauerkraut is finished fermenting, it’s ready to be stored. Remove the loose cover and add an air tight lid. It’s best to store the sauerkraut at about 55 degrees or below. This is because fermentation can continue at 60 degrees. So if you want to stop the fermentation process, you’ll need to lower the temperature. The good news is there are options for storing the sauerkraut.
So far, I have not made so much at one time that there is too much to store in my fridge. So that is where I opt to store it. However, if you’re wanting to make a yearly batch and don’t want that much room taken from your fridge there are other options. If you have a cellar that stays 55 or below, that’s a great option. Often times basements are a cool enough location to store. Basically, you simply need a cool environment to properly store the sauerkraut.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Be sure to tag us on Instagram or Facebook if you decide to try this in your own homestead kitchen! @almostheavenhomesteading
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