About the Recipe
Why make your own cabbage? Well, the health benefits are endless, not to mention it is a super-cheap, do-it-yourself health elixir. Cabbage on it's own contains approximately 30mg of Vitamin C, when fermented this number can sky-rocket up to 600mg of Vitamin C. It is loaded with 'insoluble fibre', which is a type of fibre that not only helps "keep you regular" by acting as a gentle scrub to your intestines; BUT it also promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria (LAB, lactic acid bacteria), which by virtue weeds out the bad bacteria and helps support your immune system. It also provides you with Vitamin K (needed to assist coagulating factors in your blood), Vitamin B6, copper, folate ...including, potassium, magnesium and sodium (electrolytes required for proper neural and cardiac function). With so many health benefits to sauerkraut, there's no doubt that it should be incorporated into your daily meal routine!
Ingredients
1 green or purple cabbage
1 cup Himalayan/ sea salt (approximately)
A mason jar (with a removable lid)
A sandwich bag (filled with water)
Preparation
Step 1
Before anything, remove dirty/soiled cabbage leaves. Then set 2-3 fresh cabbage leaves side (these will be used in the latter steps). Remove the core. Then chop the cabbage into 2 halves. Then chop each half into long/thin slices. Divide the chopped cabbage into 2 equal portions, and set one portion aside. Place the other portion into a metal bowl. (Depending on how large your cabbage is, the second portion should make a second jar of sauerkraut).
Step 2
Add approximately 1/2 cup of salt (I prefer to measure it by one palm full). However, ultimately, you are determining the volume of salt by taste. If it doesn't taste that salty after step 3, add a bit more. It shouldn't be salty to the point of making your lips pucker, but just salty enough. (If that makes sense).
Step 3
Mix and squeeze the cabbage between your palms, repeatedly for approximately 2-3 minutes. Squeezing and releasing the cabbage-salt mixture in the bowl, until the cabbage begins to produce a milky-white water at the bottom of the bowl.
Step 4
Once you get the milky cabbage water (ie. brine) in the bottom of the bowl, you can transfer the cabbage to your mason jar. Pack firmly after every couple of layers of cabbage put into the jar. When you get to the top of a jar, place a whole cabbage leaf (which you set aside in Step 1) across the top of the packed sauerkraut.
Step 5
Fill a plastic sandwich bag with water (OR whatever creative solution you can come up with to weigh down the cabbage) - that will put weight on the top of the cabbage leaf, while also leaving as little of the cabbage exposed as possible. This is tricky, but really important, as turning cabbage into sauerkraut is an anaerobic process (meaning it doesn't require oxygen).
**The reason for this is because the healthy bacteria present on the cabbage you just prepared, require an oxygen-free environment to ferment the cabbage, while also preventing the cabbage from moulding or going off. The salt will assist in preventing mould formation is it is a natural anti-bacterial/ anti-parasitic, mineral.
Step 6
Once your jar is weighted and sealed with a water-filled sandwich bag, place your jar inside of a brownie tray and set the jar in a non sun-exposed area on your counter.
**The tray will collect excess brine that will come out of the jar, which is a good sign the (lactic acid-producing) bacteria are doing their job (breaking down the sugar into lactic acid, while releasing carbon dioxide/CO2).
Step 7
Finally, Check on the level of brine/liquid covering your sauerkraut daily to ensure the cabbage is (i) constantly covered in brine. If it is not covered, add enough water to cover the cabbage (under the water-filled sandwich bag weight). This will ensure your kraut doesn't go off. AND (ii) Taste the sauerkraut daily, until it has a nice crispy/acidic taste, and translucent colour.
**It takes anywhere between 3 days to 2 weeks for sauerkraut to ferment to perfection, as it is highly variable (based on the temperature and climate) of the country you are making it in.