If you love sauerkraut, but hate the canned garbage from the grocery store, it’s time to step up your game and learn how to make sauerkraut from scratch! Not only does it taste so much better when you make it yourself, it’s actually a whole lot healthier for you too…
Believe it or not, the sauerkraut you’re buying from the store is pretty much dead. In fact, it’s not all that good for you, despite being touted as a health food. After being canned and processed, the sauerkraut has very little of the nutrient value remaining because it was heated to incredibly high temperatures that killed all of the good bacteria.
Not to mention the added chemicals and preservatives in some brands!
So, how do you have your (healthy) sauerkraut and eat it too?
You make it yourself, of course!
Here’s the recipe…
How to Make Sauerkraut from Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cabbage
- 3 Tablespoons unrefined salt
- 1 quart pure spring water or filtered water
Instructions
- Finely, shred cabbage and place in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons salt onto cabbage.
- Use your (clean) hands to mix the salt into the cabbage.
- Continue mixing and squishing the cabbage for about 10 minutes.
- Stir 1 tablespoon of salt into 1 quart of water.
- Scoop cabbage into a 1/2 gallon jar or crock. Pour the liquid from the bowl over the cabbage.
- Add additional salt water (from step 5), as needed to fill the jar.
- Arrange fermentation weights over the cabbage and press down to ensure nothing floats above the weights.
- Place a fermentation lid onto the jar and screw down with a ring.
- Store your homemade sauerkraut in a cool, dark place for 5 to 10 days.
- After fermentation is complete (see notes below), place a standard lid onto the jar and store in the refrigerator for 6+ months.
Notes
Test sauerkraut after 5 days of fermentation. If it is sour enough for you, go ahead and move it to the refrigerator. If not, let it sit longer. Taste daily after 5 days to find the taste you like best.
You might also like these fermentation recipes:
Have an Awesome Day!
~Vanessa
Vanessa Hamlin is the owner and founder of Food Life Design and VLHamlinDesign. With her passion for frugal living and homesteading, Vanessa loves to write about easy recipes, making money, gardening, home remedies and everything else that a good life entails! When she’s not writing for Food Life Design or creating products for VLHamlinDesign, you’ll find Vanessa reading, drawing, gardening, cooking or spending time with her family.