Making Sauerkraut

Each fall Ken harvests heavy storage cabbage.  We store some for our CSA over winter, and we make the rest into sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut consists of two ingredients: cabbage and salt.  Making lacto fermented vegetables of any type (kim chi, sauerkraut, vegetables in a salt brine) creates pro - biotics that aid digestion.  

First Ken harvests cabbage with the outer leaves and piles them on a pallet under a tarp to prevent frost damage when temperatures drop to single digits.  

Then one of us starts to take off the stems and outer leaves we will not use for sauerkraut.

I filled two carts of these tough leaves to feed to the geese.  

As I cleaned cabbage I sorted into those I would save for the CSA and those huge heads that would make sauerkraut.  It was a good year - the heads were dense and heavy.

Once I get that done, I clean up the area outside

Then I moved them into the lowest coolest level  of the house to a clean sheet covered table.  

Then Ken got the processing area ready - kraut cutters and clean tubs.  Once each tub was full, Ken weighed the contents and added salt.

Then Ken brought the cut, salted cabbage down to a barrel.  He punches it down to get out any air.  When finished he weighs down the cabbage so the liquid released remains above the cabbage.  Then he covered the barrel with a clean sheet.

This year Sam helped.  He was really efficient and we were glad he came to help.