Recipe Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut (many thanks to Loes for kindly sharing her recipe)

For those of you with European roots, a keenness for fermenting or just a taste for real Sauerkraut, here is a tried and true recipe from Northern Europe.

To make 5 kilograms of Sauerkraut, you will need:

2 large green cabbages

5 table spoons sea salt (do not use iodised salt for this recipe)

5 tablespoons buttermilk

25 juniper berries

A large ceramic crock

a piece of cheese cloth

round wooden bread board that fits inside the crock

one or more nice round stones to weigh the board down with

Method:

The success of Sauerkraut making depends on hygiene, so before you start anything, sterilise your crock, boil the wooden board and the stone, and make sure the cheese cloth is sterile by ironing it.

1. Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage (and donate them to chickens, worm farm or compost)
2. With a large mandoline, grate the cabbage finely.
   
3. Once you have 1 kg, add 1 tablespoon of sea salt, and 1 tablespoon buttermilk
   
4. Knead the cabbage slivers for 5 minutes or until some juice is released from the cabbage.
   
5. Add 5 juniper berries and mix them through.
6. Now put this mixture in the bottom of your crock, pushing down firmly as you fill it. You want to minimise the amount of air in the Sauerkraut.
   
7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 until you run out of cabbage.
8. Press the mixture down very firmly, you will find that the juices now cover the cabbage slivers.
9. Put the cheese cloth on top and tuck firmly in around the cabbage mixture, making sure everything is submerged.
   
10. Put the wooden board on top and weigh it down with one or more stones.
    
11. Add the lid to the crock.
12. Put it away in a cold (not warmer than 12 degrees, ideally) and dark location.
    
13. Disturb it as little as possible, but do check it every week.
14. If a whitish layer has formed on the cloth and stone, do not worry; these are the natural bacteria needed to make the Sauerkraut. Just clean the cloth, board and stone with fresh water and put it back again.
15. If you find that the cabbage is not longer submerged, add some salted water until it is covered again. Make a brine for this, of half a teaspoon salt to 300 ml water.
16. After 4 to 6 weeks your Sauerkraut is ready to enjoy. Take out what you need each time and reseal the jar. It will keep like this for months.