The Prudent Prepper – Sauerkraut

 8 ways to eat sauerkraut :  

1. Plain, as a side to your meal…(I know, not super exciting, but it’s the most common and simplest way to eat it)    

2.  Eat it like salsa…   

3.  Put it on top of eggs…   

4.  Add it to a burrito…   

5.  It’s great with avocado…   

6.  Avocado toast…   

7.  Use it in a dip…   

8.  Salad dressing…

What Do I Need to Make Sauerkraut?

At the most basic, all you need is cabbage, salt, and some sort of container to store it while it’s fermenting. It’s important that the cabbage remain submerged in its liquid during fermentation. When making sauerkraut in a crock, you usually place a weighted plate over the cabbage to pack it down and keep it submerged. When fermenting in a mason jar, inserting a smaller jelly jar filled with rocks or marbles in the mouth of the larger jar serves the same purpose. The cabbage near the surface tends to float, so when fermenting in a mason jar, you need to either tamp down the cabbage a few times a day or place a large outer leaf of cabbage over the surface of the shredded cabbage to hold it down. Also, be sure to keep the jar covered at all times with a clean cloth or piece of cheesecloth. This will allow airflow but prevent dust or insects from getting into the sauerkraut.

For a small quart-sized batch, the minimum time is about three days, although the kraut will continue to ferment and become tastier for many days after that. As simple as it sounds, the best rule of thumb is to keep tasting the kraut and refrigerate when it tastes good to you. The sauerkraut is safe to eat at every stage of the process, so there is no real minimum or maximum fermentation time. You may see bubbles, foam, or white scum on the surface of the sauerkraut, but these are all signs of normal, healthy fermentation. The white scum can be skimmed off as you see it or before refrigerating the sauerkraut.

What to do if you don’t have a crockpot to make a big batch of sauerkraut: 

Making this healthful food requires very little special equipment, and the results are always delicious. All you need to do is combine shredded cabbage with some salt and pack it into a container — a crock if you have one and want to make a lot of sauerkraut, but a mason jar will do just fine for small batches. The cabbage releases liquid, creating its own brining solution. Submerged in this liquid for a period of several days or weeks, the cabbage slowly ferments into crunchy, sour sauerkraut.

Homemade sauerkraut tastes better than the store-bought variety by far. 

Related:

The Prudent Prepper – Salt