Sauerkraut! and not being part of an oppressive food system that wants to keep you sick and broke.

Of all the wildlife in my wild life, perhaps wild fermentation is most favorite, most magical wild love. I am awed by the processes that take place, right in front of our eyes yet invisible, that turn cabbage and salt into crunchy, tangy, good for your tummy sauerkraut!  I made my first batch of sauerkraut many years ago, but didn't really get the hang of it until the summer of 2010, when Dana and I realized that it only took one short week (or so) to create batch after batch of this lacto-ferment. 

For anyone just learning about fermented foods, there are some basic concepts that can help us understand the versatility and importance of incorporating these foods into our lives. First, if we look at the American food system and standard diet, we find processed, imported, nutritionally dead foods. We find a system where 'junk' food is cheap and 'healthy' foods are expensive. This means poor people eat poorer quality food and rich people eat food of richer quality. Since diet is one of the main factors in preventing disease, we find that this system is structured to keep those with less money in poorer health and increasingly more dependent on anti-biotic type drugs.  

Second, the process of fermenting foods is an ancient practice that can be found in varied cultures. Fermenting foods preserves and prolongs, it adds nutrition and helps digestion by breaking down complex proteins, sugars, etc into their smaller, easier to digest kin. this is how people survived. they didn't import their food or put another animals genes into it  or fill it up with chemicals. The types of bacteria living,yes ALIVE!, in fermented foods help keep us healthy. 

Okay, now on to the process i used, and the pictures!

Ingredients:

fresh head of organic cabbage 

sea salt

Juniper berries

Caraway seeds

garlic

black peppercorns

you will also need a vessel for your kraut to ferment in. I use gallon size glass jars. Like empty pickle jars you can get at a deli or bar. Also usable- food grade plastic buckets, ceramic crocks. Not usable- metal, stainless steel, non food grade plastic. 

there's my jar! i love glass jars.

me in motion, thank you 10 second timer. 

 If you have a food processor with a grate plate i would suggest grating your cabbage in there. If you have the patience to hand grate then i would do that! If you have neither, you can finally chop up your head of cabbage. Take off the big outer leaves and set them aside. I cut off the bottom, but i chop up the core and put it in. The more surface area of the cabbage you expose, the easier it will be for the water to come out it, which is desirable for making sauerkraut. I also like to hand chop for a slightly less uniform kraut. I like the occasional large crunchy chunk and not all stringy pieces. Experiment, be creative, and do what feels good for you.
As you chop the cabbage, move it into a bowl ( or your fermenting vessel) and sprinkle sea salt on it. The salt pulls the water out of the cabbage. This liquid is the brine that will keep the bad bacteria/molds out of your kraut and let the good lacto-bacilli flourish.  I would guess i used about 1-2 T of salt for one med. size head of cabbage. But the best way to do this is to add a lil bit at a time, knowing you can always add more at the end.  Once i've chopped and salted all of the cabbage i let it sit for a little while.

I returned to my bowl of salty cabbage and mixed in my Juniper berries, crushed garlic, caraway seeds and black peppercorns. You don't have to add these, or you can add something else. I bought a small amount of Juniper berries and Caraway seeds from the bulk bin at the Co-Op and i think i spent less than a dollar on each.

 Smush your cabbage and goodies into your jar and press down so the liquid rises to the top. I take the cabbage leaves i set aside earlier and place these on top of the kraut.

 

If there is space in your jar, like it mine, take another smaller jar that will fit inside, fill it with water, and use it as a weight to press down on your cabbage leaves. Then tie a cloth around the top. Store it somewhere that remains at a steady temperature and out of direct sunlight for a week. Then taste it! ( we arent up to that part yet!)

fermentation mama

Of  course i can't talk about kraut or fermentation without highly recommending Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation !

there's a lot more than kraut recipes in here. also, the most comprehensible writing on how badass fermentation is. 

thanks! xoxo