Ok, so my last attempt, years ago,at making sauerkraut was a complete failure. It rotted. This time it will be different. I found some huge cabbages at a roadside stand the other day, so I decided I'm going to give it another try. I adore the Foxfire books, and read them endlessly. After all, I'm living in the country now, so I have to do country things, right? I started by slicing the cabbages, but it was time-consuming, so I drug out the food processor to make the going a little faster. So I filled the bowl with shredded cabbage, then sprinkled about 5 TB of salt and stirred it up. After it wilted a bit, about 15 minutes, I dumped it into a clean crock and tamped it down. I did this about 5 times until both cabbages were cut up. But oh my - I need more cabbage. It shrunk! So I covered the cabbage with big outer leaves, put a plate on top and placed another pottery jug filled with water on top to weigh it down. Tomorrow morning I will run out and buy a few more cabbages so I can fill my crock. If all goes well, in a few weeks, maybe 2-4, I will have fresh sauerkraut. I will can it - I love canning and putting food by. And during the wintertime, being snowbound, I will have yummy sauerkraut.
I still could swear I had canning jars in storage. Alas, they are not to be found. No matter. I will buy some. Next year I will have a garden to grow all the food I want to put up - tomatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, squash....I can't wait to get my seed catalogs to start planning. I would have made a good farm wife.
