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Showing posts with label crock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crock. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Making Sauerkraut, the old fashioned way



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.