OLD TIME HOMEMADE KRAUT

OLD TIME KRAUT

My eighty six year old neighbor Thelma Tolbert  is pictured in some of these photos from 2012, she came over  and helped me  make her delicious Kraut that summer.

I have posted more photos from this years kraut making 2013..the kraut went so fast people were begging for it so more was made this time.. hahaha

 No measurements are used but I wrote it just like it was taught to me.. so good luck and happy canning =) Serena

some things you will need to help you in your Kraut making process

Go out to the garden and pick you out some nice stone head cabbages that have headed up solid

• a 4, 5, or 6 gallon crock or churn will do fine and a maul for tamping down the kraut’
• a kife and pairing knife
• shredder hand held and a crank helps if you have one too (I use  both alternately for texture)
• a large tupperware bowl
• canning salt
• fresh stone head cabbage
• a clean bleached rock that will fit in your churn nicely
• a plate that fits snugly or top if you have one to your churn
• and a clean towel.

Bring your solid cabbage heads in

(Photos of this summers cabbages 2013)

and wash them good,

make sure to get all dirt and bugs off

(pull off the outer leaves.. save some of the large pretty ones you will need them at the last step)

Make sure to take off any brown spots as they will show up in your Kraut making it look dirty then warsh it, trim old green leaves off leave the white..

(photos of cabbages here are from 2012)

cut in half and core.. keep the core and trim it off s o you can put it in with the kraut to pickle.. a lot of people love to eat them

Shred with hand shredder

use a four or six gallon churn.

have it clean  and rinsed out.. and ready for your cabbage to go in

shred your cabbage in large container then salt with coarse salt (CANNING SALT, you can not use box salt.. use COARSE SALT not table salt, you can not use anything with iodine)

by just taking your hands and get a handful of salt sprinkle over shredded cabbage with clean hands.

(about a heaping tbsp)

mix well with hands. taste.. if too salty add more shredded cabbage and mix with hands.. when halfway up the tupperware bowl turn into churn

put down into churn,

use a maul and beat it down till the juice comes up

now you just REPEAT the process.. do another batch and do it just exactly like that.. shred , salt , Beat..

.

keep repeating and adding until you get your churn 3/4 full.. you can not fill it to the top, because the brine will run over. It will work to sour (I have a large 6 gallon churn so  halfway would be fine like some of the pics below or a full batch would be fine too.. just according to how much kraut you want to can haha)

Once you get it  to where you want it or 3/4 full stop shredding,  stamp down you will see brine coming up

This is over halfway.. you can stop here …

This is a full churn here..

take your cabbage leaves you saved and spread down inside as a covering

.. I have a rock that I keep that has been washed bleached d kept in a plastic bag just for this purpose..

now I take a plate that will fit in that churn  and put down on top then weight it down with the rock.

Cover with a clean cloth or towel

Set it in a cool place, like a cellar or a cool room where it won’t be bothered. This is the most important thing. I have a cellar but my churn is so heavy especially if full that I put mine in the living room in a dark corner beside the couch where it could be left alone, also it is right in the path of my window air conditioning unit..

Let it sour for 12-14 days You should NOT have a strong odor.. if your Kraut is going bad you will reeeeallly smell it..  after 10-11 days you can check it. It will smell like kraut but not overbearing.

• time is up..

Now you wanna take out CAREFULLY the Plate, Rock, Cabbage leaves for protection,

and you may find around the side at top a little mold, take that out without dropping into your good kraut and wipe around inside edges with damp paper towel before trying to take ANY kraut out.

you have Krout.

you taste the kraut.. should have a beautiful fresh clean but sour taste

• you can now Can it..

First I ladle it out of my crock into a plastic bowl, get ALL of the brine.

You should can it right away… so it won’t begin to dry out and turn.

If by chance you are unable to can it right then put a lid on the Kraut and put in fridge.. but get to it as SOON as possible.

put in pint or quart jars with the brine made from the kraut (you should have enough brine in your kraut but if you don’t you can not can dry kraut, add a little water… I tamp down my kraut and you can see how juicy it is.. no need for any water for my kraut)

put in pressure canner bring to 10 lbs pressure and cut it off. don’t cook it just bring to the 10 lbs pressure and take off let cool and put up to eat.