My first crock of homemade sauerkraut is almost ready.

G

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The brine might be a touch salty based on the taste I tried today. It is not sour enough so I am going to try it again in few days. I'm hoping that as it continues to ferment it will taste less salty. I used 40:1 (by weight) cabbage to salt. I always drain and rinse grocery store kraut but was hoping I wouldn't have to do that with homemade.

 
I'm impressed! I've never made my own before. I always soak the the bought version for a half-hour

or so to remove excess salt and sourness before cooking in wine and stock. From what I've read Alsatian cooks are inclined to do that; German cooks less so.

 
It was a little time consuming but not hard.

Of course, if you count the hours web-surfing and comparing recipes and techniques, the first batch was very time-consuming.

 
My German friend taught me to cook the store bought long and slow and

always with a piece of pork in it. If I'm having it with ribs I always cut one rib off first and cook it in the kraut.

 
That is really cool! I am excited for you! Let us know how it tastes,what you use it in and most

importantly, which recipe did you end up using to make it. What a fun cooking project! : )

 
I used to make a couple big crocks of sauerkraut every year

When it is done it will be quite sour but the salt won't be so prevalent as it is now. Yes, you will have to rinse and drain it. How many days into the process are you? Are you weighting the cabbage down so it is all under the surface and removing the "scum" from the top?

I used to drain/rinse when removing from the crock- and put in bags for the freezer. I made large crocks of it. I don't make it any longer because I've found the refrigerated (Claussen's and Boar's Head) commercial sauerkraut to be excellent and almost the same.

Bravo to you for making the effort to make your own!

 
I do it a similar way, Janet but I am probably more extreme

First I rinse the kraut- then add juniper berries, caraway seed, onions, pepper, garlic, white wine and chicken stock. I cover it and roast at 325 for at least 2 hours (this all depends on the amount of sauerkraut and the size of the roast coming later). Then take out, make a "well" in the center which I plop a nice pork roast into, put in whole small red potatoes, cover and roast for another hour. Then I take the foil off, check the liquid content and add more stock if needed, and roast uncovered for another 1-2 hours. It may seem to you that it is too much roasting but it isn't.

After having this grand event for dinner- my DH adores pork roast and sauerkraut (me too!)- I take the rest of the pork and potatoes out of the remaining sauerkraut (I always make double amounts) and put in Polish sausage for the next night or two nights down the line. I roast the sausage in the sauerkraut for an hour. Delicious. Then, if I still have some kraut left I package and freeze for Reubens at a later time.

The sauerkraut holds up to all of this.

 
I do it your way too Cathy when I am having a roast. Sometimes I use a

rack of spare ribs instead of the loin. Add a few turkey sausages too. I freeze individual "dinners" for nights when I don't want to cook. Yours is absolutely one of my top favorites from this board.

 
thanks for your reply

I'm glad to hear that it will become less salty as it continues to ferment.

I started it 8 days ago. I am weighing it down so that all the cabbage is under brine. At last check I had minimal scum, just some bubbles.

Good to know that it will freeze. I am using the crock out of my original, about 30-year-old Rival Crock Pot so I won't have a huge quantity but probably more than we will eat at one meal.

Before I make another batch, I'll check out the Claussen and Boar's Head brand.

 
My mother's family was from Hungary so I know from babushkas!

 
I will add that I never made small batches- mine were always done in 5-10 gal crocks

So I don't know if a really small batch will work as well as a large one- in theory I think it should. Sauerkraut is very "forgiving" and made just of cabbage and salt so it should work the same way. I'd be interested in your final result. My batches usually took about three weeks. And smelled like dead fish smileys/smile.gif

 
I have to ask--what were your 5-10 gal crocks made of? I've seen recipes call for stone crocks--like

that's gonna happen! I've heard of using enameled pans which were prevalent in my grandmother's day but I doubt I could find. I have some very large stainless steel bowls, would they work? I also has an 8-liter cassoulet dish and an 8-liter Le Creuset Casserole, which could be tied up for a few weeks.

I planted a lot of cabbage this year and since we love sauerkraut, this may be the year I finally get around to it.

 
Joe, I would not use stainless. Do you have a big ceramic cookie jar? If glazed inside that would

work- glass like cyalexa2 says is a good idea too. I've seen inexpensive large glass cookie jars, pitchers- just get creative. anything non-porous except metal probably will work.

 
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