The Sauerkraut is Ready!

We've been putting up quite a few goodies lately.  Our sauerkraut was finally ready today and it tastes unbelievable.  Since we eat mostly raw, I just put the kraut in sterilized jars to store in the refrigerator.  I've read it should keep for months this way.  If we had canned it using a water bath, we would have first brought the kraut to a boil on the stove and then canned it.

We started out by ordering a 3 gallon crock online from Lehman's.  It's very heavy and so beautiful.  The inside is a pretty chocolate brown.

When we received the crock, we then harvested the last of our cabbages - 4 large and 3 small/medium.  Next, the cabbage was shredded super fast in our food processor in batches.  As each batch was finished, we put in in a large bowl and added 1 T. of celtic sea salt, stirring it all with a wooden spoon.

When all batches were finished, the salted cabbage was put in the crock.  The fun part was next--pressing the cabbage with a large (giant) wooden spoon until juices covered the cabbage.  We used unbleached cheesecloth for a cover, placed a salad plate on top and weighted everything down with two gallon baggies filled with water (making sure all the cabbage was covered with the juices.)  That was it!  Every 2-3 days, we changed out the cheesecloth and plate and rinsed the water filled bags.  We kept the top of the crock covered with a dishtowel throughout.

The whole process took around 4-5 weeks.  Today was the unveiling and tasting.  Unbelievable.  So crunchy, not too salty, with a bit of tang and actually a bit of sweetness from the fantastic cabbage straight from the garden.  I truly don't think this sauerkraut will last very long.  It gave us 6 quarts to put in the fridge, and we've been munching on the rest this afternoon (probably another quart). Yummy!