Making Sauerkraut!

One of the things I remember as a kid was huge crocks of pickles and sauerkraut in the basement of our family home in Columbiana, Ohio.  My sweet mother was very diligent on freezing, canning or preserving everything that we grew out of our garden or we're blessed with from friends and family.  She didn't let anything go to waste!

Coming up in a family with Slovak and Croatian roots sauerkraut was one of the foods we had often.  My Grandma Semer would make kielbasa and sauerkraut for New's Years and so it was a family tradition from then on out.

I remember the year my mother tried her hand at making sauerkraut.  She carefully followed the recipe...thinly slicing the cabbage and layering it into the crock salting each layer.  It looked wonderful!  She covered the crock with saran wrap and a heavy, old towel and left it to sit in the coolness of our basement to ferment.  She checked on it each day to be sure the cabbage was below the brine, but about two weeks into the fermentation process it was very apparent that something was very wrong.  When she removed the towel and saran wrap the most awful, putrid smell attacked our noses!  The sauerkraut was black and smelled rotten!  What in the world had happened?  My poor mother called some friends and explained the whole situation to them.  She learned that you had to use Kosher/Canning salt when you make sauerkraut, not table salt.  She was heartbroken. All that work and all that time spent making a huge crock full of now rotting cabbage.  She had to remove the cabbage once scoop at a time and take the crock outside to be washed...and washed...and washed and washed.  I didn't think that smell would ever leave the house.

I remember the story well so when I decided to make a small crock of sauerkraut myself I made sure I had Kosher salt.  My mom used to say...."Anyone can learn from their mistakes, but a smart person learns from the mistakes of others and doesn't repeat them." Thanks Mom, I learned!

We had just a few heads of cabbage from our Fall garden left over so I decided to try my hand again at making some sauerkraut.

We had purchased an antique kraut cutter on our honeymoon so I thought I'd see if the old thing still worked...it did!  I couldn't help but think at some point another woman used this cutter to make sauerkraut for her family. What was she like?  What was her life like? Who was she?  This is part of what I so love about old pieces!

I sliced up the cabbage and I ended up with just under six pounds.

Next step is to salt the cabbage and start the process of making a brine for the cabbage to ferment.

After the salt is all mixed in to the cabbage you layer it into a clean crock.

This crock is another piece that I have collected.  I found it online and purchased it from a lady from Ohio.  I was so excited to learn that this crock and one other that I purchased had a beautiful history and the seller was willing to share it with me.

"My family is the Lockharts.  They were from the Lin Camp area.  Grandma Susie Faye Hefner (Lockhart) passed in 1948.  Some of my family is at the Antioch cemetery, but not Grandma, I can't remember where she is buried.   Grandpa Claude came to Parkersburg in 1948 to build the flood wall.  A family produce market was established next to the Ohio river on land adjacent to the river in Ohio. The construction of the interstate caused the produce market to close.  You will find the main street off Route 50 "Lockhart Street".  My mother married Earnest Jones and moved to Little Hocking.  My father moved a vast majority of the family items to our far.  My father passed away in 1981 and I received ownership of the items and stored them for years....until know and I have decided to sell everything." -- Ernestine Fay Jones Bodyke

So, these crocks were used in the family produce store!  How wonderful is that?  Again, I wish these crocks could talk...I bet they would have a store to tell.

Once the layer in the salted cabbage you push it down to make the brine.  The salt helps extract some of the juice from the cabbage to make the brine.

If I had more cabbage, up to 15 pounds, I would have continued to salt, mix and layer the cabbage, but since I only had 6 pounds this part was done!

I used to have a ceramic plate that fit perfectly inside the crock to keep the cabbage submerged, but in moving I have lost it.  I am going to use a smaller plate and a brick in a ziplock bag to weigh it down until the crock weight that I ordered comes in.  I had seen the old wooden weights and had planned on purchasing one of those, but when I researched the weights I found these Ceramic Crock Weights that will hold the cabbage down wonderfully! I can't wait for it to come it.

I covered the crock securely with saran wrap and then draped it with a heavy towel.  I will be check it every other day to be sure all the cabbage is submerged and it is properly fermenting.

Here is a link to the recipe I used.  I have used this recipe in the past with great results!  If you you don't have the full 15 pounds of cabbage, don't worry!  Just adjust the amount according to what you do have.  It is a great way to preserve that cabbage that you don't know what to do with!

Bella Online Sauerkraut Recipe

Update!  The crock weights came in!  I was so excited when the UPS came I opened the box up while sitting out with the critters.

I'll be posting pictures as the fermentation process does its job!