Fermented cabbage or sauerkraut makes a wonderful addition to meals and adds healthy bacteria to your gut. Simple to make at home with just cabbage and salt, fermented cabbage is tangy, even sour, and delicious! Try your hand at fermenting cabbage, or making sauerkraut, with this recipe.
What is fermented cabbage?
Fermented cabbage goes by its German name which is sauerkraut.
Sauerkraut literally means sour cabbage!
It’s not wrong and though I spent well over 35 years of my life swearing never to try it, I finally did and now there will forever be a jar of homemade sauerkraut in my refrigerator as long as I can make it happen!
How are fermented foods gut-healthy?
Fermented foods add good bacterias to your gut that may reduce inflammation, help digestion, and improve the immune system.
A LOT is connected to the gut. Do some deep dive research into this!
SEE MY DISCLOSURE STATEMENT!
Other fermented foods include yogurt (fermented milk), pickles (fermented cucumbers), kombucha (fermented tea) sourdough (fermented flour and water) to name a few you may have heard of before.
What is fermentation?
The definition of fermentation has changed over the years but it remains a chemical process.
Salt is a chemical. Water is a chemical.
In 1876, Louis Pasteur called fermentation “life without air”.
Fermenting foods has been a preservation method used for MANY years.
Lacto-fermentation, in particular for this recipe, is a salt-based fermentation process.
Your vegetable (or fruit!) plus salt minus oxygen results in a fantastic environment for good bacteria like lactic acid bacteria to grow. This bacteria will repel undesirable microorganisms.
Salt is used in fermentation two ways:
- it begins the fermentation process by encouraging the development of good bacteria while discouraging bad bacteria.
- it preserves the texture of the vegetable.
What kind of salt is actually important!
It needs to be free of iodine and any anti-caking agents. No table salt.
I use Redmond’s Real Salt.
How to Make Fermented Cabbage:
Grab some cabbage. As much as you’d like! Cabbage grown with organic practices from local growers is best but use what you’ve got.
You will need a kitchen scale to weigh the cabbage so your salt to cabbage ratio is correct for fermentation to occur.
Salt to Cabbage Ratio
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt per pound of cabbage
(If you like sauerkraut saltier, use 2 teaspoons per pound of cabbage.)
Small Batch Sauerkraut
Most of the time, I keep 1 quart of sauerkraut, or fermented cabbage, in the refrigerator at a time for adding to Mediterranean-inspired protein and rice bowls or even toppings for hamburgers and hot dogs.
For 1 quart of sauerkraut, you will need approximately 2 pounds of cabbage and about 3 teaspoons of salt.
Preparing the Cabbage
Remove the first couple of layers of cabbage leaves if they appear damaged or dirty. Then rinse the cabbage head.
Be sure to set aside one of the cleanest and least damaged leaves. You will cut a wide-mouth mason jar circle out of this to use as a “covering” on top of your cabbage stuffed into the jar later. Give the leaf a good rinse too!
Dice up the cabbage as thinly as you can and put in a large mixing bowl. Next, sprinkle the cabbage with salt.
Now use your hands or a pestle, if you have one, to work the cabbage in the bowl. You are bruising the cabbage leaves so it will release its water. This, with the salt, creates a brine for the cabbage to ferment in inside of the jar.
This process can take several minutes and a good arm workout.
Next, scrap the sides of the bowl with a spoon or spatula to push down all the cabbage pieces into the bowl. Leave none behind!
Grab a plate the size that covers the cabbage in the bowl and place it on top of the cabbage. Then add on layers of bowls or other plates to act as weight on the cabbage.
Allowing the weighted down cabbage to sit for about 4-6 hours to macerate will produce more cabbage water.
After 4-6 hours of sitting, remove the dishes and scrape off any cabbage back into the bowl.
Starting fermented cabbage
Give the cabbage a good stirring with a spoon then carefully add the cabbage to the wide mouth quart mason jar.
A wide mouth mason jar is important as you will need to add a ferment weight to the jar! This keeps the cabbage leaves below the brine and out of oxygen so fermentation can happen properly.
Once all cabbage is in the jar, scrape any leaves off the sides of the jar as best you can then add the cut out cabbage leaf topper.
Now add the ferment weight and a pickle pipe to the jar and allow the jar to sit to ferment for 3-4 weeks. Taste-testing or sampling for sourness may happen around day 12 if you desire.
Be sure to use a clean fork, clean hands, and replace every layer removed so further fermentation after taste testing as not to add any bad bacteria/germs to the food.
What the heck is a Pickle Pipe?
A pickle pipe is a fantastic little fermentation creation that allows you to be very hands-off with your fermenting foods.
Gases created during the fermentation process are allowed to escape without help from you and without letting fruit flies in.
Can I ferment without ferment weights or pickle pipes?
Yes you can but you’ll need to be creative!
The food needs to stay below the brine and out of the oxygen for fermentation to occur and mold NOT to grow.
This why weights are needed.
Weights can be made using clean rocks or marbles in a plastic bag or tied up in plastic wrap.
For allowing the gases to escape, you will need to open up your fermenting jars DAILY. Keeping your jars somewhere you will see them daily and remember to release the gases will be imperative to not having a jar potentially explode on you.
If you choose to keep your jar closed with a lid, consider using a plastic lid versus a metal lid and ring as the salt can cause the ring to rust.
How can I eat sauerkraut?
Right out of the jar if that’s your preference!
I’ve read of some families requiring their members eat at least a spoonful of sauerkraut every day to add those gut healthy bacteria, probiotics and probiotics.
Our family’s favorite way is probably on top of a Mediterranean- inspired protein and rice bowl. These are generally packed full of fermented and pickled foods like red onions, beets, and carrots anyway.
The next way we really like to enjoy our fermented cabbage, or sauerkraut, is on a loaded hot dog. Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, chili, and sauerkraut makes for a fantastic hot dog!
Dollop a scoop on your next cheeseburger and see what you think!
Heat up some kielbasa, slice it, and add a dollop or two of fermented cabbage to it. A little squirt of mustard and you’ve got yourself a delicious little meal.
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Ferment Weights + Pickle Pipe Kit
Fermented Cabbage
Equipment
- 1 quart jar wide mouth
- 1 pickle pipe
- 1 ferment weight
Ingredients
- 3 tsp salt NOT table salt
- 2 lb cabbage any kind of cabbage
Instructions
- Remove the first couple of layers of cabbage leaves if they appear damaged or dirty. Then rinse the cabbage head.
- Be sure to set aside one of the cleanest and least damaged leaves. You will cut a wide-mouth mason jar circle out of this to use as a “covering” on top of your cabbage stuffed into the jar later. Give the leaf a good rinse too!
- Dice up or shred the cabbage as thinly as you can and put in a large mixing bowl.
- Next, sprinkle the cabbage with salt.
- Now use your hands or a pestle, if you have one, to work the cabbage in the bowl. You are bruising the cabbage leaves so it will release its water. This, with the salt, creates a brine for the cabbage to ferment in inside of the jar. This process can take several minutes.
- Next, scrap the sides of the bowl with a spoon or spatula to push down all the cabbage pieces into the bowl. Leave none behind!
- Grab a plate the size that covers the cabbage in the bowl and place it on top of the cabbage. Then add on layers of bowls or other plates to act as weight on the cabbage.
- Allowing the weighted down cabbage to sit for about 4-6 hours to macerate will produce more cabbage water.
- After 4-6 hours of sitting, remove the dishes and scrape off any cabbage back into the bowl.
- Give the cabbage a good stirring with a spoon then carefully add the cabbage to the wide mouth quart mason jar.
- Once all cabbage is in the jar, scrape any leaves off the sides of the jar as best you can then add the cut out cabbage leaf topper.
- Now add the ferment weight and a pickle pipe to the jar and allow the jar to sit to ferment for 3-4 weeks. Taste-testing or sampling for sourness may happen around day 12 if you desire.
Notes
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