Ingredients
- 5 pounds green cabbage, shredded
- 3 tablespoons pickling salt
- 1 tablespoon juniper berries
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1 quart water, in a sanitized glass jar
Directions
In large mixing bowl, mix cabbage thoroughly with salt, juniper berries, and caraway seeds, using hands or tongs. If using your hands, make sure that they are very clean prior to mixing. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Pack cabbage mixture down into a large plastic food container. Top with a lid smaller than the opening of the container and place a glass jar filled with the quart of water on top of the lid. Place in cool area overnight (65 to 70 degrees F). In a day, the cabbage should have given up enough liquid to be completely submerged. The jar serves as a weight to keep the cabbage submerged and away from air.
Check cabbage every other day for approximately 2 weeks and skim the surface of scum, if necessary. Let stand for 4 weeks. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 4 weeks
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By dajfuller@comca...
on January 06, 2012
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I used this recipe in a 15 Qt crock. I did allow the fermentation to go longer than 4 weeks and kept tasting it until it was the kraut sourness I was looking for. I did can it up in pint and quart jars following a cold pack, hot bath method so i could easily ship as Christmas gifts.
The most difficult part of this recipe is the prep of the cabbage. The rest was very easy and I look forward to cabbage season to arrive again so we can make more. My list of friends and family waiting on more gifts has grown, perhaps 30 Qts next time.
Enjoy!
By Owl51
on July 23, 2011
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Using this exact recipe I made a 10 pound batch a few months ago using a large plastic food container from Walmart. Tasted great. The container had a tight lid on it. I shaped a piece of a poly cutting board to slip down inside to push the cabbage down and keep it submerged. Used a heavy weight, not a messy bag of water . If you mash it and weigh it down, the entire thing will be submerged in it's own water within 2 hours if you use fresh, heavy cabbage.
Made another batch, 25 pounds this time, 10 in the same plastic container, 15 in a proper crock. I see, and taste, no difference in either. Don't know why someone would say a crock is "much better" except it just feels good to have a proper crock.
I don't think it needs to be rinsed, heated and sealed to kill bacteria. Rinsing it seems to me to be rinsing some of the flavor away unnecessarily. Guess it wouldn't hurt but I am not sure what bacteria are in there, at the end of the process, that needs killing!
By LydiaPeep
on March 14, 2011
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You can use a plastic bucket, but a crock works much better even if it is an old-fashioned bean pot. Make sure that it is covered very well and weighted down. It does take a while depending on how much cabbage you are using. When you remove it, it needs to be rinsed and then packed into a jar or jars and should then be heated to seal the jars and kill the bacteria. Be careful, because refridgeration doesn't kill the bacteria nor does the heating in a skillet because it is not at a high enough temperature
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