Steve's Simple Sauerkraut
It must be the Italian “wog” in me, but I love pretty much any food that is aged, pickled or fermented. Including Sauerkraut. I buy a cabbage and make a big batch every couple of months.
It’s simple to make, tastes great and is a fantastic source of healthy probiotics - healthy bacteria that studies are showing play an important role in gut health, immunity and even prevention of bowel cancer. I’ll put up a blog post on the benefits of probiotics soon but in the meantime, enjoy this sauerkraut because it tastes great. Serve it as a side dish or add it to your salad for texture and flavour.
This is just a quick video of me sampling the finished product. For the visual learners, I’ll post a longer one with step-by-step instructions soon. In the meantime I have included a good instructional video I found on Youtube at the end of this post.
Ingredients
1 cabbage, washed and finely sliced. I have used a red cabbage in this recipe, but you can use whatever you want.
1-2 Tablespoons Salt. We add salt to sauerkraut to help break it down and also to slow the growth of any “bad” bacteria that may be lurking on the surface of your cabbage
1 tablespoon probiotic powder.** Or 6-8 probiotic capsules, broken open. Adding in probiotics You can use any probiotics you like, just make sure it has some lactobacillus!
Method
Place your sliced cabbage in a large bowl. Add the salt and massage the cabbage or 20 minutes or until it’s soft and has released a lot of juice into the bowl.
Add the probiotic powder and mix through.
Place mixture in a large jar (or fermentation crock like the one in my video) and make sure the cabbage mixture is covered with liquid. Place a weight on top of the cabbage to keep it fully submerged. I often use a carrot.
Place a lid on your cabbage and leave in a cool place for 3-5 days to ferment.
Check your sauerkraut after 3 days, and every day after that, until you are happy with the taste.
Note that home made sauerkraut doesn't taste like the vinegary rubbish you get at the supermarket. If you're new to fermenting it is worthwhile calling in a friend who is more confident to give you some pointers or even finding a class.
Once your sauerkraut is fermented to your liking, place in a sealed jar in the refrigerator. It should keep for several weeks. Mine never lasts that long!