How to Make Sauerkraut

1. Stage

Gather the equipment: Get out the biggest bowl you have to hold the cabbage and have your salt handy. You want 5 grams of salt for every pound of cabbage (before shredding).

2. Stage

Prep the cabbage: Remove the outermost 2 or 3 leaves of the cabbage; discard. Remove the next 2 or 3 leaves, trying your best to leave them intact (some tearing is fine). With a paring knife, cut out the thickest part of the rib in the center of the leaves and discard. You’ll use these leaves to form a cap over the shredded kraut. Set them aside.

3. Stage

Shred the cabbage: Finely shred the cabbage. Some people prefer a food processor fitted with a slicing blade. Others use a mandoline slicer. If using either of these tools, cut as many usable parts off the cabbage and discard the tough inner core.  I prefer a chef’s knife and a big cutting board. I use the core as a holder to keep the cabbage leaves intact and rotate the cabbage as I shred it. How many cups you end up with does not matter much. Just shred away.

4. Stage

Salt the cabbage, then bash it: Put a layer of shredded cabbage in the bowl, and sprinkle some of the salt over it generously. Massage it in with your (freshly washed) hands, or bash at it with a wooden sauerkraut stomper. For a small batch of kraut, your hands will work fine, but for larger batches, I find all that massaging bothersome, so I prefer the stomper.  Continue adding new layers of cabbage and salt in the bowl, massaging or bashing each layer as you go. Don’t be delicate! Really get into it. The more you bruise the cabbage, the more moisture it will release, which is what you want.  This task is a lot easier if you do it in stages, which is why we’re not adding all of the cabbage and salt to the bowl at once.

5. Stage

Wait: If your tap water is chlorinated, get about 1 cup and set it aside, uncovered. It will naturally dechlorinate as the salted cabbage rests. This water is your backup later on in case you need to top off the jars with more brine. Now go do something else for about 30 minutes. Wash some dishes, tidy your inbox. As the cabbage sits, it will release juice–this is the brine, and you want enough to submerge the kraut once it’s in the jars.

6. Stage

Bash again: Stomp/bash/massage the cabbage more. You will likely notice the mix is now a lot wetter. Give it another 30 minutes, then come back and repeat.  As the bashed and salted cabbage sits, it will change from opaque white and more of a translucent pale green.

7. Stage

Pack the sauerkraut into jars: Taste some of the cabbage. It should be on the salty side; if it seems bland, work in a little more salt. If it’s too salty, you can fix that later. Wash your hands, then pack the sauerkraut into the first jar (a canning funnel might be helpful). I add a bit at a time and bash it down with my stomper, but you can press it in with whatever tool is handy. Cram it in there, because you want to avoid pockets of air lingering in the kraut. Leave about 2 inches between the top of the sauerkraut and the rim of the jar (if you don’t leave room for the bubbles of CO2 that will form during fermentation, the brine can seep out of an overfilled jar). Depending on the size and moisture level of your cabbage, you may get just 1 quart, or 2 scant quarts. It’s okay if the jars are only partially filled. Jars overfilled? Grab whatever smaller, clean jar you have handy to hold the excess.

8. Stage

Weigh down the sauerkraut: Exposure to air will make the top layer of your kraut look and taste the bad kind of funky. Take the clean cabbage leaves you set aside earlier and tuck one in each jar to “seal” off the surface of the sauerkraut. If you have a fermentation weight (either glass or a clean, smooth stone), plop it on top of the cabbage leaf. Make sure the cabbage in each jar is fully submerged in brine. If you need to, add a little of your dechlorinated water. Give everything in the jar a final press to get out extra air.

9. Stage

Cover and label: Screw the lids on the jars. Write the date on each jar, or mark it on your calendar. Put the jars in an out-of-the-way spot on the counter that has an ambient temperature between 60 and 70°F. A few degrees more or less is fine.

10. Stage

Ferment and monitor: After 1 day, open the jars and investigate your sauerkraut. Smell it, look at it, taste it. Observe the changes. Likely not much will be different, but each batch follows its own trajectory.  Check in on the kraut every day, opening the jars to “burp” them and let out any gasses. Your kitchen is now a laboratory, and you are the scientist assessing the kraut. It’s your job to poke and prod it.  After a few days, you may see a ring of small bubbles forming in the brine at the top of the jar. This is promising! It’s a sign that the fermentation has begun. You can also get your ear in close to the open jar and listen for bubbles. Some batches get so active, you can see the bubbles rising to the top and fizzing.  In a kitchen that’s between 76 and 79°F, I’ve had kraut ready in about 3 days. In the winter when my kitchen’s ambient temp is 65°F, it can take longer than 1 week for the kraut to taste the way I like. Be patient.

11. Stage

Taste, label, and date: When the kraut tastes right to you, it’s ready. I label it with the date it’s finished so I know for reference how many days it took to ferment. Remove the fermentation weights, if you used them. If they are supple, leave the whole cabbage leaves in the jar; you can chop them up and eat them later.

12. Stage

Store: Refrigerate the jars for up to 3 months (I’ve done up to 4 with no problem, but I usually finish off a jar in a few weeks). Traditionally sauerkraut was not refrigerated, but kept in a cool root cellar or spring house. Who has either of those these days? In our time, the fridge is really the easiest place to have a few jars knocking around. Love the recipe? Leave us stars below!