my family has been making their own sauerkraut for many years. It is a fairly easy process, and can be water bath canned to be shelf stable.
we always use cabbage that we grow in our garden, but you could use store bought. If you grow it in your garden, you want to plant the late cabbage variety.
once your cabbage is ready, pick it from the garden and wash it. Cut the cabbage into the shape and size you want your sauerkraut. We like it in thick strips about 3 inches or so long.
Put cut up cabbage into the crock as you go, and sprinkle salt on each layer. We like Redmond’s salt. With each layer, begin to use the cabbage smasher. You want to make sure you’re smashing it enough that brine begins to cover the cabbage.
we have a homemade cabbage smasher, but you can also buy them.
keep adding layers and continue smashing until you have all your cabbage in the crock, and the brine is covering the cabbage.
place cheesecloth down over the cabbage, followed by a round board that fits well in your crock. You then want a weight over the board. We just use a large, clean rock. Then cover the whole crock with a towel.
We like to let it ferment for 4-6 weeks. Each week you will need to uncover, remove the rock and wood, and throw away the cheese cloth. Scrape any mold off the top of the sauerkraut, and wipe the inner sides of the crock clean. Clean the weight and wood before returning back to the crock over new cheese cloth.
after it ferments for your desired time, you can remove it from the crock and put in mason jars to water bath can. If you don’t have enough brine, you can make more to add. You want it to be at about the same level as the sauerkraut in the jar. Water bath pints 10 minutes, and quarts 15 minutes.
now you have shelf stable nutritious fermented sauerkraut!