Sauerkraut Recipe: Getting Creative with the Kraut (2024)

Prep Time15 minutes

Cook Time7 days

Total Time7 days 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 5 lbs cabbage (either red or green)
• 3 Tablespoons sea salt.
• 1-2 whole grape, bay, oak or green tea leaves.**These contain tannins, which keep the kraut crunchy. I would not recommend skipping these, nothing is worse than mushy kraut!

Instructions

1. Chop or grate cabbage, fine or coarse depending on how you like it.
2. Place chopped cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkling with salt as you go. The salt helps to pull the juices from the cabbage, creating the brine. It also helps keep the cabbage crunchy.
3. Give cabbage a good mix and pack it a bit at a time into a ceramic crock or fermenting jar. As you go tamp the salted cabbage down forcefully with either your fist or a sturdy kitchen gadget (I use the top part of a wooden meat tenderizer). This packs the cabbage tight and pounds out the juices for the brine.
4. Make sure the cabbage is submerged to prevent mold. I usually add about an ounce or two of leftover brine from a previous vegetable ferment as a starter, but it is not necessary. Then use a ceramic plate, sterilized rocks or other weight to keep the cabbage down. Seal the crock or jar, and voila! You are on your way to some delicious kraut!
5. Wait anywhere from a couple of weeks to even a few months, tasting until you get a flavor you like. If the sauerkraut dries out a bit and the liquid level is low, you can add some brine made with 1 Tbsp salt and 1 cup water to keep cabbage submerged.

Now for the fun part, the variations!!

Lemon Garlic and Dill Kraut:

1. To the basic recipe, add the juice of 3-5 lemons, 4-7 whole or chopped cloves of garlic, and a handful of fresh dill or 1 Tbsp dill seeds. It is not an exact science, add as much or as little as you like!

Apple and Juniper berry Kraut:

1. To the basic recipe, add 1-2 whole or sliced apples and 1-2 Tbsp juniper berries.

Classic Caraway:

1. To basic recipe, add 1-3 Tbsp caraway seeds.

Spicy Broccoli Leaf and Onion Kraut:

1. Yes, broccoli leaves are tasty and nutritious! And downright delightful in a kraut. In place of about 1/3 of the cabbage in the basic recipe, substitute shredded broccoli leaves. Add about ½ -whole of a medium onion and some red pepper flakes, more or less depending on your spice tolerance.

Lemon Ginger:

1. This is a refreshing and lighter kraut. To the basic recipe, add the juice of 3-5 lemons and a couple knobs of sliced, fresh ginger.
2. Other add-ins include carrots, celery, seaweed, greens, brussel sprouts, beets, turnips, daikon radish, jalapeños/spicy peppers, burdock roots, celery seeds, sumac, cumin, coriander, etc. etc. The sky is the limit, there really is no wrong answer!