Simple Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

Yes, you can use canning or pickling salt. Both are free of iodine and anticaking agents. Learn more in these two extension agency publications:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5342.html AND http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ1091.html

-Tabitha Alterman, Mother Earth News

Hi Pat,

Yes, you can use canning or pickling salt. Both are free of iodine and anticaking agents. Learn more in these two extension agency publications:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5342.htmlhttp://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ1091.html

-Tabitha Alterman, Mother Earth News staff

Can you use canning/pickling salt or does it specifically have to be noniodized salt?

Thanks,
Pat

If you shred some bell peppers and carrots, and add a little
drill it will boost the flavor.

How long has it been since you made the batch? It always smells
bad until it is done working. Kind of like a drain that doesn't
have water in the P-trap and the sewer gas is coming back in. There
will be a certain murkiness to the liquid, especially in the first
2-3 weeks. There is also a scum that forms on the surface, which we
always skimmed off every couple of days, but you don't have to.
Don't put your hands in any pickle, it can make them get yucky.
Saurkraut is bad when it gets mushy. Pick some out of the crock
with a fork. It should look sort of translucent, like onions get
when you fry them in oil. It shouldn't mush apart when you poke it
with your finger, but should break sort of cleanly when you cut it
with the fork. If it's been more than two weeks since you made the
kraut, fry some up in oil and taste it. If you honestly don't know
what saurkraut tastes like, buy a can and try it. Homemade will be
darker, and a little earthier tasting.

I am new to sauerkraut. I am not sure how it should smell or
taste. I made a batch and it smells bad and looks really murky. Is
this the way it is supposed to be? How do you know when sauerkraut
has gone bad?

I am new to sauerkraut. I am not sure how it should smell or
taste. I made a batch and it smells bad and looks really murky. Is
this the way it is supposed to be? How do you know when sauerkraut
has gone bad?

I'd like to add a few comments from my experience. Alternate
methods of putting the cabbage and salt in the container: Mix the
shredded cabbage and the salt in another container, then tamp it
down into the crock or plastic bucket in layers, or fill the
container by grating an inch or two of cabbage, then sprinkling
some of the salt over it, tamp it down well, then another layer of
cabbage, sprinkled, etc. The more contact the salt has with the
cabbage from the first, the better. I question using your hands to
tamp down the layers, a better alternative (if you don't have a
saurkraut tamper) is to use the bottom of a quart canning jar that
has been filled with water and the lid put on. (You can use this
same quart jar as the weight to hold down the plate that keeps the
cabbage from floating to the surface.) Don't tamp hard enough to
bruise your vegetable.The plate should fit snugly enough inside the
container to keep all the shredded cabbage under the liquid
produced. Set it upright, like you were setting the table because
you don't want to trap air under it. The cabbage will produce more
liquid as it ferments, so don't worry if it's a little dry when you
finish filling the crock. A good cover for your container is a feed
sack towel or large square of muslim tied over the top. The quart
jar will hold it up out of the brine. The fermentation produces
gas, and it's better if it can "breathe" a little. There will be a
definite odor as it works, so don't plan on keeping it in your
living room. If you plan on canning it, the processing time is 15
minutes in the water bath. It will change the flavor and texture
some, but not unacceptably. You can also dehydrate it for camping.
The best way is to just keep it in the basement in the same
container, and eat it all before spring.

Hi there, LMartin. To answer your question -- generally
speaking, the cooler the better. The crock of fermenting kraut
should be located in a cool place, preferably not above room
temperature (70-75 F). If the temperature is above 80 degrees F,
the kraut can turn out mushy. However, if the temperature is below
60-65 F, it may take a week or two longer than normal before the
kraut is ready to eat.

This sounds too easy...should it be stored in a cool place
during the fermenting period or just someplace it won't be
disturbed?

When you have a bountiful crop of late cabbage, shred it with a
kraut cutter into a earthenware crock. Forty pounds of cabbage just
fits into an eight gallon crock, sprinkle one pound of plain salt,
(Iodized salt turns cabbage to mush), as you shred the cabbage in
to the crock. Weight it down with a plate, place three quart size
plastic food bags filled half full of clean water on top of plate,
no mold will form on the kraut while awaiting it to stop working.
Clean off foam daily. Easly remember receipt - A thumb is the pound
of salt, and four fingers the forty pounds of cabbage. Always makes
wonderful tasting sauerkraut!