Any Homemade Kraut Lovers??

Making a batch and it is tasting very, very good!!

We make it from scratch sometimes, but more often start with a huge can from the German butcher near us, then doctor it with more botanicals, Riesling, gin etc. They do it so well, it’s not a compromise. But from scratch is not hard and is a huge return on investment, given the price of cabbage.

I started a fermentation thread but no one was interested.

I tried it once and it was a failure. It might be one of those things where I need to actually do it with someone knowledgeable the first time.

I’ve made my own in the past…

Right now, just a busy life and so we buy the raw stuff and my 2 year old loves it. Might have to make a batch soon as this reminded me that we had done this before:)

Well poo! I’m interested. My 17 y/o hates sauerkraut, but my older ones love it. So if I understand correctly, to get the full health benefits, you don’t want to cook it? only warm it? I wanted to do a pork roast & kraut in the instapot for New Years so maybe just a little kraut to cook with the pork roast and then just warm it up and serve it on the side?

We make it every year with cabbage from the garden. This year was the first time we had a fermentation go bad - one of the most awful stinks I’ve had the displeasure of experiencing. Not sure what went wrong (is smoke tainted cabbage a thing?); just seems to be the shape of things in 2020.

That’s right, only warm it. And if you are doing traditional choucroute, you warm and cool it at least 6 times.

I have made it numerous times in the past, but I made it in mason jars and canned it. Sort of defeated the benefits of the ferment. Linda, I’d love to have your thoughts on that area. This years batch is pretty near spot on. My dad made an insert with holes so I could compress the cabbage and keep the brine level above, but it swelled a bit too much and I could not pry it off so I ended up using an oscillating saw to cut of the edge of one side. I have to sand it back a bit, but really I am happy with the taste of the Kraut…no not too much sawdust…

Not sure what you mean by warming and cooling it Sarah?

As simple as can be - apply heat until it’s warm. Let it cool down. Apply heat until it’s warm. Let it cool down. 6 times.

Lactobacillus can only survive to 115-120F, but if you have a recipe you want to cook with it, just do what you want! The bacteria will be killed off, but the fermentation itself acts to “pre-digest” your foods (which is why I am such a big proponent, with all of my gut issues), so it has some benefit regardless.
You can always reserve some and eat it raw. And keep your brine and add some to your next batch!

Coincidentally I came home with a HUGE green cabbage yesterday. It was the last the farmer’s market vendor had so I decided to ferment most of it for kraut. I use the silicone mason jar replacement lids. This year was heavy on fermenting: kimchi, kraut, pickles, kombucha, water kefir, etc. I did some preserved limes and they are sooo good in salads and blended into salad dressings.