Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Making Saurkraut

Anyone make their own?

I've seen many recipes that call for a special crock to make it in, but I obviously don't have that.

Is it worth it to make my own, or are there too many good ones out there?

More power to you if you like sauerkraut! Nothing better than stuff like that you make yourself. I on the other hand, even being of Pennsylvania German stock, abhor the smell of sauerkraut and have been known to run from the house retching in my hand at the first whiff of it cooking.

I should see if either of my sisters have our grandmothers' special crocks they rotted their cabbage in. As I recall they were two chambered things of some sort.

KSMITH posted a thread on here a while back if I recall correctly

yep here it is

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/6479627/Re:_Home_made_pepper_kraut#Post6479627

Buy their's and you are set. Same for the spicy garlic pickles.

http://www.kruegermann.com/products/products.html

Love the stuff, you can get the crocks online cheap (we have 1 and 3 gallon ones at the house). My old man has one that must be 25 gallons up in Michigan and makes it every November after deer season. We use the same crocks to make pickles in the spring.

Kraut is about as easy as it gets to make. shred your cabbage, put a layer in the crock-sprinkle kosher salt on it and pack it down with a potato masher-your trying to remove all the void spaces you can so pack it tight. repeat your layers till its about 3 inches from the top of the crock. Add bottled water to completely cover the cabbage. last thing you need is something to hold the cabbage under the surface of the water. we normally use a plate that fits inside the crock and weight it down with a ziplock bag full of water.
thats it-set it someplace cool and let it ferment. you'll need to drain water for the first day or to as the salt pulls water out of the cabbage, you'll see some foam floating on top of the water as well sometimes and want to remove that as best as you can. big thing is make sure the kraut stays submerged the whole time. figure a month to 6 weeks to finish fermenting (start sampling after 3 weeks and when you like it pack it in mason jars and move it to the fridge or cold storage. we don't waterbath it but you can if you looking for long term storage.

I use to do the "by the quart" method. Sterilze jars. Shred cabbage and pack it in the jars tight up to a little below the neck. Put teaspon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar , add water(not chlorinated)and using a knife along the sides ,work the water down into the jar. Fill to the neck,covering the cabbage.

Put the lids on tight and in a few days it will start to work. and seep out aroung the lid. Wipe that off and continue until it stops working. You can then put it on the pantry shelves.

Dad used to do it like that for sweet/sour cabbage, he'd add a few peppercorns to it as well. good stuff with a plate of pork chops.

This sounds pretty decent!

Thanks gentlemen.