Fermenting Cabbage for Homemade Sauerkraut

Most of my family involved with my garden know just how much I love growing cabbage. Cold-hardy and a great companion to apple trees, cabbages are low-maintenance, produce a high-yield, and can continue to grow through the winter seasons. I’ve learned that, like a mythical hydra, cabbage plants left to grow after summer harvest shoot up four new heads that mature through the mild winter months, and they may sometimes grow anew in spring.

So with all of this cabbage, how can we put them to good use? After stews, slaws, salads, and soups, you may find you still have crunchy heads turning soft in the fridge. For long-term preservation, a savvy gardener may turn to the most natural process: fermentation.

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Benefits of Fermentation

We’re surrounded by and filled with micro-organisms, so much so that even our bodily functions of digestion and health rely on bacteria. In our air, we have natural yeasts that feast on flour and water to create sourdough. On our fruits, these yeasts ferment them to wine, and on our cabbage, they create the tangy and melting delicacies of sauerkraut and kimchi.

If you’ve been interested in getting into fermentation but don’t know how much effort you can contribute, starting with sauerkraut is the safest bet, as this process takes only 3-7 days and as such, in my opinion, has one of the lowest risks of something going wrong.

Not only is it easy, fermenting cabbage will allow it to store for technically forever, but realistically several months if unsealed, and several years if sealed. We’ll discuss the nuances of this toward the end of the article.

Due to the nature of fermentation, sauerkraut improves the gut biome by introducing probiotics, which will aid digestion and promote weight loss. Plus, fermented cabbage contains vital vitamins and nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin K1, Iron, Folate, Manganese, Copper, and Potassium.^[1]WebMD, Health Benefits of Sauerkraut It is known that Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy in the late 1700’s warded off scurvy on his long voyage through the Pacific by packing nearly 8,000 pounds of sauerkraut on-board.^[2]British Library, Sauerkraut, sugar, and salt pork – the diet on board Cook’s ‘Resolution’

Easy Preparation

A few tools are required, and some simple guidelines will ensure success. To get really technical, use a kitchen scale that measures by the gram, but this process is simple enough that one may even do it by sight and feel.

• 1 fresh head of cabbage, about 900 grams (2 pounds).
• 11 grams of iodine-free salt per 453.6 grams (1 pound) of shredded cabbage. For this recipe, a 2-pound cabbage requires 22 grams, or just under 4 tsp of salt.
• Knife, cutting board, large mixing bowl, cleaned thoroughly.
• Wide-mouth quart glass jar, sanitized by boiling in water for 20 minutes. Sanitized lid for storage.
• Food-safe powder-free latex gloves (optional, but helpful!).
• Small glass jar that will fit inside the quart jar (half-pint width).
• Rubber bands.
• Cheesecloth.
• Canning equipment (optional).

Notes

• The most important thing to know when fermenting anything is that germs, dirt, and air promote mold and bacteria growth, and a salty brine prevents these things from growing (and even kills the bad bacteria!). With this in mind, wash yourself, your utensils, and your produce thoroughly (diluted vinegar or lemon juice will do the job for the produce), and keep your environment free of contaminants.
• Nevertheless, so long as you keep a salt-to-cabbage ratio of 2.25% to 2.50%^[3]UCCE Master Food Preservers of El Dorado Count by weight (calculate: 11 grams of salt divided by 453.6 grams of cabbage x 100 = 2.43% salt-to-cabbage ratio), you will have a brine that preserves the cabbage and allows the right bacteria to ferment it to sauerkraut.
• Also know that using a small-grain kosher salt is best, as iodine will eliminate the necessary bacteria for fermentation, and other additives will throw off the balance of the brine. Kosher salt is the least processed and has all of the natural minerals needed for fermentation.
• Additionally, if you’re buying non-organic cabbage from the store, it’s possible that it has been cleaned with chemicals to remove the natural bacteria from it. This may cause your fermentation to slow, but a small splash of apple cider vinegar with the mother in to clean the cabbage will help get the bacteria ball rolling!
• And finally, using a smaller clean glass jar secured by rubber bands will prevent oxygen from touching the fermenting leaves of cabbage. This will be exampled below.

Process

1. Peel off the outer layer of the cabbage before cleaning it. This will remove most bacteria.
2. Using your knife and cutting board, shred or dice the head of cabbage thinly. You may remove the thick veins in the leaves, but this is not necessary. Thick veins will make a crunchier kraut.
3. Weigh your cabbage on a food scale, zeroing out your scale for the weight of your mixing bowl.
4. Add the appropriate amount of salt for your cabbage weight, maintaining a 2.25-2.5% weight ratio (0.025 x cabbage weight = grams of salt to add).
5. With your powder-free latex gloves on, forcefully massage the salt into the shredded cabbage for about 10 minutes. The salt will draw out enough water for the brine, while entering the cabbage to preserve it. This is hard work, but a good effort will result in a healthy fermentation!
6. Pack your cabbage leaves into your quart jar, filling it nearly to the top. Be sure to pour the liquid from the bowl into your jar as well. If there is more cabbage than space, divide your batch into two jars or use excess immediately in a recipe.
7. Use a clean rubber spatula or chopsticks to brush down any pieces of cabbage that stick to the sides of the jar.
8. Place half-pint jar (or whatever small glass jar you have, like a sanitized glass soda bottle) inside quart jar on top of cabbage and gently but firmly squish it down until the liquid has squeezed above the top of the cabbage and totally immerses the pieces. Very few oxygen bubbles should remain below the smaller jar. Scrape down any floating or sticking cabbage pieces above the brine.
9. Place 1-2 layers of cheesecloth above the half-pint jar (which will be sticking out the top) and quart-sized jar. This will allow fermenting culture to enter the jar but keep particles of dirt or debris from entering the container.
10. Secure two rubber bands on top of the smaller jar and down to the bottom of the quart-sized jar. This will keep the smaller jar securely pressing down on the cabbage, and as the contents ferment, the elasticity of the rubber bands will continue to prevent against air bubbles.
11. Place your fermenting vessel in a plastic container—you’ll know the fermentation process is working when bubbles overflow out of your container! This will inevitably make a small mess, which the plastic container will contain.
12. Take the entire setup to a warm and dark place. Sunlight will kill the lactic acid-producing bacteria, and warmth will speed up the process. Allow the jar to sit for 3-7 days. Check daily to ensure pieces of cabbage have not floated above the brine, and push those back down with a clean chopstick when necessary.
13. Note: The fermenting jar will give off a sauerkraut odor. If it’s too much to handle, place your jars in a cupboard for the duration, but don’t forget about them!
14. When the fermentation process is done, the sauerkraut will lose the bright green of cabbage and take on a dim yellow. It will also be softer and taste more acidic, as one would expect from sauerkraut. The longer the jar ferments, the softer and more acidic it will become, but beware that letting it sit for so long risks bits floating above the brine and becoming contaminated, which can introduce mold spores. This is unlikely to happen within 3-7 days, but use your judgement!
15. Finally, when done, you can keep it in your fridge with a lid on tight but not sealed. This will last for 4-6 months and contain all the good bacteria for your gut. If you make several batches and eat it slower, consider canning and sealing the extra jars, though this will likely kill the probiotics. Canned sauerkraut can last 3-5 or even 10 years if stored properly.

And now you have sauerkraut! Enjoy the benefits of fresh and homemade fermented cabbage, experiment with spice add-ins, and share with friends. And don’t forget to learn to grow cabbage yourself!