Basic Sauerkraut Recipe
Running a fermentation business, means I do fermentation all year around but even for me, this time of the year, I am never far from my kitchen… Just the other day I rescued 6 boxes of tomatoes from an organic grower that needed space in their polytunnel – cue me prepping tomatoes for a week.
If you ever considered making fermented foods yourself, I would say this is the best time to try it. It is an easy enough process and very fun to make too.
This a standard sauerkraut recipe using cabbage as a base. You can add to it, using carrots, peppers, beetroot or any other odd end of vegetables you have lurking at the back of your fridge – as long as it not mouldy.
- 1kg of the brassica of your choice: any kind of cabbage, Brussel sprouts, Chinese Leaf or a mix of all of them, sliced. Keep one outer leave to be used as weight.
- 1 apple
- 2 tbsp of cinnamon
- 1 nub of ginger grated
- ½ cup of cranberries or other dried fruit (optional)
- 1 tsp of chilli powder (optional)
- Salt – rock or sea salt
Prepare your ingredients and weight them. You want to use 2% of salt for the total weight of your ingredients.
Massage the salt onto the vegetables for about 5 minutes, you will notice the vegetables will go down a lot, and lot of water will come out: this is going the make up your brine.