Kraut night!

Ever since we got back from Munich in 2009, we've made our own sauerkraut.  We went to the Salt Lake farmer's market on Saturday morning to get our cabbage and got to work tonight.  I remember the task seeming so daunting the first year.  Now, it seems like no big deal at all.  Tonight we had our 3rd annual kraut night after dinner while Matthew ate scraps under the table (see previous post) and Andrew helped load up the food processor.   4-6 weeks from now we will get to have a canning night and preserve our kraut to use in reubens, with sausages/brats on the grill, and we'll probably make some pierogies too!  Here's some photos of the fun:

First, you cut up the cabbage and shred it with the food processor.

Then, you dump the shredded cabbage (in batches) into a food grade bucket or fermentation crock:

Next, add salt and stir it all up.  The salt draws the water out of the cabbage and then you weight it down with a plate and some weights so that the cabbage is fully submerged under the liquid.  After 4-6 weeks, it's ready!

We highly recommend you enlist the help of an almost-three-year-old.  They're pretty good at pushing the button on the food processor, picking out the pieces that are too big, and stirring in such a way that pieces of cabbage fly all over the floor.