Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Cabbage Day!

Not being Irish, Catholic, nor interested in drinking green beer... I don't have much cause to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. But there is always cabbage on sale this time of year. Cabbage means sauerkraut and now that I know anyone can make sauerkraut at home... baby, I LOVE this time of year!

Last fall I learned "how to" and now I'm hooked.  I got a couple of really big cabbages, some wide mouthed jars, and the recipe from Nourishing Traditions and I had at making kraut at home.

Now these are some really big cabbages!

All you really need is some fresh cabbage, a potato masher, a big bowl, some salt and maybe some whey. How easy is that? Pretty much you shred the cabbage, mash it up until all juice is released, and then pack it in jars.

Everything you need to make sauerkraut

The only tricky part is that you may need to add some salted water to cover the cabbage packed in the jars unless you have enough juice from the mashing. Then pretty much that's it. The next step is to let the sealed jars sit on the counter for 3 to 5 days to ferment. After those fermenting days are up just stick the jars in the back of the fridge until its ready. "Ready" depends on how you like it. I waited several months and it was spectacular. Its nothing like store-bought...home made kraut is crunchy and delish. Mine was a little salty but I just rinsed it a bit. 


So now you know. Grab your Shillelagh and run on down and load up on some cabbage!

Happy Thursday everyone!

11 comments:

Grandpa said...

Yes, I'm all for round cabbage and sauerkraut day!

Over at The Farm a storm just broke the biggest branch of one of my durian trees. Ah well...it's one of those things.

Take care, and enjoy that sauerkraut pal.

Robin said...

You've got some mighty fine looking cabbages there girl :) I just love homemade sauerkraut!! I make mine the old way though....putting it in a big crock or glass container and let it ferment in the basement.

Autumn said...

Woot! Cabbage! I love cabbage, cooked every way BUT sauerkraut. My favorite thing to eat that has cabbage in it is Haluski, a polish dish that is cooked cabbage and noodles. (Especially with homemade noodles, nothing better!)

Mr. H. said...

Sounds wonderful, being half Irish I do like my kraut. We did up a lot of red cabbage kraut this past year and really liked that too...actually it is my new favorite but my wife prefers the green. Happy thursday and enjoy that fermented cabbage.:)

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

You make it sound so easy :o) but the waiting is what gets you down :o).. I Noticed that nice large green pot on the side is that what you use too?

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

WOW! those are some large heads of cabbage, should make a lot of kraut. I like your recipe and wonder if I should add some carraway seeds?

Hi, I'm Mary... said...

Yum, looks good! Thanks for reminding me that today is Paddy day! Wow. LOL

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

I was sure I left a comment about those large cabbage heads :o) I don't think I've ever seen one that large! Maybe it was grown in Texas :o)...I read the recipe for the kraut and I like the idea of the Caraway seeds, I think I'll add it . I put up 3 heads of cabbage and it has shrunk so much, I may not have enough :o) I'll just have to buy more and keep it going...

Anonymous said...

Well the Irish do love their cabbage, almost as much as potatoes :-)

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Oh geez.. looks like I missed a day.

Grandpa, I'll be right over to have a camp out with the rest of the grandkids. I'm sure they will enjoy the fire from your broken tree limb.

Thats what they say, Robin
;-)

Hi Autumn! I didnt like kraut until we made it. What a difference!

Hi Ginny - I think my comments were on "over drive"! And yes, you can put caraway in it.

Contadina - the only thing better than making your own kraut is canning 'taters!

Summersweet Farm said...

What a timely post. I just bought a cabbage and decided to make kraut!

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