Super Sauerkraut

Growing your own cabbages? Got cabbages coming out your ears? Time to make sauerkraut! It’s a digestive wonderfood, AND it’s super easy to make! No long, expensive steps… easy! As the cabbage ferments, it produces a colony of beneficial bacteria which is good for your tummy, and of course, it’s also so, so yummy!

This Spring was a rather wet one, and my cabbage crop loved every drop of rain, growing huge and healthy. It meant I had eight heads of cabbage all ready to harvest within a week, so knowing we would never be able to eat them all within that time, I set about preserving them one by one, into superlicious sauerkraut.

Ingredients:

One head of cabbage

1 TBspn Himalayan (pink) salt ( or sea salt)

Yup, its that simple!

Method:

Cut cabbage in half, remove the hard heart and place cabbage on flat side. Finely slice cabbage halves and place in large bowl. Sprinkle salt over cabbage and start to massage cabbage (about 10 minutes) till it goes limp and starts to secrete lots of liquid. I do this in two halves, halving the salt for each batch. When cabbage is ready, pack into clean, dry jars. Use a tamper (kitchen tool to push or squash the cabbage down firmly in jars.

To help the fermentation process, it is vital that the cabbage is totally covered in the liquid brine. I cut small plastic disks from old plastic ice cream container lids, to fit the jars. Place your small plastic disk on top of the cabbage in jar, and weight it down. I have smooth round river rocks which does the job beautifully. If you are using rocks, wash them well in soapy water and allow to dry in the sun.

Label sauerkraut with the date, leave them out on a shelf for a week, before refrigerating. There should be no signs of mould, if you see any, scoop it out before it spoils your sauerkraut batch. This can happen if the bottles were not scrupulously clean, or there was cabbage not under the liquid. Once fermented, this keeps in the fridge for up to a year! After a couple of weeks, the sauerkraut is ready to eat! Easy Peasy!

Health Benefits:

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Improves immune system

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Good for digestion

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Good source of dietary fibre

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Good source of Vitamin C (antioxidant) and Vitamin K (blood clotting)

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Supports brain function

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High antioxidant properties (cancer fighting

Sauerkraut with river rock to weight it down.

Experimentation with red cabbage….

Yay, we have 6 bottles stored in the fridge! Here’s to a healthy and happy New Year! Arohanui, Jizzy

#easysauerkrautrecipe #healthbenefitsofsauerkraut #simplesauerkraut