We've just had another whopping cabbage arrive in our veggie box this week. I sort of went into denial having barely finished our cabbage from a few weeks ago (see '5 ways to deal with a large cabbage'). Since I couldn't even fit the cabbage into our tiny fridge, it was left on the counter and ignored.
On Sunday a kindly neighbour dropped off a whole box of mason jars, as she knows I'm eager to make some jam (at R35 a kilo of farm berries, who wouldn't?) and fiddle around. Anyhow I unpacked all the jars on the counter and plonked them next to the orphan cabbage.
Later, when admiring the jars and wondering how I was going to fill them all - I suddenly had a Euraka moment: Sauerkraut, I thought!
Now I must confess that I've never made Sauerkraut before and every recipe I looked at was different to the last one, but I've gone with one called Easy Sauerkraut and we'll see what happens. Apparently this recipe can be eaten immediately, but according to the Kitchn, you need to leave it at least 3 days as it has to ferment a bit and the uber Bavarian Grandmother recipes demand at least 6 weeks for the sauerkraut to be sour enough to eat.
Easy Sauerkraut
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 medium cabbage, shredded
1 1/4 cups cider vinegar
1/4 apple cider (I used Savannah)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Method
- In a large saucepan, fry the onion in the oil until translucent
- Add all the ingredients and bring to the boil
- Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes until the cabbage is tender
- Have mason jar ready (sterilised and hot) and ensure that sufficient liquid covers the cabbage
- Seal lid. Make sure it clicks.
- Ready to eat, but I'm sure it improves with age
Brilliant with any German sausages and on sandwiches - pastrami on rye with homemade sauerkraut sounds good.
Oompah.
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