Time to make sauerkraut


You need cabbage, crocks, a scale, a shredder, and the right kind of salt

Making sauerkraut is not my favorite chore. Shredding the cabbage is tedious, and bits of cabbage go everywhere. I did the job out on the deck to keep the mess out of the kitchen. I use Harsch crocks, which are made in Germany especially for making sauerkraut. The Prago cabbage shredder requires a lot of manual work, but it does the job and gets the cabbage exactly the right thickness for sauerkraut.

I made 15 pounds of sauerkraut today, from cabbage bought in Virginia. I used a little more salt than last time — 3 tablespoons per 10 pounds of cabbage. Next spring I hope to make sauerkraut from my own homegrown organic cabbage.

The first tasting should be in early December.


Shredded and in the crock


I keep the crocks under a table near the kitchen

3 thoughts on “Time to make sauerkraut”

  1. In the past, I’ve attempted to make coleslaw with my Cuisinart, but I find that it’s almost impossible to keep from chopping the cabbage too fine. Some people recommend mandolins, but I find my mandolin next to useless. My vintage Wearever salad maker ( https://acornabbey.com/blog/?p=288 ) does a great job of making coleslaw, but I wouldn’t want to shred 15 pounds of cabbage with it. I’ve tried to investigate what restaurants use to chop cabbage, but as far as I can tell they use a machine that costs about $5,000. So I honestly don’t know of a affordable electric device that shreds cabbage well. And the only manual device I know of that works for bulk sauerkraut is the Prago shredder. If anyone has solutions to this problem, I’d love to know!

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