Polish Sauerkraut
Simple and very flavorful, homemade sauerkraut can be a thing of culinary beauty.
Growing up there was always sauerkraut around. It would be used to dress up a hot dog or to cook with a pork loin for New Year’s Day, I loathed it. I detested the taste, the smell, even the look of it; it’s a wonder that I ever grew up wanting to make my own. But in time, we all change and now I can really appreciate a good sauerkraut. In finally enjoying sauerkraut, I realized a really good sauerkraut worth talking about is very hard to come by. I know what you may be thinking, is sauerkraut really worth talking about in the first place? When it’s done right it can be.
I gave this simple side dish the attention it deserves. Taking care to craft a beautifully seasoned sauerkraut by painstakingly massaging salt into the cabbage and flavoring it with a traditional inclusion, caraway. These little attention details really go a long way into making this flavorful Polish side dish.
Polish Sauerkraut
3 lbs. green cabbage, shredded or chopped
3 TBSP kosher salt
1 TBSP whole caraway seeds
In a very large bowl or bin, combine your shredded or chopped cabbage, caraway and kosher salt. With both hands, mix and rub the salt into the cabbage. The goal is to get the salt to extract as much liquid out of the cabbage as possible in order to make the sauerkraut brine.
Let the cabbage sit for 40 minutes, it should start feeling limp and start to excrete some water. Now this is where the real workout begins, from this point you need to work the cabbage by pressing and squeezing with your hands. This process takes a very long time so you may need to take breaks from working the cabbage. I would take an hour break in between to allow the cabbage to weep out its water. You want to get enough water from the cabbage to be able to cover it.
Once you have enough cabbage water and got a good workout, it’s time to pack it into your jars for fermentation. Pack your cabbage as tight as you can into wide mouth jars, this should be enough cabbage to fill two quart jars. When packing my jars I pressed the cabbage down with the bottom of a pint jelly jar. Top your pressed down cabbage with your cabbage water and seal loosely with the jar lids and rings. Don’t tighten the lids too much otherwise too much pressure will collect in the jars from the fermentation process. I made this mistake and I had bubbly cabbage water all over my kitchen counter.
Store in a cool dark place to ferment for 3-4 weeks, checking frequently for signs of fermentation and/or mold. During the sauerkraut’s wellness checks also make sure the cabbage remains submerged under the water. If it does float up to the surface just press it down with the back of a spoon.
The sauerkraut is done when cabbage smells like a vinegary brine and has a sour flavor. Clean the rims of the jars with a warm damp cloth, cover with a clean lid and store in the fridge. Enjoy your homemade sauerkraut and be proud of your accomplishment!