Tips for making Sauerkraut
- Experiment with Flavors
For a straight-up sauerkraut, you need only cabbage. But Lukas and her team also regularly add other sliced vegetables or fruit, including carrots, fennel,
and apples. She suggests a mix of 75 percent cabbage to 25 percent
other produce. She also suggests skipping cucumbers or zucchini; enzymes
they contain make the kraut lose its crispness.
- Watch the Temperature
Sauerkraut
ferments best in a cool, dark place at a temperature that is
consistently 64 to 70 degrees. In hot weather, let the jars stand in a
dark corner in the back of a closet. At cool times of the year, a
cupboard above the refrigerator is a safe bet.
- Check on the Brine
It
is important that the cabbage stay submerged in liquid. If the brine
bubbles out during fermentation, replace it with a solution of coarse
salt dissolved in filtered water, using a ratio of one tablespoon to one
cup.
- Open the Jar
After five days, open and
close the lid quickly to release air (specifically, carbon dioxide)
from the jar. Repeat every five days or so during the three weeks of
fermentation.
