From Grown & Gathered by Matt & Pickle
Makes 2 x 1L jars
20 minutes + 5-7 days fermenting
- 2kg white cabbage, finely sliced (on a mandolin if you have one)
- 2 large outer leaves reserved, unsliced
- 2 tablespoons unrefined salt
Day 1: Combine cabbage and slat in a big mixing bowl and massage thoroughly and firmly with your hands for about 5 minutes or until the salt begins to draw out liquid from the cabbage. Stuff into two 1 litre jars, pushing down hard to extract the liquid out of the cabbage.
Stuff a reserved cabbage leave in the top of each jar to keep the sliced cabbage totally submerged in the extracted liquid. Put the lids in place but don’t fully tighten them. Sit the jars on a plate (liquid will spill over the lips of the jars during fermentation) and leave to sit for 5-7 days at room temperature.
Day 5: Remove sacrificial leaves and have a taste of the cabbage underneath. When ready, your sauerkraut will be sharply acidic and smell very cabbagey, but it shouldn’t smell ‘off’ at all. The cabbage should still be crunchy.
If your cabbage has turned soft, or black or colourful moulds have developed, something has gone wrong and the batch should be discarded. If a little white mould develops at the surface that’s totally fine, just scrape it away and discard. Once ready, discard the sacrificial leaves and store your sauerkraut in the fridge.