How to Make Sauerkraut at Home with Any Vegetable
Hi there! It's me, the nerd who babbled so effusively about fermentation at a Bon Appétit ideas meeting that they let me write a whole damn article about it in the September issue. My one regret about that piece? I didn't get to talk about sauerkraut. And I just love talking about sauerkraut.
Sauerkraut was my gateway ferment, and it should probably be yours, too. Why? Because it practically makes itself. You know what's in sauerkraut? Cabbage and salt. That's it. All you have to do is shred the cabbage, add salt, give it all a good roughing up, and pack it into a crock or jar until it is submerged in its own briny juice. (This will happen surprisingly quickly.) Weigh the proto-kraut down, then wait a few days (or a few weeks) while the awesome probiotic organisms that were already living on the vegetable throw a crazy pickling party and transform your humble pile of cabbage into a delicious, healthful, tangy tangle of goodness. Boom, done. You just made sauerkraut.
But that's not even the best part: You can make 'kraut with almost any vegetable. (Tomatoes, however, may be too acidic.) You can apply the basic sauerkraut technique to radishes, celery, turnips, fresh herbs, hot peppers—you name it, you can 'kraut it. I've tasted all kinds of vegetables fermented in this fashion, and they've all been uniquely sensational.
Just yesterday I got to put this theory into practice. A multinational corporation (that shall remain nameless) happened to have sent our food editor, Allie Lewis Clapp, a gratuitously large cooler filled with 15 bags (!) of their new (and sort of unappealing-looking) chopped salads, and making 'kraut seemed like the obvious move. Minus the packets of dressings and shredded cheese, the contents were perfect fodder for fermentation: chopped and shredded cabbage, kale, carrots, and radishes. So we got to work.
A quick note: If you're at all concerned about the safety of making 'kraut at home, don't be. You know how many cases of people getting sick from eating fermented vegetables the USDA has recorded to date? Exactly zero.
Ferment on, you crazy diamonds.
1/7First, assemble your veg: Shred, chop, julienne, or otherwise render bite-size the vegetables you want to ferment.
2/7Hit it with the salt! As you can see, I've got my salt face on. (You can use whatever face you want, but salt face really gets me in the zone.) Use kosher, sea, or some other non-iodized salt, and toss the veg to combine well. Use lots, and taste as you go—you want it to be good and salty. Think McDonald's french fries.
3/7Now it's time to get rough. Squeeze, massage, and punch those vegetables to really work the salt into them. You're trying to draw liquid out of the vegetables, which will combine with the salt to form your brine. This may take a little bit of time, but you want everything to be totally wilted, soft, and wet.
4/7Pick up a handful and give it a good squeeze—if liquid is coming out, you're doing it right.
5/7Once everything is good and juicy, pack your 'kraut-to-be into a glass, ceramic, or food-safe plastic container (metal is a no-go; it can react with the brine).
6/7Pack the vegetables down into your fermentation vessel as hard as you can, until the whole mess is submerged under liquid. Ta-da! That's your brine. You're almost there.
7/7Put a plate (ceramic or plastic) on top of your 'kraut to weigh it down, and then put something heavy on top of that—you want to keep the veg completely submerged while it's fermenting. Cover with a towel or cheesecloth to keep out flies, leave it on the counter at room temperature, and voilà! You're on your way to homemade 'kraut! How long you let it go depends on your taste. Some people like to let it ferment for as little as a few days—I like to let it go for a few weeks, until it gets real funky. Taste occasionally, and when it's to your liking you can arrest the fermentation by transferring your 'kraut into jars and refrigerating it. If a little bit of white mold starts to form on the top of the 'kraut, don't worry about it—just scrape it off, it's harmless.
