- Category: Appetizers, Fermented, Sides
- Tags: Autumn, Beginner, Easy, Fall, Fermentation, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetable, Vegetarian
A Beginner-Friendly Guide to Fermenting Cabbage with Just Salt and Time
Easy homemade sauerkraut is one of the simplest fermented foods you can make at home. With just cabbage, salt, and a little time, fresh vegetables transform into something tangy, flavorful, and full of character. The process may sound mysterious, but it’s actually very straightforward—and a great introduction to fermentation.
In this recipe, the cabbage releases its own natural brine, creating the perfect environment for beneficial microbes to do their work. All you need to do is keep the cabbage submerged and let time take care of the rest. Once your kraut reaches the tangy flavor you like, it’s ready to enjoy on sandwiches, grain bowls, sausages, or anywhere you want a bright, crunchy bite.
Watch the video below to learn how to make it, or scroll down to the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 lbs cabbage (green or purple)
- 1 to 11/2 Tbsp unrefined salt
Equipment:
- 1/2-gallon jar or 2 quart jars (wide mouth)
- A weight that fits inside the jar (such as a washed and boiled rock, or a 1/2-pint jar filled with water.
- A cloth cover (such as a tea towel)
Optional Equipment:
- A kraut pounder or similar stout, food-safe pounder
- Specialty weights (“pickle pebbles”)
- Airlocks
Instructions:
- Chop or grate the cabbage. How fine or coarse is entirely a matter of personal preference.
- Transfer the cabbage to a large unbreakable bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Start with around a tablespoon of salt, toss it all together, and taste. If it’s not salty enough, add more.
- Massage the cabbage or pound it with a kraut pounder until it is bruised and starts to release its liquid. Pack the cabbage—including any liquid!—into your jar(s), tamping it down with your fingers or the kraut pounder.
- Place a weight into the jar and press down on it to help force liquid out of the cabbage. Keep doing this as often as you can manage over the next 24 hours. By this time, the brine should completely cover the cabbage. (If it doesn’t, add some salt water to raise the brine above the cabbage, in a ratio of about 1 Tbsp salt to 1 cup water, completely dissolved.)
- Cover with a cloth or airlock and leave to ferment. Check it every couple of days and skim off any scum or bloom that forms on the surface. Rinse the weight and replace it. Start tasting after a few days. Once it has become pleasantly tangy, enjoy! How long this takes depends largely on the temperature. In a cool room, this can take a couple of weeks or more. In the summer (or in a warm room), this may only take a week or less. At this point you can put a lid on the jar and store it in the fridge.
Variations:
Sauerkraut is wildly adjustable. The addition of juniper berries and caraway seed is a classic option, or try whole or sliced garlic cloves. Seaweeds like kombu or wakame are great additions, too. The addition of fruit like apples or cranberries (fresh or dried) is common in parts of Europe; we’ve used dried goji berries. You could also add other shredded vegetables like carrots or beets to replace some of the cabbage. Curtido is typically pickled in vinegar rather than fermented in brine, but it’s easy to make a fermented version by adding sliced jalapeños, onions, and carrots to sauerkraut. Sauerrüben is another variant that entirely replaces the cabbage with turnips or rutabagas.
