I’ve recently come into possession of a large number of Mason jars. Being a fan of sauerkraut and knowing of Lemmy’s significant German/Czech populatuon, I’d like to ask how you make the best sauerkraut. What do you add beyond salt and cabbage? How do you store it?
I suppose this may also apply to kimchi and other pickled foods, too!
My step-grandmother made it in a 10 gallon barrel and used the end of a baseball bat to pound it down. Then put an ancient plate with bricks on it to keep it compressed while it cured. Sadly that seems to be all I remember.
Damn, that’s a lotta cabbage. I’d guess this was more a harvesttime affair, with the goal of getting through all the crops before they spoiled?
Yeah. The generations older than me in my family never got over the great depression. So late summer was always about pickling and canning. Then the family spent the fall trading their canned goods. Then spent the spring talking about which things were and weren’t so good.