Categories: Canning & Pickling, Czech Family Recipes, Vegetables

Ingredients

• 20 pounds cabbage, shredded
• 1 1/2 cups canning salt
• 1 gallon boiling distilled water
• fresh dill
• caraway seed

Directions

1. Place shredded cabbage in large 32 quart size plastic container or ice chest.

2. Bring water and salt to boil, pour over cabbage in the container. Stir to cover cabbage. The cabbage will wilt from the heat and then will compress and water will cover cabbage.

3. Allow to cool.

4. In each jar you can place 1 teaspoon caraway seed. (Personally I think this is too much if you have fresh dill. If you don’t have fresh dill, and you really should use fresh dill; put the teaspoon of caraway seed in jar after half filled with cabbage.)

5. Fill each jar lightly with the cabbage. Add head of dill with stems, leaves and seed heads to each jar.

6. Then finish packing jar, leaving about 1 inch headroom.

7. Bring the brine left in the container back to a boil and fill each jar, seal tightly with new lids and rings.

8. Place full jars into a plastic tub or large paper box that has been lined with old newspapers.

9. Place outside in a shady place…out of direct sunlight and where air can circulate around the box (not in your garage). You should be sure no light hits the jars…if in a clear plastic tub, it needs to be lined with newspaper so light doesn’t get through.

10. The sauerkraut will now begin the fermenting process. For the first 3 or 4 days you will need to change the paper at least once a day…after that, the sauerkraut should no longer seep or leak.

11. It takes about 12 weeks for the sauerkraut to complete the fermentation process in the winter, about 6 weeks during warmer weather.

12. Once fermentation has been completed you can open and cook your sauerkraut as desired.

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