Home made Sauerkraut

Yogurt improves digestive health because it contains beneficial bacteria, called probiotics or microflora. Probiotics also aid proper development of the immune system, help digestion of food and absorption of nutrients, and produce vitamins, absorb minerals and eliminate toxins.

Other than yogurt, we can choose to eat other fermented foods such as Lassi (an Indian yogurt drink), fermented milk (kefir), or pickled/fermentation cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots, and natto (fermented soy).

Most store bought fermented foods are pasteurized which kills the naturally occurring probiotics. So I chose to make homemade sauerkraut. I got my organic cabbage from a local farm and I am using non-bleached unrefined all natural sea salt.

I will continue to report on the fermentation process of my sauerkraut.


Ingredients
5 pounds cabbage
3 tablespoon salt

Preparation
1) Shred cabbage using food processor.
2) Sprinkle salt on the cabbage as you go. The salt pulls water out of the cabbage (through osmosis), and this creates the brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting.
3) Transfer cabbage into a crock-pot. Cover the kraut with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly inside the crock. Press down on the weight to add pressure to the cabbage and help force water out of it.
4) Leave the crock to ferment.
5) Check the kraut every day or two. The volume reduces as the fermentation proceeds. Sometimes mold appears on the surface, a result of contact with the air. Skim what you can off of the surface.
6) Taste the kraut. Generally it starts to be tangy after a few days, and the taste gets stronger as time passes. And enjoy!