Making Sauerkraut: Part Two

A very useful item for making sauerkraut is a fermenting pot, pictured above.  This was delivered to our house one day earlier this summer.

One night after the kids went to bed, Dan and I got to work preparing the cabbage to go into the fermenting pot.  Here is our equipment.

Some of the cabbages.

I washed them, peeled off the outer layers and cut them into quarters.  Then I cut out the cores.

Dan used the mandolin slicer set on shred to get all the cabbage shredded.  Much faster than shredding it with a knife!

Here's all the shredded cabbage, 18 heads worth.  Wow, that's a lot!

Then working in 5 pound increments, we mixed in sea salt and caraway seeds.

After letting the mixture sit for a while, Dan put it into the big pot and tamped it down with this big wooden thing he made.

Here the pot is fully loaded with 25 pounds of shredded cabbage mixed with sea salt and caraway seeds.  On top of the shredded cabbage are first a layer of cabbage leaves, then two heavy weights.  On top of those went cooled salt water that had been boiled, to cover the weights by 1-3 inches.  Then the lid went on and water was placed in the circular trough you see on top of the pot, to create a water seal so no air could get into the fermenting pot.  Then it was time to wait for fermentation.

Stay tuned for the final installment, Making Sauerkraut:  Part Three!