Sauerkraut Making: Part Three

Our first ever batch of sauerkraut sat in the fermenting pot for 3 weeks and 2 days.  Since it had to be at a somewhat cooler temperature, we kept it in the downstairs bathroom with the door shut, which kept the room at 68 degrees.  We had read that it can get stinky making sauerkraut, but we could not smell a thing using the fermenting pot!

Here is Anne with a bowl of raw sauerkraut.  We put almost a gallon of sauerkraut straight into the fridge.

Catherine samples the sauerkraut.

The twins take a taste test.

Joseph likes it, too!  All the kids liked it fairly well.

While Anthony was taking his afternoon nap, Dan and I prepared the rest of the sauerkraut for canning.  Here is the setup.  See the lobster pot of boiling water on the turkey fryer base?  Dan figured that out when we did our first canning a couple years ago.  It fits 7 quart jars, heats up quickly, and keeps the heat out of the kitchen.

We warmed up batches of sauerkraut on the grill burner.

Then we packed it into the hot jars.

After I put on the lids and rings, Dan put the jars in the boiling water for 20 minutes.  Here are the 13 jars that this first batch made. 

One type of Reuben sandwich we made: Toasted Rye bread, Swiss cheese, Tomatoes from our garden, and our Sauerkraut.  Oh, were they good! 

We've also done sauerkraut with bacon; sauerkraut with polish sausage, fried apples and onions; and sauerkraut on hotdogs.  All of these were delicious.  And a second batch of shredded cabbage is currently sitting in the fermenting pot, turning into more yummy sauerkraut.  It tastes much better than the store-bought kind!