It smells rotten in my house!!

A few weeks ago, Daddy went to a place called Osage located in Dillard, GA, and got a TON of cabbage - like maybe 25 lbs?? - for making chow chow since his tomatoes were coming in heavy. He had a few heads left over from this, so he gave me a couple of them. And these were HUGE heads of cabbage! There was no way that my family of 3 could eat all of that before the cabbage would go bad. What did I do? I made sauerkraut, of course!

What is sauerkraut? How does one make sauerkraut? Sauerkraut is rotted fermented cabbage. The only ingredients in homemade sauerkraut are cabbage and salt. Now, the method for making kraut varies greatly from person to person.**

Here's how I did mine:

Using my food processor, I shredded my cabbage finely. I then put my shredded cabbage into a food-safe container, added about 2 tsp of salt, and mixed them together well. I allowed the cabbage/salt to sit for 15 minutes to allow the salt to draw out the water from the cabbage and create a brine. After the 15 minutes were up, I squished the cabbage down to bring the brine to a level about 1" above the cabbage. At this point, I weighed down the cabbage using a plate with mason jars filled with water, covered with a clean kitchen towel, and placed in a cool/dark place. Every morning, I skimmed the nasty scum off the top and recovered with the towel. After a week, I tested the "doneness" of the kraut by tasting it. When I got the "kraut" taste, I was ready to can. (If I hadn't gotten that taste, I would have simply recovered and allowed it to ferment a bit longer. It can take up to 6 weeks to ferment.) Using the hot pack method, I filled 9 pint jars with kraut, leaving 1" headspace in each jar. I then processed them for 15 minutes using a water canner.

**Note: I got my recipe & directions from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which is available on Amazon for $23 (hardcover).