By now, I'm sure everyone understands that I have a preserving/canning passion within me. Shoot......i'll can almost anything I can get my hands on, because it's a whole lot better than anything you buy in the grocery stores. The spring cabbage harvest yielded a little bit more than 10 lbs. after coring and shredding it, and I just had to make some homemade sauerkraut! The recipe I used is from the Michigan State Extension system, because it was the simplest one to me! I let it ferment in a 5 gallon bucket with a towel covering it, and kept the temperature in the house at about 73 degrees. After 24 days of working, it was time to can it! WooHoo!
Photo below - here's what it looked like after the towel was removed....Under the bottle of vinegar (used as a weight) is a dinner plate, which keeps pressure on the cabbage. You see.....the weight squishes the juice out.
Photo below - here's what it looked like after the plate was removed. Although it's appearance doesn't look too great, it tastes fabulous! That just goes to show....looks ain't everything sometimes.
Photo below - The fermented cabbage and juices were placed into a pot (I always use my parent's old pressure cooker), and allowed to boil for about 30 minutes - while stirring occasionally.
Photo below - While everything was being used already for canning, I went ahead and made 4 quarts of bread and butter pickles, too! The jar of kraut without the lid was given to my parents after cooling, and put into their refrigerator with a lid on it. Properly fermented sauerkraut will last for 2 months after being opened, then placed in the refrigerator. Boy....that kraut will be good on hotdogs and brats, I bet!
Anyway, that's what got canned this week. In a couple more weeks, i'll probably make more pickles! Woo doggie!!!!
Take care, and happy preserving!
EG
15 comments:
I'd love a taste of your home-brew sauerkraut, but since Hubby won't touch it with a 10-ft. pole, and even complains very loudly and continually if I so much as open an itty-bitty can for a hot dog, it probably wouldn't do for me to try that.
Sigh...I sometimes wonder, if I'd known that he was such a picky eater, would I have married him? I have to say, vote's still undecided on that one!
MMM. I love it! The boy asks for "white hotdogs" often and we're happy to oblige.
What's your receipe for making bread and butter pickles?
sb - we have some picky eaters in my family, too. My parents eat kraut like crazy, though!
ribbit - I use the mix from walmart - usually Mrs. Wages, or Ball. A good ol' kraut dog is really good with mustard and ketchup.
Yukky on the sauerkraut. Mr. H loves it though, so I oblige him and buy it in a jar...yes, I used to make it, but now I'm retired! Bread & butter pickles are something we both love, and the only reason I have 5 buckets of cucumbers growing this year!
Granny - I just had to try the homemade kraut, because I've never done it before. It's good stuff! However, the smell of it is still in the house....oops! Bread and butter are our favorites, too. I'll make tons of them hopefully.
Your canning looks great EG.
My parents used to make sauerkraut. YUCK. I detest it. However homemade pickles are to die for. I'm so sad my cucumbers are doing so poorly this year. It has been in the 60s most of June so they just aren't growing. I want pickles so badly. I've decided since I might not get cucumbers, I'm going to have to pickle my snap peas instead.
WOW...you had quite the harvest to get all that canned!! I can't wait until my fall cabbage planting now. I am thinking of doing a jar of pickled okra, as my plants are being quite productive at the moment.
I also got my first red tomato this week, as well as a few small yellow pear tomatos. I can't wait, as I have at least another 20 or so green ones preparing to ripen!!
Good luck on the rest of the harvest!
Dan, thanks!
Daphne - I'm so sorry about your cucumbers. Snap beans might be pretty good!
Eric - good for you! No ripe tomatoes here, yet. I'll probably try pickling some okra this year, because my wife really likes it.
The last time I tried sauerkraut, I didn't like it, although I like the _idea_ of it.
Maybe like so many things, homegrown is that much better.
Stefaneener - I've eaten it my whole life, as my mom frequently made kraut and weiners.
EG -- great job! I also love to can and freeze our bounty from the garden. You are right, it just tastes so much better than what you can buy in the grocery store. Thanks for sharing!
Boy, I get busy for a weekend and I miss 13 posts on your canning of your kraut. Well done man! Wish you had had more. I bet you can't get enough of them. Glad you could share them with your folks.
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