Designer Sauerkraut

My husband announced over the weekend that the huge crock of sauerkraut I helped him make at the end of October was finally ready to eat. It’s been fermenting away in our basement all that time with my husband dutifully checking on it every couple of days. (Sauerkraut develops foam as it ferments and it has to be skimmed off and discarded.) Anyway, I was psyched to hear this pronouncement and quickly volunteered to help my hubby spoon the kraut into Ziploc bags so we could freeze it – keeping some on the side for our dinner of course.

I thought my plan sounded like a winner, and it was definitely the easy way to go, but my husband had something else in mind. He decided he wanted to kick it up a notch and cold pack the kraut in Mason jars. (The man thinks he’s Emeril Lagasse!) I patiently explained to him that we lacked some essential ingredients – canning jars and lids – and pointed out that it wouldn’t be cost efficient to buy those things since we already owned a year’s supply of Ziploc bags and our freezer is half empty. His sly smile told me I was in trouble. He casually mentioned that our son-in-law had given him the necessary jars and lids the last time we visited him. Darn! I was committed and couldn’t back out now.

Anyway, the whole procedure went better than I expected and I hardly broke a sweat - my husband was going stir crazy and filled with excess energy after the long holiday weekend and he declined my offer! (Santa will have to bring him an especially nice gift this year.) The homemade sauerkraut is delicious and we have enough quarts to cook together with pork on New Years, give to friends and family, and enjoy till next fall when it’s time to make more.

Oh, one other thing. Did I tell you I convinced my husband to add one purple cabbage to the crock the day we made it? I told him I thought it would add a nice contrast to the green cabbage. It did, and the results are below. The sauerkraut is pink – my favorite color!