Sauerkraut in a jar – how to cook crispy and without bitterness

Sauerkraut is an extremely tasty and easy-to-prepare dish. Moreover, it is believed to be not only an excellent snack, but also a supplier of useful vitamins.

The FoodOboz editorial team will share a delicious sauerkraut recipe and all the secrets of sauerkraut.

Preparation for sauerkraut

Medium-late or late varieties of cabbage are best suited for the fermentation process. Choose dense heads with strong leaves. Don't use heads of cabbage with noticeable signs of decay or those that have been eaten by pests. You should also be responsible when choosing a container. The ideal option would be wooden barrels in which our grandmothers used to ferment cabbage. If you don't have one, it's okay, you can use enamel containers or glass jars of 3 liters and 5 liters.

To ferment cabbage, we need the following ingredients:

• Cabbage - 2 kg
• Carrots - 2 pieces
• Salt - 4 tbsp
• Sugar - 2 tbsp
• Allspice - 9 peas
• Bay leaves - 2 pcs
• Water - 2.5 liters

Method of preparation:

1. First, prepare the marinade: pour water into a saucepan, and add salt, sugar, bay leaves, and pepper. Bring to a boil and leave to cool.
2. Shred the cabbage using a special shredder or a knife.
3. Grate the carrots, mix them with the cabbage, and knead everything well with your hands. This way, the vegetables will release their juice faster.
4. Put the cabbage and carrots in jars and cover them completely with the marinade.
5. Leave the cabbage in a warm place for 3-4 days and occasionally mash it with a knife. This way, excess gas bubbles will be released and the cabbage will not have an unpleasant bitterness.

The dish goes perfectly with vegetables, and fruits, as well as fried and pickled mushrooms.

Little tricks:

• To make sauerkraut crispy, you need to observe the proportions: add 1 tbsp of salt to 1 kg of sauerkraut.
• Store sauerkraut at a temperature of 0 to 2 degrees.
• Carrots set off the overall flavor of sauerkraut and accelerate fermentation. If necessary, it can be completely excluded from the recipe, or the amount can be reduced.
• You can add some cranberries to the cabbage, which will give the dish a pleasant sourness.
• It is best to serve sauerkraut with chopped onions and drizzle with oil.
• After a while, during the fermentation process, an unwanted sourness appears in the cabbage. It can be easily removed by rinsing under running water.