Cabbage Patch

The cabbage patch is bursting with nice heads of cabbage.  We like cabbage, but still one can only eat so much cabbage at one time.  The outside leaves are a beloved treat for Agnes and Bob.Agnes deserves some treats as she is such a good Mama Cow and the little girls are doing remarkably well!With cabbage on hand, I was feeling adventurous….and so I decided to try to make sour kraut.  The ingredient list took me by surprise…ready?  Cabbage and salt.  Good salt, not just salt-salt, so I sprung for a big box of ‘good’ salt.An impressive knife helps and good hand-washing supplies, because the directions included ‘massaging’ the cabbage until it begins to release its liquid.Smashing is also an important part of making sour kraut, as you have to smash the cabbage down tight into the jar.  As you can tell this is a fairly high brow kind of thing…it takes cabbage and salt, you massage it, smash it down and after a couple of days you burp it.  Seriously!  As the cabbage naturally ferments, it creates a gas and every few days, you must release the gas (burb the sour kraut) so it doesn’t explode.We love sour kraut and I am planning on making more, after all…I have the salt!

Here’s my shout out to my friend gardener/cook Mama P, who I thought would be most impressed that I made sour kraut…at least until she saw the ingredient list!