Leslie Bartosh, CEC, AAC, FMP

 Making homemade sauerkraut is really quite easy.  Read on to see just how simple it is. Sauerkraut is rooted in food preservation.   That really is what it is.   Green cabbage preserved through the lacto-fermentation process. Traditionally, sauerkraut was made so cabbage could be consumed through the winter time when there were few fresh vegetables available.   Late summer and early fall were the traditional times for sauerkraut to be made. In today’s world, I do not need to preserve food.   But I enjoy doing so.   There is a certain amount of satisfaction that comes from eating a food I produced.   And, in the case of sauerkraut, it is also a very healthy food to consume.   It is nutrient dense providing many nutrients with few kcalories; it is a natural source of probiotics, and it is high in fiber. In its simplest form, Sauerkraut is made with only two ingredients:   fresh cabbage and salt.   The cabbage is shredded and mixed with salt. Ideally the cabbage is very fresh

  Smoked pork and beef sausage; parsley potatoes; pickled beet salad; with house made sauerkraut and coarse ground mustard from black mustard seed.   This dish combines many flavors that I really enjoy.   I like the fact that most of the items on the plate were made in house. In normal times even the sausage would have been house made.   But, with refrigerator failures and supply chain issues, these are not normal times. The parley potatoes were the norm.   Boiled red potatoes tossed with whole butter and house dried parsley. The beet salad was my mother in laws recipe.   Even I don’t know it!   Perhaps one day I will be cleared for this knowledge!   The sauerkraut on the other hand, I can tell you about.   This was a raw sauerkraut in the sense that it had not been canned or cooked prior to this meal. Sauerkraut uses a lacto fermentation process.   Shredded green cabbage is mixed with salt and allowed to sit (ferment) at room temperature, until you are satisfied with the