How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut - A Delicious Probiotics Rich Side Dish for Gut Health

Hello dear friends, I am Mary from Mary's Nest, calm down, and here on my YouTube channel I share traditional recipes to prepare nutrient-dense foods using simple ingredients and today I will show you how to

make

homemade

sauerkraut

, it is a wonderful

side

dish

and

rich

in

probiotics

. today's

dish

to

make

this

homemade

sauerkraut

. I'm going to use green cabbage, but you can also use red cabbage before you start. I just want to tell you that if you are new to my channel, welcome and if you like to learn more about traditional food cooking, please subscribe to my channel and click the little notification bell below and that will alert you every time I upload a new video , let's start first.

I want to talk about this green cabbage, this is organic and I think it was. about $2.99, but if organic isn't in your price range, don't worry, you can buy non-organic cabbage and just remove some of the outer leaves and throw them away, put them in the compost pile or whatever you want to do with them and move on. With the same instructions that we are going to follow today to make this sauerkraut, now the first thing we want to do is remove some of these leaves, we are not going to discard these outer leaves unless, like I said, if your cabbage is non-organic you can discard the two first leaves maybe but if it is organic save save the first leaves that we remove and put them a

side

and I will explain to you what we are going to do with those later and if your cabbage is non-organic just remove it, remove the first two, discard them and then take off another two and set them aside and put them away and I'll show you how we're going to use them and a little bit now, well, I'm going to Go ahead and take another leaf off this cabbage and then I'll show you where we go from there.

Well, I have my two big sheets on the side that I put there to save and now what I'm going to do is cut this in half, whichever way you do it, okay, what we're going to do is remove the core. , so what we're going to do is just leave it flat like this to make it easier for you. You can certainly do it like that, but it's a little bit more wobbly, so I always like to put it flat side down, basically give it feet and make it a little bit easier to do and then you'll see that the core is right here, so we're . we're just going to cut it into a V shape and we're going to get that core out now, don't discard this, set it aside because we're going to grind it up and we're also going to add it to our homemade product. sauerkraut because this is going to be very

delicious

and when it comes to making the

probiotics

that will begin to multiply in the homemade sauerkraut, well, I have removed the core from the cabbage, as you can see, it is gone and now what I am going to do is simply cut it by half again and half over here and then I'll start grinding it up and how you're going to do it and we'll just move this to the side, just cut it as thin as you can, like this. very similar to if you were making coleslaw and you just keep cutting it until you're done, you just end up with some nice thin pieces or slices.

Well, I've got all my cabbage sliced ​​up and now I'm going to transfer it to this. glass container, but any container you have will work fine. I normally use a stainless steel bowl for the next step, but I wanted to put it in a glass bowl so you could see what I was doing right. I will continue to get all of this. here and then when I have everything, I will bring you back. I have all the sliced ​​cabbage in the bowl and now what I'm going to do is add two tablespoons of coarsely ground sea salt, it's very coarse ground, as I hope you can see, these are very large grains for salt and I like to use this salt .

This is a gray Celtic sea salt that has a little bit of a wet feel to it and like I said, it's the coarse ground and we're just going to sprinkle it on top and then the next step is the fun part. We're going to start mashing this up and mixing it with the salt and helping the cabbage release some of its juices. Now that I have a crowd. pound I love this and it was given to me many years ago and it has been a wonderful help when it comes to making sauerkraut and all you will want to do is do like this and we will continue to do that. but in case you don't have this, I don't want you to worry, you can use a metal potato masher, you can use a plastic potato masher that will work, if you don't have any of those, no problem, you can use a soup but this is cold it's not that terrible laughs a ladle of soup and you can do it like this and if you don't have that don't worry if all else fails just use the back of the spoon and that's it I'll just want to go in there and smash it.

It's a little difficult, but it strengthens the muscles, so what we do is we start mashing it by mixing the salt with the cabbage and the cabbage will start to release some of its juices. and it will get watery, watery, ER and watery ER as we continue to do this and this takes five ten minutes, it's not that long and if you have kids in the house, this is a good job for them and keep hitting it and when it's on the desired state that I want it to be in, I'll show it to you and bring it back to you and we'll put it in the jar.

Well, I have this as two where the consistency that I like and what What I'm going to do now is the first thing, I want to remove a little bit of the cabbage and I want to show you. Try to get a little closer to the camera. You will see that the cabbage has softened a little and is mixed. Well, the salt is all dissolved and it's starting to release some of its juices, the cabbage juices, so now what we do is we get a clean jar. This is a half gallon glass jar. Now you want to say a word about this.

Some people when they do. this with a head of cabbage and two tablespoons of salt will use a quart jar and it will really pack it well and it will definitely pack it well, which is important and we'll discuss that in a minute to help it ferment properly, but I like it I used a half gallon jar because I like to make sure I get a lot of sauerkraut juice because sauerkraut juice is very

rich

in probiotics, better than any probiotic you can buy over the counter in a pill and only take about 2 ounces of sauerkraut juice every day will do wonders to improve your gut

health

if you have any issues with digestion and if you have

health

y gut health it will continue to keep you healthy so I just wanted to share.

That's why. I'm using a half gallon jar so what I'm going to do now is just put this in and load it up and when it's all full I'll bring them back and show you what our next one is going to be. The steps will be fine, I have all the cabbage in my jar and now I'm going to take the kraut pound and I'm just going to press and press and press and as we do this we'll see that the liquid is going to start to release and start to rise over the cabbage and let's go I'm going to keep doing that until we start to see even more liquid and then it releases than what was in the bowl when we started it and I'm going to keep doing this and when a little more liquid rises to the surface, I'm going to bring them back, as you can see that the cabbage is releasing more and more liquid.

I'm just going to pull out this shitty mallet and try to see if you can see the cabbage is releasing more liquid and it's starting to soften beautifully and now the next step we're going to do is what I like to think of as my secret ingredient and let me set it up and I'll remember them. Now when I make sauerkraut I like to add an apple to the mix and the reason is because it is a great source of pectin and pectin is a great prebiotic meaning it helps feed the bacteria that create probiotics so this is Always my little insurance policy because some people what I mean is that when they make sauerkraut they can add salt but they can also add a form that is very rich in probiotics, it is a byproduct that is released from milk when you make yogurt, kefir from curd. and so on, any of your cultured dairy and if you add a quarter cup of whey, a little piece of cabbage on the outside of the jar, when you add a quarter cup of way, it's almost guaranteed to have a lot of probiotics. already in the cabbage to help things really work, really start, but I don't like the taste.

I like it. I think it's wonderful and I and I like to drink it on the rocks or mixed with sparkling water. It's

delicious

, but I don't like it. I get the sauerkraut flavor and I don't like it so what I like to do is just add the salt and then add a little bit of insurance with the sweetness of the apple and its prebiotic nature also into the prebiotic sprouts and hopefully together they really give a good boost to feed the bacteria and give them what they need to function and turn cabbage into sauerkraut and usually it's always worked for me so I think it's a good trick well I washed and dried this apple. and I'm just going to cut it off and all I'm going to do is leave the skin on, that's fine.

I'm just going to cut out a little bit of the core because I don't want the seeds. and then I'm going to chop this up and put it in my blender, you'll see why we'll put it in the blender in a minute and I'll continue chopping this up and then I'll tell you about why I saved the cabbage heart now I just want to just want to say a few words about these hearts. apple don't throw them away leave them aside put them in a bag put them in your refrigerator and when you have a good collection of these, you can make apple cider vinegar, you can even add some apples that you know are maybe a little overcooked best time, whatever the case may be, or it may just be chunky scraps, you can add other fruits and make a vinegar mixture from fruit scraps that I have a video and I will link it so you can watch it too, so don't throw them away, save them and now, why do we keep the heart of the cabbage well?

It serves the same purpose that apples do this, they are very rich in prebiotics and will also help feed the good bacteria to help them grow and proliferate and make cabbage a wonderful probiotic food, so don't throw it in the center of the cabbage, just cut it into large pieces. The size is not important because as you see, I'm putting it in the blender for a reason and I'm just going to continue chopping this core, there we go, we're going to put it in there and then what we're going to do is top this off with a little bit of water. spring.

Now you want to use spring water instead of tap water because tap water will have chlorine in it and that will interfere with the good bacteria as they try to proliferate and turn the cabbage into sauerkraut and turn it into a wonderful probiotic rich side dish now, if you don't have one spring water fountain, don't worry, you can use tap water, just boil it and let it cool to room temperature, don't allow it. I don't want it to be hot and that will help some of the chlorine dissipate. You can also leave it overnight and that will help some of the chlorine dissipate, so hopefully that gives you some options.

Well, now I'm just going to pour it. a little water just enough to cover. I'm not even 100% covered, we'll start with that and see how it works by turning it into a grout, so that's what I'll do. I'm going to start with this. and then, when all is mixed into a good slurry, I will bring you back. I've turned the apple and cabbage core into a nice slurry and now we're going to pour this right in with our sliced ​​cabbage. I just want to point out that you'll see there are little red flecks here because I used a red apple a lot of times I use a green apple, but it doesn't really matter and it's just a personal choice if you don't like seeing red. specks, you can certainly use a green apple, but I had a red apple, so that's what I decided to use, so now I'm going to go ahead and pour this over our cabbage.

Excellent, okay, now let me put this blender aside. and we're going to mix this up a little bit, press it again with the pound of sauerkraut and I'll bring you back now what I'm going to do is just mix this with the cabbage to hopefully mix it well and be ready to just finish it off, cover it with a little more water and then I'll show you why we store those cabbage leaves well. I already have it mixed well, now I'm going to put this fork aside. I'm going. Take my kraut pound again and we'll give this a real look look at how the liquids are really coming out now it's beautiful it just released so much liquid along with what we added and it's really going to be wonderful and we.

We're also going to get a lot of sauerkraut juice out of this and that's what I like because I like to take it off the top once the sprouts turn into sauerkraut, like I mentioned before to drink the crouchers, which is very nutritious, very good. I think it's good to get to that point and now I want to share with you why we save those cabbage leaves. What we're going to do is take these cabbage leaves, you can split them, fold them however you need to to make the The bottom line is you just need to put them in the jar and cover the cabbage, so I'm going to squeeze them here like this and push them down right on top .

I wanted to mention that you should make sure your hands are clean when you do this. I'm doing this because you don't want to introduce any unhealthy bacteria, and I'm going to do the same thing with this one, we're going to get it perfect and then we're going to push everything down to submerge everything. and the good thing is that those outer leaves are also very much like the core, they are also high in prebiotics so they add to the whole process of helping this culture wonderfully and become nice and rich in probiotics. NowThe next step is that I have another little trick to wake all this up.

Everything I use. it's a simple small four ounce jelly jar these are canning jars that are used when making jelly they can usually be found at the supermarket and other big box stores and all I do is just put it in there and it just works it has a weight to keep everything low and submerged under the liquid because that's what you want to achieve, you want to keep everything submerged, but by keeping it submerged you prevent bad bacteria from forming mold, etc., keep everything submerged under the liquid. liquid under a weight and you can produce delicious sauerkraut.

Now there are other options if you want to use something different. There is a company that sells glass weights and several small lids that you can put on to help with fermentation. process, that's all wonderful, but I wanted to show in terms of keeping this extremely economical. I wanted to show very simple things that you can use and that you may already have in your house to make sauerkraut. Alright, the next step now is we're going to want to get a whipping ring and a whipping cap and the reason I like to use them is that as this ferments, it's going to get very bubbly and I find it easier again.

I'm just going to do this for you. I know how to squeeze with my fingers and I find it easier to loosen it up, let out a little fizz if I need to and then squeeze it again and then when I start to see it get really nice and fizzy and the color is starting to change I'll take it . this top and I personally find it easier, although you may have formed a seal at some point while it is fermenting. I find it a little easier and a little less intimidating to just grab a small can opener and open it. open because sometimes it can get quite bubbly and build up a bit of pressure so I think if I use it I'm just going to reach for the plastic lid and sometimes I find this lid can be a little stressful.

When opening a food, that's why I often don't use them. I prefer to use the small canning lids, but you can certainly do that if this is what you have and you want to use this, that's fine. When I have used these caps. In the past, what I do is every day, you know, I see that it's bubbling. I let out a little air and squeeze it again. The next day I let out some air and squeeze it again to try to maintain as much oxygen as possible but at the same time release. some of the carbon dioxide that is produced during the fermentation process, so I'm going to put the can lid on, the can and the can ring and like I said, just squeeze it with your fingers and now I'm going to find a warm place and cozy in my kitchen. put this where it can rest undisturbed but at the same time where you can check it every day and see how it progresses and it is really very variable, it depends on the time of year you are doing this and the temperature in your kit, but after After a few days, what you can do is open it like I said and if I see a lot of effervescence I will loosen it, let a little carbon dioxide out and then put the lid back on and tighten it again. but that also gives you a chance to take your weight and try it and see if it's to your liking, if it's perfect at that moment, then I'll take the lid off the can, transfer it to one of these plastic lids and refrigerate it. and it's ready to eat and that's it, it's a very easy probiotic rich side dish to make, while cabbage is in season, buy it, try making a couple batches of this, keep it in your refrigerator, it's a little later .

I know six months if it lasts that long because I think everyone in your family, you and your friends and family, will definitely enjoy it. Homemade sauerkraut tastes wonderful and is also much healthier for you than what you could buy at the store in a can now. I just put the sauerkraut brewing in there so it won't be disturbed to go ahead and start the fermentation process and I wanted to show you that this is a sauerkraut that I made a couple of weeks ago. makes and I have it in my refrigerator and the longer you keep it in your refrigerator, the more it will ferment, it's much slower than when it's at room temperature, but it will continue to ferment and it will get a little softer, and so on, and so on.

I just wanted to show you when this was fermenting on my counter and when I took it out and tried it and I thought the consistency was good, a little bit crunchy or crunchier than what you know you'd find canned at the grocery store in the jar at the grocery store, but I knew it would continue to ferment slowly in my refrigerator, so I thought: I'll leave it there and after a few weeks I'll try it and see how it works. I like it so I'm going to give it a try right now mmm that's so good when I think the good thing about homemade sauerkraut is that it's not as spicy as the sauerkraut you sometimes get at the store so that's a good thing, especially if we are giving it to children it is very tasty and the apple gives it a touch of sweetness and this one I had used a green apple so that the tips cannot be seen it gives it just a touch of sweetness and you can also add seeds if you like of caraway there are many different things you can do you can even make international versions of homemade sauerkraut like kimchi there are so many variations and definitely things that your friends and family will love and at the same time they will eat something that is very rich in probiotics very good for your health very good for gut health for printable instructions on how to make this homemade sauerkraut visit my website Mary's Nest com and if you like this video I hope you will give me a thumbs up and share it. with your friends and if you want to learn more about cooking traditional foods, I hope you will subscribe to my channel and make sure to click the notification bell below which will alert you every time I upload a new video. all for today, but thank you so much for joining me here and I hope you'll join me again here in my Texas Hill Country kitchen.

Love and God bless you.