I have a feeling that some of you might be tired of hearing about canning food. It's what we do in the summer though I'm sure it might get boring to read about. We made saurkraut today. Seventy pounds of sauerkraut, to be exact. :)
First, the cabbage is grated using a mandolin, which is, essentially, a wooden shredding board with two serrated blades. It is made specifically for shredding cabbage.
The cabbage is shredded into a large stone crock.
This seven year old angel singlehandedly shredded twenty pounds of cabbage.
(Yes, we made saurkraut in my friend Nicole's basement.) You see, the crock alone weighs 50 lbs. Once you add the cabbage, there's no moving it for six to eight weeks. So it's important to put it somewhere out of the way while the cabbage ferments. (Unless you want a huge crock of fermenting cabbage in your living room.)
The cabbage is then layered with salt. The salt draws the water and juices from the cabbage and forms the brine.
Then it is tamped down.
Once all of the cabbage is shredded, salted and tamped, it will be weighed down with a plate or other heavy object and allowed to ferment for several weeks.
I'll post more photos when it's done.