First of all it’s EASY. I wanted to start with that because I know I was intimidated by the fermenting and jarring of it all. Even though I’m from the midwest and people in my family can food from their gardens, I am not one of them. Earlier this year I was on an antibiotic for an infection and since then I’ve been super vigilant about trying to replace all the good bacteria that my bod lost in the process. Did you know that we are more bacteria than human?! It always blows my mind when I hear how that we’re merely a host to 10 times more bacteria than us! Need a reminder that the world doesn’t revolve around you and no one cares that your hair is teal??? (yep, Pearl dyed my hair teal)….just know that there are 100 trillion cells in the human body and only 10 tril are human. The rest are microorganisms that our body wants to keep in balance (hello, homeostasis) so they don’t have to get all nasty and crazy and disrupt our lives. So, I’ve been taking our wellness brand’s probiotic supplements and I’ve been fermenting my own foods. I’ve made kefir and now sauerkraut, I tried half sour dills last year but I f’ed them up. I will say I don’t love the kefir but I do LOVE the kraut. Maybe it’s the irish blood in me…or maybe not…I feel like “my people” prefer white, boring food and I put sriracha on my purple cabbage! You know what I don’t love? The fake crap that comes in store bought kraut. Sodium benzoate as preservative? NO thank you.
Ok so, literally all you need is beautiful, bright, purple cabbage and salt. Not the normal kind of salt but the fancy pink himalayan variety (I’m so fancy, you already know…, no, ok…) You also need strong hands. My hands lack strength and I will say they got a workout and they are still purple and a little sore but it’s a small price to pay for a jar of something you made that’s good for your gut!
So you have the cabbage (ideally on a Norwex non-slip cutting board), cut it into thin slices. Toss in a bowl along with roughly a tablespoon of salt and knead it, work it, squeeze it (is that a Missy Elliot song?). 5-10 mins of this and then you’ll be ready for the next (and final) step. It’s crazy but after 5-10 minutes of breaking down the cabbage, it gets limp and watery and even more gorgeousy-purple in color. Am I the only one who oogles nature’s beauty?! Grab a jar and PACK it in. Then grab something smaller & “heavy” that fits in the jar and smash it down (I used a jar of olives). Cover the whole shebang in a cheese cloth and secure it. In my case, it’s a cut up flour sack towel and a rubber band that my mail lady wraps my bills in. Leave the heavy jar in the fermenting kraut jar and keep pressing it down as you walk by over the next week or so. All of the cabbage should be in the liquid. Seal it and pop it in the fridge, then make the recipe titled “Carolina Barbecued Chicken and Simple Slaw” out of this book and know that your microbiome and I love you.
Peace, love, kraut.
mpoweredstate 