Fall is in the air and I kicked the furnace on last night. This morning I am setting here freezing with shoes, flannel pajamas, and a sweater. Course a hot cup of coffee rounds out the picture. I used to have a cigarette and an ashtray, but those days are long gone. So what am I planning for today? Going to be a busy one!
First I am off to breakfast with Kay and Frank who are getting ready to leave soon for the balmy breezes in Southern Texas. As soon as breakfast is over I am headed for the produce stand up the road. I think I am good on green chile's, but I will check that. My goal for today is to find the good white cabbage and dig the crock out of the tin shed. Yep! You guessed it! It is time to make sauerkraut! I shall tote my cabbage home and begin the process.
I will wash and scald the 5 gallon crock. Then I will dig out the mandolin that I inherited from Sherman. With everything now in place I will begin by cutting each head in 6-8 wedges, depending on the size of the head, and begin the slicing process. I want the slices uniform and very thin. I have a big white plastic Tupperware container and when there is about 6 inches of cabbage in it I will sprinkle it with a heaping tablespoon of canning salt. Next comes the tedious part. I take my fist and work and mash the salt into the cabbage, bruising it and causing it to release juice. When I have worked it enough that it starts to be a tad bit soupy (no way to tell you, just got to feel it) I will put it in the crock.
Now, I don't know it you have ever done this, but after a while my knuckles begin to get very tender and by the time the crock is half full I begin to wonder what in the hell I was thinking, so I take a break. And then I remember what this is all about. I love sauerkraut! I do not love the stuff at the store in cans. I do not love the stuff at the store in the refrigerated part either. I love sauerkraut that is made with cabbage and salt and covered with a clean cheese cloth that is weighted down with a brick in my basement.
Oh, trust me, in about 2 weeks this big old house is going to stink to high heaven of rotten cabbage. I will have to check it daily and remove anything that looks like it does not belong there, but in about 2 - 3 months, I will have the best sauerkraut in the world! It is a lot of work, but worth every minute of it. My knuckles will heal in due time and by then it will have stopped "working" and it will be time to process it. This entails bagging it in my "seal a meal" bags and freezing it for future use.
I do not ever remember mother or anyone else making saurekraut, but somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I know what has to be done. When Bret and Shelley were little I was fixing lunch for them and I made hot dogs. I asked if they wanted the hotdogs cooked in with the saurkraut. When Shelley asked what saurekraut was, Bret replied, "It is rotten cabbage." As I recall that was the end of the discussion, but they did eat it.
Now, those of you who know me, know how many people live in my house and of all those people, only one eats saurekraut and that is me! I may be considered an eccentric old woman going to all this work, but the way I got it figured is this: I am only going around once. Just once. I am going to dance naked when I feel like it, howl at the moon, and eat what I want, which at this time of year is sauerkraut! So if you want to smell rotten cabbage, come on over! If not then don't, but it is Fall here in Pueblo, Colorado and Spring is a long way in the future, so I am going to be a little squirrley and put away my food for the Winter!
First I am off to breakfast with Kay and Frank who are getting ready to leave soon for the balmy breezes in Southern Texas. As soon as breakfast is over I am headed for the produce stand up the road. I think I am good on green chile's, but I will check that. My goal for today is to find the good white cabbage and dig the crock out of the tin shed. Yep! You guessed it! It is time to make sauerkraut! I shall tote my cabbage home and begin the process.
I will wash and scald the 5 gallon crock. Then I will dig out the mandolin that I inherited from Sherman. With everything now in place I will begin by cutting each head in 6-8 wedges, depending on the size of the head, and begin the slicing process. I want the slices uniform and very thin. I have a big white plastic Tupperware container and when there is about 6 inches of cabbage in it I will sprinkle it with a heaping tablespoon of canning salt. Next comes the tedious part. I take my fist and work and mash the salt into the cabbage, bruising it and causing it to release juice. When I have worked it enough that it starts to be a tad bit soupy (no way to tell you, just got to feel it) I will put it in the crock.
Now, I don't know it you have ever done this, but after a while my knuckles begin to get very tender and by the time the crock is half full I begin to wonder what in the hell I was thinking, so I take a break. And then I remember what this is all about. I love sauerkraut! I do not love the stuff at the store in cans. I do not love the stuff at the store in the refrigerated part either. I love sauerkraut that is made with cabbage and salt and covered with a clean cheese cloth that is weighted down with a brick in my basement.
Oh, trust me, in about 2 weeks this big old house is going to stink to high heaven of rotten cabbage. I will have to check it daily and remove anything that looks like it does not belong there, but in about 2 - 3 months, I will have the best sauerkraut in the world! It is a lot of work, but worth every minute of it. My knuckles will heal in due time and by then it will have stopped "working" and it will be time to process it. This entails bagging it in my "seal a meal" bags and freezing it for future use.
I do not ever remember mother or anyone else making saurekraut, but somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I know what has to be done. When Bret and Shelley were little I was fixing lunch for them and I made hot dogs. I asked if they wanted the hotdogs cooked in with the saurkraut. When Shelley asked what saurekraut was, Bret replied, "It is rotten cabbage." As I recall that was the end of the discussion, but they did eat it.
Now, those of you who know me, know how many people live in my house and of all those people, only one eats saurekraut and that is me! I may be considered an eccentric old woman going to all this work, but the way I got it figured is this: I am only going around once. Just once. I am going to dance naked when I feel like it, howl at the moon, and eat what I want, which at this time of year is sauerkraut! So if you want to smell rotten cabbage, come on over! If not then don't, but it is Fall here in Pueblo, Colorado and Spring is a long way in the future, so I am going to be a little squirrley and put away my food for the Winter!
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