Good Sauerkraut

I am trying to remember something of interest to ramble on about, but after all of these years it is getting harder and harder. Maybe I have forgotten more than I remember. However, I was thinking about sauerkraut the other day. I know that a select few out there still make their own sauerkraut, but this is for those that haven’t given any thought to how it is made. I have a vintage cabbage or slaw cutter stored in my basement, just in case I might need it someday, Ha! Anyway, I think these were used by many homemakers around this time of year or a little later, to shred the cabbage to preserve for use over the winter.

I am trying to visualize the homemaker of my grandmother’s era, set up in her kitchen, (no water, wood stove, very basic kitchen cupboards and lots of cabbage to put up) busily shredding cabbage. In that era, the cabbage was no doubt tightly packed in a stone crock, covered with the appropriate amount of salt and water, weighted down with something to keep the cabbage from rising above the water level, and left to set. I have no idea how many days this was left setting in the corner before it was canned, but I have often heard that there were good kraut makers and just so-so kraut makers.

Good sauerkraut is hard to beat, and in the winter you only had to make a short trip to the smoke house to retrieve some ham or maybe pork chops and dinner was ready to be prepared.