Make 1: Sauerkraut

     So, we're starting the first day of the year with our first project. This week, it's sauerkraut! Now, we've been talking about making sauerkraut for a while, ever since I read Mark Frauenfelder's excellent book, Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World, We then got to actually see Mark walk through the process of making sauerkraut on chow.com as his "Go-To Project." It looked easy, simple, and delicious, and seemed a great way to start the New Year: making something that we would be able to enjoy and share with our friends.
     The process was pretty simple. Several weeks ago, we went to our local brew supply shop, Arctic Brewing Supply, and bought a 2 gallon food-grade bucket, with a lid. We also got a fermentation lock, and a rubber stopper. We also had a hole drilled in the lid to place the fermentation lock and stopper when the time came. That time was today. We took 2 heads of cabbage, 1 green, 1 red, and quartered them, removing the cores. We then shredded them on the mandolin, and mixed the shredded cabbage with 5 tablespoons of kosher salt. We did all of this in the 2-gallon bucket, so as to minimize the mess. After the salt and cabbage had been thoroughly mixed, I started compressing the mixture with my fist, so as to extract as much juice from the cabbage as possible, helped along by the salt, of course. The juice, even at this stage, began to take on a vivid hue, kind of the same color as prickly pear juice. Based on all that I've read about this style of sauerkraut, the final product will be a beautiful bright pink.
     Once the salt and cabbage mixture had been compressed until there was a layer of liquid starting to cover it, we placed a plate, upside-down, in the bucket, on top of the mixture, and weighted it down with a heavy glass bowl, filled with a brine solution. The purpose of this is two-fold. First, the plate covers the surface of the sauerkraut, minimizing the risk of mold. Second, the weighted plate adds pressure to the mixture, helping to extract even more liquid. We then placed the lid on the bucket, making sure it was sealed tightly, and inserted the rubber stopper and fermentation lock (filled with vodka to the appropriate line). This was then placed in our pantry, where it is cool and dark, to start fermenting:

The fermenting sauerkraut and/or cabbage bomb

      We'll check on this in a couple of days, and hopefully, we'll see gas starting to come through the fermentation lock, indicating a successful start. I'll keep you posted!


Bonus Make: Preserved Lemons
     Since we were feeling extra productive on the first day of 2012, Rachelle decided to try her hand at preserving lemons, following instructions found here. We had a bag of lemons sitting in the fridge, and we needed to use them before they started going bad. She washed and dried the lemons, and then quartered them length-wise, but not quite cutting them all the way through. She then stuffed each one with a tablespoon of kosher salt each, and placed them in quart-size canning jars, adding a bit more salt when both jars were full. We used a total of 11 lemons, so a split of 5-6 lemons in each jar. We then covered one jar with lime juice, and the other with vinegar. In the jar covered with vinegar, we also added a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf,  some whole peppercorns, and some whole cloves. We then placed the lids and rings on the jars, and submerged them in a hot water bath for 15 minutes, more or less. We then removed them, and let them cool on the counter. As they cooled, a vacuum seal was formed. I think the jar with vinegar and spices is particularly pretty:

That's a spicy lemon!

     They can now be used in any recipe calling for lemons. I am really curious as to how these turn out, as I have never had these before, nor has Rachelle. We'll let you know how they turn out.

     So, that's our make(s) for the first week of the year. I wonder what we'll do next week...