It's official. I'm ready for summer.
Well, at least I will be by the time it gets here.

I FINALLY made sauerkraut again. My mouth is watering just at the thought of it. On a polish dog. Or just plain. Cuz it's really, really good. Well, it will be. 

I've made this recipe many times before. My Mr. Picky Pants used to love it when he was a baby and would practically make a meal of it. Once I added shredded apple to it and it was pretty good. If I ever did it again, I'd leave the apples in bigger pieces because I don't really like soft apples. 

If you haven't read about lacto-fermentation, you should Google it. I first read about it in my favorite, most life-changing cookbook, Nourishing Traditions. I have it in hard copy and on my Kindle. That way I can look up a recipe whenever I am (there's a new one now for babies and kids too. Can't wait to get my hands on it!). So anyway, I learned about lacto-fermenting food there. It's much like pickling, only way better for you. After doing alot of reading, in addtion to the wealth of knowledge in that book, it's my understanding that, while pickling veggies and such in vinegar does preserve them, it lacks the health benefits of lacto-fermenting. And it doesn't taste nearly so delicious.

In order to lacto-ferment food, one must have whey. In fact, this is teh third time I have purchased cabbage in order to make sauerkraut, but then didn't make it because I could not find a close source of the culture needed to make any cultured item I'd need to make in order to get whey. Well, when I was out of town visiting friends recently, we went to a garden store and -- lo and behold, they had what I needed! So I finally made chevre this week. I can't stand the taste of goat milk. But I like the chevre I make because, when I make it for myself,  I make it with cow milk. Which begs the question -- is it still chevre? I'll have to look into that, but it gave me whey and that's what I was going for. Another plus for using cow milk is that the whey I got will leave no goaty aftertaste in my fermented foods. 

Here's chevre I had this morning, with pepper jelly and crackers. Yummy. 

If you decide to make this, do it soon. It takes some time to sit and ferment. Just how much time varies, depending on your taste. You need to let it sit out for 3 days, then refrigerate, but it still needs to age in there. I like mine at least several weeks old. 

I used two and a half heads this time.

Then I cut it up into small pieces. As with the apples, I used to shred it.
But I like the texture better when I cut it up small, but not so small as to be shredded.

 

Then I add sea salt, whey and caraway seeds. If you don't like caraway, you don't have to add it, but I love it!
I found this cool, very old crushing tool years ago. Someone told me it has an actual name.
It's kind of like a big pestle, as in "mortar and pestle" , but that wasn't it. Whatever you use, you need to do it for about ten minutes or so to release plenty of juices.

When I pack my jars, I use the wood pestle pounding thingy to push in down so the liquid will cover it.
My tool is perfect because it just fits perfectly into a wide mouth canning jar.

Now for sunny days, friendship, eating outside and sauerkraut! 

I can't wait!