Sauerkraut - Six Weeks In The Making

Finishing Up The Sauerkraut

Back in March, I shared a post with you about my daughter and I getting together to make sauerkraut. At the end of that post we had just put our freshly jarred kraut under the house to ferment for six weeks. We got together last Tuesday to finish the process.

We started out with 22 beautiful jars of fermented cabbage. When we brought them out from under the house, they were perfect!

We washed the outside of the jars, removed and cleaned the caps, refilled the jars with hot water (some always bubbles out during the fermentation process), recapped them, and processed the jars in a hot water bath.

I was a little disappointed, however, because, during the hot water bath process, we ended up losing four jars of kraut due to breakage. I know what happened to the first two jars (my own negligence), but I really don't know what happened to the second two. I'm wondering if, like everything else, they just don't make canning jars like they used to. Whatever the cause, a total of four jars broke during the hot water bath process and, in the end, we only ended up with 18 jars of finished sauerkraut.

We split the 18 jars between the two of us, giving each household nine jars of kraut to enjoy. Even at that, due to the fact that we don't eat it very often, the kraut will probably last both households for quite some time. I plan on getting some turkey bratwursts to enjoy a jar of ours with soon. Another thing that's good cooked and served with sauerkraut is a nice pork roast. Will have to think about that, too! :)

How do you and your family enjoy sauerkraut? Does anyone else out there make their own? If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Until Next Time...
~Rebecca

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#sauerkraut