Ingredients
- 1 cabbage
- Sea salt
- Very hot water
- A plate or round board
- A stone or other heavy object
- A tall glazed container to fit the cabbage
Directions
Choose a good sauerkraut cabbage. The success of your sauerkraut largely depends on the quality of the cabbage. Leave the cabbage untouched for five to seven days after harvesting, so it fully ripens and the leaves soften. (Soft leaves are essential for making sarmas, stuffed cabbage leaves traditionally prepared in the Slavic tradition.)
Select a tall container of glazed ceramic and a cabbage that barely fits inside. Clean the cabbage carefully and remove the core in such a way that the leaves do not come off with it. Sprinkle sea salt in the hole where the core was and put the cabbage in the container, which you then fill with very hot water. Press the cabbage down with a plate or a round board and place a noncalcareous stone or another heavy object, such as a jar filled with water, on top. Leave the container at room temperature (64 to 68?) during the fermentation period, which takes approximately fifteen days.
