Recipe http://chetday.com/sauerkrautrecipe.htm Canning Tips http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/1012/canning.html

If you have never tasted homemade you will be amazed at how great it can taste. it is awesome. Here's my recipe: 6 lbs. winter cabbage, not the early kinds. 2 oz. fine pickling salt or kosher salt whirred in the fcoffee grinder or food processor Remove the very green outer leaves. Quarter the head and cut out the cores. You should have about 5 lbs of cabbage. With a mandoline orf a sharp knife, shred the cabbage into the thinnest and longest slices possible. In a large bowl hand mix the cabbage with the salt. Let stand 15 minutes. The cabbage will start to wilt. In clean 1 gallon glass jars, pack the cabbage firmly with your hands or using a wooden masher (NOT metal) Keep pressing until the juice rises to teh top but don't crush it. Put one plastic bag inside another plastic bag. Fill the inner one with about 1 quart of cold water. Place on top of the cabbage. Add enough water to the inner bag until it can keep the cabbage submerged. Seal both bags. Put the jar some place that won't get warmer than 72°F check it daily, keep it rather cool. After just a few days it WILL get smelly. If it looks like it needs more brine mix 2 tsp salt to 1 cup of water and add to jar. Depending on the temperature, it will take anywhere from 9 days to several weeks. Check the flavor occasionally. When you like your tartness, that's when you wnt to eat it. The length of teh brining depends on how warm it is. If it is towards the warmer temp, it will take faster but don't be so fast it spoils. I like it around 60° for 2-3 weeks. It will keep in the fridge for months in sealed jars. If you also make your own corned beef, you have the makings of the best sandwiches you will ever eat:-)

I never used a recipe, but it really isn't hard. You do need a big, food-grade container. I have a 6 gallon crock, but a food grade 6 gallon bucket would probably do. I just shred six or eight heads of cabbage. I layer each cabbage in the crock, salting each layer down with kosher or pickling salt. When you get to within 4 or 5 inches of the top of your container, or run out of cabbage, turn an old plate upside down on top of the cabbage. Then fill a food grade bag, about the size of a kitchen trash bag, with water and tie it off. Put it on top of the overturn plate to weight down and compress the cabbage. Put the crock in a cool place, like a basement and leave it. Check it every day and skim off any stuff that forms on top. In a week or two, it will ferment and become saurkraut. This is an old fashioned way to make saurkraut, and traditionally you'd put it in a root cellar or arch at this point to keep the winter, but I'd rather can it or freeze it at this point. That way I don't have to worry about it molding.