Kraut!

I managed my first foray into sauerkraut today, after attending an inspiring discussion by Wild Fermentation author Sandor Katz during the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello in September.

And, as with so many made-from-scratch things to which I take a shine, I quickly realized Egidijus already knew all about how to make sauerkraut.

So with confidence from Mr Katz, who was quite convincing in his seriously- this-is-easy, no-really-you-can't- screw-this-up message, and some recipe guidance (and elbow grease) from E, I made me some kraut.

To do this, I chopped up about half a cabbage head (3 or 4 cups max), then crumpled it manually for a few minutes until the cabbage got a bit wilty.

I added a scant teaspoon of kosher salt and then used a potato masher to finish pulverizing it, mashing until I had a fair bit of liquid leached out of the cabbage.

I grated and added two small carrots (ours - yay!), plus a scant teaspoon of sugar and about a half teaspoon of caraway seeds.

A bit more mashing, until I had enough liquid to cover the mixture if I pressed down on it. Transferred this to a jar, tamped it down so the liquid covered the solids, put on a lid and left it on the stove top so it would be exposed to a little warmth in the coming days.

The result: