Sauerkraut with Caraway Seeds and Bitter Cherry

Pictures by Anna Voloshyna

Sauerkraut is undoubtedly one of many nice pillars of Jap European delicacies.

We eat it uncooked, braise it, boil it, and fry it. We use it to make savory pies and dumplings and add it uncooked into soups and stews. As a result of I’ve included a number of recipes on this e book that decision for sauerkraut, I additionally determined to share my go-to home made sauerkraut recipe. To make it additional flavorful, I all the time add some caraway seeds and some dried bitter cherries, however in the event you choose a cleaner taste, you may skip one or each of them.

• 1 head white cabbage, about 1½ kilos
  

• 3 tablespoons salt
  

• 1 medium carrot, peeled and shredded
  

• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
  

• 1 tablespoon dried bitter cherries
  

Directions:

1. Take away a few outer leaves from the cabbage. Rinse them nicely, pat dry with a paper towel, and put aside. Utilizing a small, sharp knife, reduce out the core from the cabbage and discard. Utilizing a big, sharp knife, reduce the cabbage in half lengthwise. Utilizing the massive knife or a mandoline, slice the cabbage halves crosswise as thinly as you may.
2. Put the cabbage into a big bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Utilizing your arms, therapeutic massage the cabbage till it releases loads of water. It’ll take about 5 minutes. Reserve the cabbage water.
3. Add the carrot, caraway seeds, and cherries and blend nicely. Pack the cabbage combination into a big, widemouthed glass jar and pour over all the cabbage liquid from the bowl. Tamp down the cabbage combination together with your fist and canopy the highest with the reserved entire leaves. Set one thing heavy on prime of the leaves. A quart-size plastic deli container or jar stuffed with salt or water works nice for me. The cabbage must be absolutely submerged within the brine always.
4. Let the sauerkraut ferment in a cool, darkish place (60° to 65°F) for about 1 week. Begin tasting the cabbage on day 5. When it will get to your required taste, take away the burden, cowl the jar with a lid, and retailer the sauerkraut within the fridge for as much as 6 months.

Recipes excerpted from Budmo! by Anna Voloshyna. Rizzoli, 2022. Pictures by Anna Voloshyna.