If you tire of the same ol’, same ol’, this recipe is the one for your holiday dinner. Take plain ol’ sauerkraut and combine it with traditional cranberry sauce and you have Christmas Kraut. This is truly an easy sauerkraut recipe for Christmas.
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Get into the holiday spirit by making some Christmas Kraut. This is a fun and quirky ferment to make. Other than the obvious ingredients of cabbage this recipe also calls for a freshly juiced orange, an apple, and dried cranberries.
There are many fermenting vessels to choose from. Crocks and mason jars are among the most used. I like to use Mason jars with an airlock. Airlocks allow the gasses to escape while keeping the oxygen out. A wooden tamper comes in handy, especially when doing a ferment involving cabbage. For this easy sauerkraut recipe for Christmas, you will need a half-gallon Mason jar, or something equal to the size. You can use a food processor to cut up the cabbage and the apple. If you don’t own one, just cut the cabbage by hand. Use a vegetable peeler to slice the apple thin.
An Easy Sauerkraut Recipe for Christmas
Christmas Sauerkraut in a Jar
Ingredients:
• 4-5 cups cabbage, shredded
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, sliced with a peeler
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tbsps Himalayan sea salt
• 6 cups filtered water
Directions:
- Shred the cabbage.
- Use a vegetable peeler to cut the apple into thin slices, then chop into smaller bits.
- Juice the orange, you will need about 1/3 cup of orange juice.
- Make the brine with the water and salt.
- Add the cranberries and apple to the mason jar.
- Fill up the rest of the jar with sauerkraut, use a tamper to pound it down. Add more cabbage if needed. Leave a 1-inch headspace.
- Pour in the orange juice.
- Add a follower. This can be a cabbage leaf. It helps small food particles stay down.
- Place weights on top of the food.
- If there are any floaters that rise up after pouring in the brine, pick them out so they don’t cause trouble later.
- Add the brine, making sure that it covers not only the food but also the weights.
- Apply lid and airlock.
- Place the jar in a cabinet or somewhere away from light. Ferments need to stay between 65ºF and 75ºF.
- Ferment for six days, and then refrigerate.
It is a good idea, to check to make sure there are no floaters on a daily basis. This will help cut down on the possibility of mold growing in your ferment. Yeast sometimes forms in a ferment and is mostly harmless, although there are steps to take when you see it in a ferment. Check out the Mold or Yeast article I wrote to help you deal with either of these problems.
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Have you ever found a recipe you wanted to try today, but didn’t have all the supplies on hand? Don’t let that happen again. Get a 12-pack of fermentation lids for Mason jars today and you won’t be caught empty handed again.
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