Confession: The jalapeño sauerkraut that I have been touting as my own... I stole it. Weston Sales Manager Ken Wilson was gracious enough to share with me a jar of his jalapeño sauerkraut last year. Which I immediately opened, inspected, thoroughly enjoyed, then figured out how to make. I've been making my own ever since... so this, folks, is MY recipe for KEN's sauerkraut. [If there's a lesson to be learned here, it is this: Never give me anything made from your 'secret' recipe. I will figure it out and share it with all of my Weston friends].
Makes one quart
- Ingredients -
1 head cabbage
1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
2 jalapeños
- Tools -
Weston Mandoline Slicer
Weston Cabbage Shredder
Weston Meat Lug
Wooden spoon
Quart jar
Weston Canning Funnel
Cheesecloth
1. Thinly slice your jalapeños with a
Mandoline.
2. Slice your cabbage head in half, then use a
Cabbage Shredder to slice the cabbage over a
Meat Lug.
3. Sprinkle the salt over the cabbage shreds.
4. Use a wooden spoon to mash the cabbage for 5-10 minutes, or until it leaks.
5. Sprinkle in the jalapeño slices.
6. Place your
Canning Funnel over the jar and scoop the jalapeño cabbage into the jar, making sure to get all of the juice in there as well.
7. Press the cabbage down tightly. You want all of the cabbage to be submerged under its juice, with about an inch of headspace. If there is not enough juice for this, just continue to mash the cabbage down into the jar until it leaks enough.
8. At this point, I take sanitized stones, place them in a pouch, and press them down into the jar. Why? Because you want to keep your cabbage down in its liquid throughout fermentation. You could use anything to weigh it down really. You could even just check it here and there and press the floating shreds back down. I use the rock method (not like dirty, disgusting rocks) because it takes minutes to boil them (to sanitize), stick them in sachets, and drop the sachets into the jar. And they do an excellent job. Use whatever method you like.
9. Cover the jar with a piece of cheesecloth and twist on the ring (not the lid though).
10. Let it ferment for at least a week.
11. Enjoy.
Looking for a dish to serve this with? Jalapeño Sauerkraut goes great with a ton of our recipes. Here are some ideas:
