SAUERKRAUT RECIPE - Posted by Andrea Park:
Here is a simple sauerkraut recipe. Feel free to add spices or other veggies.

1 small to medium head of green cabbage
1 tablespoon fine sea salt per head of cabbage, adjust salt to taste when it is packed in the jar.
Clean glass jar (I usually use one average head of cabbage per quart-sized mason jar)
If you need extra brine: 1 additional tablespoon of fine sea salt and 4 cups non-chlorinated water

Wash, remove and reserve the outer leaves of the cabbage.

Quarter the cabbage, remove the core, and slice or shred the cabbage into thin strips (I shoot for around 1/4″ wide). Try to make the strips as uniform as possible, but they don’t have to be perfect. (You can also use the slicing or shredding attachment of a food processor for this.)

Place the sliced cabbage in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the sea salt over the top.

Allow it to sit for 15 minutes or so, and then start mashing. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this– just use your hands, a mallet, or whatever blunt object you can find to mash/knead/twist/press/crush the cabbage. The goal is to start the juices flowing.

I mash/knead for about 5 minutes. Hopefully by the end of this process, you’ll have lots of liquid sitting in the bottom of your bowl. At this point, taste the juice in your bowl. If it doesn’t taste salty, like ocean water, add a little more salt.

Place several handfuls of cabbage into the jar, then thoroughly pack down with a wooden spoon. The goal is to eliminate as many air pockets as possible.

Repeat the packing and mashing until the jar is full and there are no more air bubbles. (Just make sure to leave 2″ of room at the top.)

If there is enough liquid to cover your cabbage, then you are good to go. If not make the brine below and add it to your jar.  

To Make a 2% Brine:

Dissolve 1 tablespoon fine sea salt in 4 cups non-chlorinated water. If you don’t use all of the brine for this recipe, it will keep indefinitely in the fridge.

Cover the exposed cabbage with brine, leaving 1″ of headspace at the top. If you are having troubles with the cabbage floating to the top, you can weigh it down with a glass weight (this is my favorite glass weight), OR wedge a piece of the cabbage core on top to hold it down. Any cabbage that is exposed will need to be thrown away, but you were going to toss the core anyway, so it’s no big loss.

You’ll probably want to place a small dish or tray under the jar, as they have the tendency to leak a bit and spill over. Also, removing the lid everyday or the first few days to “burp” the jar and release any pent-up gasses is also a smart idea. After that you only need to burp the jar every few days.

Taste and smell your kraut after one week. If it’s tangy enough, move to the refrigerator for storage. If you like a bit more tang, simply allow to ferment for a bit longer.

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