Our first attempt at fermenting our own sauerkraut did not go well. We were living in a 700 square foot apartment that was basically just one big room. Now, I really, really love sauerkraut, but after about three weeks of waking up to that smell, we gave up. It had permeated every inch of our living space. You could smell it over the Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap while taking a shower. We began to feel that we had taken on the odor ourselves without being able to tell. It was a problem. The entire bucketful was tossed in the compost and we welcomed the defeat.
Now that we are mostly settled, I'm ready to give sauerkraut another try. I was fully willing to resign the bucket to the garage and wait the additional months that the cold would add to the fermentation time until I saw this. I immediately went searching for more information and found this tutorial posted on the Raw Freedom board. The photos are no longer there, but using the description and the photos here (her macadamia nut ranch dressing is amazing, by the way), Mason managed to figure out what we needed and put one together. I decided to go with 1/2 gallon wide mouth jars instead of the gallon size of the original. This means that I'll be able to put it straight into the fridge when it's ready. Our total cost to make 6 half gallon fermenting jars was just under $17.
The cabbage has been in the jar now for a few days without a hint of sauerkraut in the air. I'm not convinced that it will work as quickly as the original site says, but it seems to be a more convenient system either way. Mas is working on a tutorial with photos for anyone who can't quite decipher the one we referenced. I'll post an update when we have our first taste test.
-Megan
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