Making Sauerkraut Today
My would-be sister -in law brought me a welcome wagon present of 2 large heads of cabbage among other tasty treats. Thank you for unexpected blessings! One we ate the same day, steamed with potatoes, onions, lots of garlic, sausages and then shared with the would-be mother-in-law. The other gigantic cabbage head was indeed larger and smarter than my head and when I finally unpacked my scale to check for some calculations, it weighed almost ten pounds begging me to do something really special and dramatic.
Stuffing it seemed like too much work, of course, I thought what a good way to settle in for the long haul with sauerkraut. I like to cook almost as much as I like to write. They are sometimes competing interests when my writing studio is within earshot or visual line space of the kitchen.
Both are way up there in aligning with what I call spiritual practices and over the years I can say that mastery in one area often breeds skills and lessons not otherwise learned.
I love to feed people. I love to experiment. I am not so good on the patience thing but cooking and writing has taught me both.
My first published poem ever was called Preserves, I won a prize and actually had to read it aloud in front of total strangers. I chronicled a day of making peach preserves. It resonated, it tasted good and the writing career in the public space all coalesced at once. Ahh the new age ring of intersectionality.
I will post the poem and the story behind as well sometime.
But back to the Sauerkraut…
There is something incredibly satisfying about putting foods by, preserving the moment and yes yes, yes, waiting, waiting, waiting, wait for it… what my dad called the benefits of delayed gratification.
Simple ingredients, simple tasks, simple instructions yield tremendous rewards. You don’t have to wait for the final product to enjoy the process; but it is delicious and often magical to have a treat planted and squirreled away for an unknown time in the future. You might even discover it when you least expect it when you thought there was nothing left and WOW.. it’s there.
I love sauerkraut. I especially loved the homemade variety which tastes different and some might say better than canned, preserved or vacuum sealed stuff in the store. From farm to table being the rage, I like knowing where my food comes from and I enjoy making it happen. It’s not always an easy ride, but it is a spiritual and thoughtful journey. Pig heart transplants, spare ribs and pork chops and roasts and sauerkraut may give you a moment of pause before dinner, or you may say grace and eat anyway when you have met the pig, named her and then in this case met head to head with the head of cabbage fermented and put by to have something to eat when the fresh variety would otherwise be unappetizing or not fit for consumption unless you count compost.
So…. You wash the cabbage, shred it with a sharp knife or this great wood contraption I discovered I had to buy. Mash it with a mallet, your hand or a wooden spoon, add surprising little salt, put it in the crock, cover, and wait, wait, wait, at least 21 days… and eat. How kewl is that!
There must be a spiritual lesson there somewhere!
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