Sauerkraut can be made with much less salt than orthodox sources quote.
I've been making it for 20 years with just as much salt as tastes right and doesn't make it taste too salty to eat raw from the jar.
The odd jar goes off but not many.

I grow my own organic cabbage though, and normally process them the day they are picked and I am sure this is a factor in my
success. The fresher the cabbage is the more lactic acid bacteria there will be present on the leaves.

The book I have, "Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home", has in it a method for making sauerkraut with no salt at all.

The amount of skum is only an indicator of how fast the kraut is being consumed by spoilage organisms.
Made in an enviornment that excludes oxygen sauerkraut never developes skum.
The amount of CO2 gas generated by the ferment would be a better indication of its vigor.

Regards, Bruce



From: "Bob"

> RichKRichRicohReichRetchRoach wrote:
> > I am trying to make sauerkraut for the first time, and all the recipes I
> > have seen talk about skimming the scum every day. It has been sitting for 2
> > weeks. After several days, I had a little scum, but nothing after that.
> > Does this mean I have too much salt? I used 3T Kosher salt per 5 lbslobslibslabsBsls of
> > cabbage. I needed more brine to cover the cabbage and used 1.5T per quart
> > of water. I don't think I screwed up the measurmentmeasurementmeasurements, but it's always
> > possible. I just expected more activity.
> >
>
> You didn't use nearly enough salt. Five pounds of cabbage should have
> about 1/10 pound of salt. I'm not sure what to expect at the ratio you used.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob