We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of my
four hard drives and made a print out to boot.

It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>

The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.

George Shirley wrote:
> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of my
> four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>
> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>
> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
George,
I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
thanks, Ellen

On 3/28/2010 11:38 AM, ellen wickberg wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
>> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
>> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
>> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of
>> my four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>>
>> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
>> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
>> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>>
>> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
>> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
>> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
>> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
> George,
> I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
> enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
> thanks, Ellen

I thought I had saved it to MC 7 but didn't. Basically you thinly slice
the cabbage, pack it tightly in a quart jar, put three tablespoons
pickling or kosher salt on top, cover with boiling water. Put the ring
and lid on and do not tighten completely, leave enough room for the
fermentation to swell and it will leak out. Always put it in a bucket,
tub, or something that will catch the leakage. Bob Baron did the
original math for dividing the salt up but I guesstimated it at 3 tbs
per quart.

Only got one and a half quarts of kraut fermenting. Finally did it this
morning. Keep it in a room temperature place with no light hitting the
jars. You will know when it is done. After it has fermented I always BWB
mine for the time limit shown in many preserving books and it keeps a
long time then.

sometime in the recent past George Shirley posted this:
> On 3/28/2010 11:38 AM, ellen wickberg wrote:
>> George Shirley wrote:
>>> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
>>> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
>>> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
>>> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of
>>> my four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>>>
>>> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
>>> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
>>> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>>>
>>> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
>>> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
>>> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
>>> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
>> George,
>> I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
>> enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
>> thanks, Ellen
>
> I thought I had saved it to MC 7 but didn't. Basically you thinly slice
> the cabbage, pack it tightly in a quart jar, put three tablespoons
> pickling or kosher salt on top, cover with boiling water. Put the ring
> and lid on and do not tighten completely, leave enough room for the
> fermentation to swell and it will leak out. Always put it in a bucket,
> tub, or something that will catch the leakage. Bob Baron did the
> original math for dividing the salt up but I guesstimated it at 3 tbs
> per quart.
>
> Only got one and a half quarts of kraut fermenting. Finally did it this
> morning. Keep it in a room temperature place with no light hitting the
> jars. You will know when it is done. After it has fermented I always BWB
> mine for the time limit shown in many preserving books and it keeps a
> long time then.
Never tried it with boiling water, always used cold. Variation: pack jar
tightly 1/2 full with cabbage, add 1 Tbs. salt, finish packing jar add 1 Tbs
more salt, fill with cold water & top-off with cold water daily for about 7
to 10 days @ 70F or so, then tighten rings & store. Even at 2 Tbs. of salt,
I pour off all liquid when I use it, otherwise it's too salty.

Jars will be under pressure when opened and over time, the cabbage will
become more translucent and soften, but oh so good.

We try to get the cabbage on sale after St. Patty's day, but that seems to
be a thing of the past. Damn little on sale these days.

--
Wilson 44.69, -67.3

Wilson wrote:
> sometime in the recent past George Shirley posted this:
>> On 3/28/2010 11:38 AM, ellen wickberg wrote:
>>> George Shirley wrote:
>>>> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
>>>> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
>>>> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
>>>> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of
>>>> my four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>>>>
>>>> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
>>>> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
>>>> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>>>>
>>>> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
>>>> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
>>>> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
>>>> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
>>> George,
>>> I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
>>> enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
>>> thanks, Ellen
>>
>> I thought I had saved it to MC 7 but didn't. Basically you thinly
>> slice the cabbage, pack it tightly in a quart jar, put three
>> tablespoons pickling or kosher salt on top, cover with boiling water.
>> Put the ring and lid on and do not tighten completely, leave enough
>> room for the fermentation to swell and it will leak out. Always put it
>> in a bucket, tub, or something that will catch the leakage. Bob Baron
>> did the original math for dividing the salt up but I guesstimated it
>> at 3 tbs per quart.
>>
>> Only got one and a half quarts of kraut fermenting. Finally did it
>> this morning. Keep it in a room temperature place with no light
>> hitting the jars. You will know when it is done. After it has
>> fermented I always BWB mine for the time limit shown in many
>> preserving books and it keeps a long time then.
> Never tried it with boiling water, always used cold. Variation: pack jar
> tightly 1/2 full with cabbage, add 1 Tbs. salt, finish packing jar add 1
> Tbs more salt, fill with cold water & top-off with cold water daily for
> about 7 to 10 days @ 70F or so, then tighten rings & store. Even at 2
> Tbs. of salt, I pour off all liquid when I use it, otherwise it's too
> salty.
>
> Jars will be under pressure when opened and over time, the cabbage will
> become more translucent and soften, but oh so good.
>
> We try to get the cabbage on sale after St. Patty's day, but that seems
> to be a thing of the past. Damn little on sale these days.
>


That sounds like way too much salt. Are you sure it wasn't 3 tsp?
(I'll have to go look up the original post.) If you have an accurate
kitchen scale, it's 1 pound of salt to 50 pounds of cabbage (or 10
grams of salt to 500 grams of cabbage.) You can pack a lot more
cabbage in a quart jar than you might think if you really punch it in
with a hammer handle.

I don't think it matters whether the water is boiling or not because
so little water will fit. I used boiling water so it would dissolve
the salt better, since it wasn't mixed thoroughly with the cabbage.

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
> Wilson wrote:
>> sometime in the recent past George Shirley posted this:
>>> On 3/28/2010 11:38 AM, ellen wickberg wrote:
>>>> George Shirley wrote:
>>>>> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
>>>>> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
>>>>> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
>>>>> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of
>>>>> my four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
>>>>> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
>>>>> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>>>>>
>>>>> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
>>>>> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
>>>>> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
>>>>> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
>>>> George,
>>>> I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
>>>> enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
>>>> thanks, Ellen
>>>
>>> I thought I had saved it to MC 7 but didn't. Basically you thinly
>>> slice the cabbage, pack it tightly in a quart jar, put three
>>> tablespoons pickling or kosher salt on top, cover with boiling water.
>>> Put the ring and lid on and do not tighten completely, leave enough
>>> room for the fermentation to swell and it will leak out. Always put
>>> it in a bucket, tub, or something that will catch the leakage. Bob
>>> Baron did the original math for dividing the salt up but I
>>> guesstimated it at 3 tbs per quart.
>>>
>>> Only got one and a half quarts of kraut fermenting. Finally did it
>>> this morning. Keep it in a room temperature place with no light
>>> hitting the jars. You will know when it is done. After it has
>>> fermented I always BWB mine for the time limit shown in many
>>> preserving books and it keeps a long time then.
>> Never tried it with boiling water, always used cold. Variation: pack
>> jar tightly 1/2 full with cabbage, add 1 Tbs. salt, finish packing jar
>> add 1 Tbs more salt, fill with cold water & top-off with cold water
>> daily for about 7 to 10 days @ 70F or so, then tighten rings & store.
>> Even at 2 Tbs. of salt, I pour off all liquid when I use it, otherwise
>> it's too salty.
>>
>> Jars will be under pressure when opened and over time, the cabbage
>> will become more translucent and soften, but oh so good.
>>
>> We try to get the cabbage on sale after St. Patty's day, but that
>> seems to be a thing of the past. Damn little on sale these days.
>>
>
>
> That sounds like way too much salt. Are you sure it wasn't 3 tsp? (I'll
> have to go look up the original post.) If you have an accurate kitchen
> scale, it's 1 pound of salt to 50 pounds of cabbage (or 10 grams of salt
> to 500 grams of cabbage.) You can pack a lot more cabbage in a quart
> jar than you might think if you really punch it in with a hammer handle.
>
> I don't think it matters whether the water is boiling or not because so
> little water will fit. I used boiling water so it would dissolve the
> salt better, since it wasn't mixed thoroughly with the cabbage.
>
> Bob


OK, I looked it up:
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.preserving/browse_thread/thread/a6177b12e8e94e50/f57fa022fdc7ab6d>

It's 5 Tbsp of salt per 10 pounds of cabbage, divided amongst however
many jars it takes to hold the 10 pounds. (not as many jars as you'd
expect; maybe 5 or 6)

If you have a scale (I do now, but didn't when I wrote that back in
1999), weighing each jar and adding 2% salt is probably a better system.

Bob

On 4/1/2010 9:35 AM, zxcvbob wrote:
> Wilson wrote:
>> sometime in the recent past George Shirley posted this:
>>> On 3/28/2010 11:38 AM, ellen wickberg wrote:
>>>> George Shirley wrote:
>>>>> We have about six or seven small cabbage heads left in the garden. I
>>>>> intend to slice them up today and make Bob Baron's kraut in jars.
>>>>> Couldn't find my original copy of his recipe so had to Google Google
>>>>> Groups to find it. Thanks again Bob, this time I saved it to three of
>>>>> my four hard drives and made a print out to boot.
>>>>>
>>>>> It's in the mid-fifties at the moment here in SW Loosyanna and the sun
>>>>> is out and shining brightly. Supposed to warm up to 72F by mid
>>>>> afternoon. Eat your hearts out damnedyankees! <G>
>>>>>
>>>>> The spring garden is in the ground and additional chile and tomato
>>>>> plants are growing under the lights in my office. The peach and plum
>>>>> trees have set fruit, the lemon tree that was frozen back severely is
>>>>> now putting out new limbs and leaves. It's a nice day.
>>>> George,
>>>> I tried going to google Groups but apparently am not sophisticated
>>>> enough to use it. Could you please post the recipe.
>>>> thanks, Ellen
>>>
>>> I thought I had saved it to MC 7 but didn't. Basically you thinly
>>> slice the cabbage, pack it tightly in a quart jar, put three
>>> tablespoons pickling or kosher salt on top, cover with boiling water.
>>> Put the ring and lid on and do not tighten completely, leave enough
>>> room for the fermentation to swell and it will leak out. Always put
>>> it in a bucket, tub, or something that will catch the leakage. Bob
>>> Baron did the original math for dividing the salt up but I
>>> guesstimated it at 3 tbs per quart.
>>>
>>> Only got one and a half quarts of kraut fermenting. Finally did it
>>> this morning. Keep it in a room temperature place with no light
>>> hitting the jars. You will know when it is done. After it has
>>> fermented I always BWB mine for the time limit shown in many
>>> preserving books and it keeps a long time then.
>> Never tried it with boiling water, always used cold. Variation: pack
>> jar tightly 1/2 full with cabbage, add 1 Tbs. salt, finish packing jar
>> add 1 Tbs more salt, fill with cold water & top-off with cold water
>> daily for about 7 to 10 days @ 70F or so, then tighten rings & store.
>> Even at 2 Tbs. of salt, I pour off all liquid when I use it, otherwise
>> it's too salty.
>>
>> Jars will be under pressure when opened and over time, the cabbage
>> will become more translucent and soften, but oh so good.
>>
>> We try to get the cabbage on sale after St. Patty's day, but that
>> seems to be a thing of the past. Damn little on sale these days.
>>
>
>
> That sounds like way too much salt. Are you sure it wasn't 3 tsp? (I'll
> have to go look up the original post.) If you have an accurate kitchen
> scale, it's 1 pound of salt to 50 pounds of cabbage (or 10 grams of salt
> to 500 grams of cabbage.) You can pack a lot more cabbage in a quart jar
> than you might think if you really punch it in with a hammer handle.
>
> I don't think it matters whether the water is boiling or not because so
> little water will fit. I used boiling water so it would dissolve the
> salt better, since it wasn't mixed thoroughly with the cabbage.
>
> Bob

I have a purpose made kraut pounder. Took a piece of one-inch quarter
round about a foot long, rounded the corners on the handle end so I
wouldn't damage my hand. The rounded side of the quarter round fits the
round jars perfectly. Pounded the kraut tightly and then went from there.

I ust inspected der kraut, ist bubbling nicely, sitting in the dark
pantry in its tray.