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Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe - Sauerkraut mixture brined and ready to be packed into a jar. | makesauerkraut.com
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Kimchi Style Sauerkraut

FERMENTATION LENGTH: 1-4 weeks
SALT PERCENT: 2%
Why I love this recipe. It connects me to cultures around the world where traditionally fermented foods are still a part of their everyday lifestyle. For a PDF version of this recipe, including Gourmet Pairing Options, scroll to the end of this post.
Course Appetizer, Condiment, Side Dish
Keyword Cabbage, Carrot, Fermented, Kimchi, Paleo, Sauerkraut, Vegetarian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Servings 28 - 1 ounce (30 grams)
Author Holly Howe

Equipment

  • Kitchen scale, ideally digital
  • Cutting board and chef’s knife
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Vegetable peeler and grater
  • 1-quart (L) wide-mouth canning jar or similar sized jar
  • 4-ounce (125 ml) canning jar (jelly jar)
  • Wide-mouth plastic storage cap (or lid and rim that comes with jar)

Ingredients

  • 1 medium head fresh green cabbage, 2 ½–3 pounds (1 kg) 2 ½–3 pounds
  • 1-2 carrots
  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1 large radish (watermelon is nice) or bunch small red radish
  • (You want about 1/2 cup grated radish)
  • 1 -inch knob fresh ginger
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 1-2 teaspoons Korean red pepper powder (gochugaru)
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce optional, but highly recommended
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) iodine-free salt (fine-grain)

Instructions

  • SET UP. Gather Supplies and Set Up Scale
    Using a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients is THE secret for delicious sauerkraut... batch after batch. My favorite scale is discussed here.
    You don’t want to include the weight of your bowl in your measurements, so either zero out the scale (usually done with a button on a digital scale or a knob under the tray on a mechanical scale) or write down the tare (bowl) weight.
    MyWeigh KD-8000 digital scale review. | makesauerkraut.com
  • CHOP. Prep Your Vegetables and Cabbage
    When making sauerkraut, you first prepare the flavoring ingredients – carrots, ginger, radish, caraway seeds or whatnot – then add sliced cabbage. This allows you to add only as much sliced cabbage as necessary to hit 1¾ pounds (28 ounces, 800 grams) on the scale, the amount that fits perfectly - usually - into a 1-quart (liter) jar.
    Grate carrots and radish, thinly slice green onions, grate ginger and mince garlic, placing everything, along with the red pepper flakes or Korean red pepper and optional fish sauce, in your bowl. NOTE: If you're concerned about the "hot" nature of the red pepper on your bare hands, either wear gloves or quickly mix it in right before packing your jar.
    Discard the dirty or limp outer leaves of your cabbage, setting aside one of the cleaner leaves for use during the SUBMERGE step.
    Quarter, then slice cabbage crosswise into thin ribbons. I leave the core in because I find it helps to hold the layers of cabbage together making the slicing job easier.
    Add sliced cabbage to your bowl until the weight of your vegetables and cabbage is 1¾ pounds (28 ounces, 800 grams).
    Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe - Slice, chop and dice all your ingredients. | makesauerkraut.com
  • SALT. Create Your Brine
    Salt pulls water out of the cabbage and vegetables to create an environment where the good bacteria (mainly lactobacillus) can grow and proliferate and the bad bacteria die off. You really do need salt to make sauerkraut.
    Sprinkle vegetables and cabbage with 1 tablespoon of salt and mix well. 
    Then, massage the vegetables with strong hands until moist, creating the brine. You should be able to tilt the bowl to the side and see a good-sized puddle of brine, about 2–3 inches in diameter. This process can take anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Notice how the mixture has shrunk. Due to the hot nature of the red pepper, wash hands wells after. 
    Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe - Sprinkle prepared vegetables & cabbage with salt and mix well to form your brine. | makesauerkraut.com
  • PACK. Pack Mixture into Jar
    Once you notice a small puddle of brine in the bottom of your bowl (you may need to tilt it to one side to see it), it is time to pack the moist mixture into your jar. See my article on dry sauerkraut if you're having difficulty creating enough brine.
    Grab handfuls of the salty, juicy cabbage mixture and pack them into your quart-sized (liter) wide-mouth canning jar, periodically pressing the mixture down tightly with your fist or a large spoon so that the brine rises above the top of the mixture and no air pockets remain.
    Be sure to leave at least 1 inch of space between the top of the cabbage and the top of the jar. Because we weighed out just the right amount of cabbage to fit in your jar, this should happen automatically.
    Pour any brine left in your mixing bowl into the jar and scrape out any loose bits stuck to the sides of the bowl or to the sides of your jar.
    Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe - Pack your sauerkraut mixture into a quart jar. | makesauerkraut.com
  • SUBMERGE. Hold Ferment Below Brine
    Now make sure your fermenting mixture is in a safe anaerobic (no air) environment. This means that you need to keep the cabbage mixture submerged in the brine while it ferments.
    Take that cabbage leaf you saved during the SETUP step, tear it down to just fit in the jar, and place it on the surface of the packed cabbage. Forgot to save a cabbage leaf? No problem. You can fold a narrow piece of parchment paper to size or even cut an old plastic lid to size. 
    Place the 4-ounce jelly jar (or preferred weight) on top of the cabbage leaf, right side up with its lid removed. (Here I'm using the weight included with the Ferment'n fermentation lid.)
    Lightly (to allow for escape of CO2 gases), screw on the white plastic storage lid or airlock of your choice, following their directions.
    I like to label my jars using green or blue painter’s tape and a permanent marker. I note the flavor of sauerkraut I made and the date I started fermenting.
    For this recipe, I used the Ferment'n water-sealed fermentation lid. It comes with a weight, the water trough you hold in place with a metal canning band and the lid.  
    Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe - Add a floaties trap, weight and lid. | makesauerkraut.com
  • FERMENT. Ferment for 1 to 4 Weeks
    Time now for the friendly bacteria to do their work while you watch and wait. Can you wait 7 days to taste the tangy crunch?
    Place your jar of fermenting sauerkraut in a shallow bowl (to catch the brine that may leak out during the first week of fermentation), out of direct sunlight. Wait for 1 week before opening to sample.
    For what to expect as your sauerkraut ferments, see SALTY Cabbage to SOUR Sauerkraut: Fermentation Signs to Monitor
    Should the brine level fall (very unlikely) and remain below the level of the sauerkraut during this first week, 
    dilute 1 Tbsp of salt in 2 cups of water 
    and pour some of this brine over the sauerkraut (removing the little jar first) until it just covers the mixture. Put the little jar back in, screw the lid on lightly and let the fermentation continue.
    Don’t worry if the brine disappears after the 7- to 10-day mark. By this time, you’ve created a safe environment in which the bacteria that would cause mold or slime has been chased away by the beneficial bacteria produced during the fermentation process.
    You can ferment your sauerkraut for up to 4 weeks. The longer you ferment it, the greater the number and variety of beneficial bacteria that can be produced.
    Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe - Ferment on your counter top for 1-4 weeks. | makesauerkraut.com
  • STORE. Store in Refrigerator for Up to 1 Year
    After fermenting your sauerkraut, it’s ready to go into the refrigerator and ready to be eaten.
    Rinse off the outside of the jar. You can take the little jar out. Clean the rim if necessary (sometimes it can get sticky from the brine that overflows), and screw the lid back on tightly. Add to your label how long you fermented the contents.
    Enjoy a forkful or two of your sauerkraut with your meals. It will continue to ferment – aging like a fine wine – but at a much slower rate than before. If the flavors are too intense, leave it the jar for a month or two and then eat it. You will be amazed at how the flavors have changed.
    If successfully fermented (tastes and smells good), your sauerkraut can be kept preserved in your refrigerator for up to a year.
    Kimchi Style Sauerkraut Recipe. | makesauerkraut.com

Notes

Ginger
  1. For frozen ginger, grate it using the fine side of your grater. The peel is left on the outside of the grater box and the minced ginger sits in a nice pile on your cutting board ready to be scraped into your sauerkraut mixing bowl
  2. For fresh ginger, using a vegetable peeler results to wasting some of the flesh. Instead, try using a spoon to scrape the outer layer.
Gochugaru or Red Pepper Flakes
  1. The spiciness or heat of Gochugaru or red pepper flakes can vary greatly. If you like it hot, use 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. If you don’t want it too spicy, use 1/2 teaspoon, instead. Then, adjust for future batches or taste after mixing in the salt and add more red pepper if you feel it needs it.
  2. If your hands are sensitive to the capsicum in the red pepper, don’t add them to your bowl until you have mixed all your cabbage and vegetables together and created your brine. Then, sprinkle on the red pepper flakes, quickly mix, and then pack into your jar.
  3. You also might want to consider wearing a pair of thin plastic gloves when making this sauerkraut or using a large spoon when mixing and packing.
Fish Sauce
  1. Optional, but highly recommended. My favorite is Red Boat. You can read more about fish sauce here. The fishy smell dissipates during fermentation.