Instructions

1. Peel the outer, tough leaves from a few heads of cabbage and rinse them under cool running water. Let the cabbage air dry.

2. Cut each cabbage on a cutting board in four pieces through the stem using a kitchen knife. Cut the pieces of core from the quartered cabbages and discard them. Trim any discolored, damaged or diseased leaves from the cabbages.

3. Shred the cabbages into 1/16- to 1/8-inch-wide strips using a serrated bread knife. Place the shredded cabbage in a plastic mixing bowl and sprinkle 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of pickling salt over the top for every 2 pounds.

4. Work the salt into the cabbage as if kneading bread, breaking the cabbage down to release some of its moisture. Don't play nice with the cabbage -- you want to smash it down well. You can use a potato masher if you need some help.

5. Sprinkle flavoring ingredients on the cabbage when it appears to reduce in volume by half, and work them in by hand. Caraway seeds are classic, but you can just about anything, including hot pepper seeds, dill seeds, celery seeds, juniper berries and garlic cloves, to name a few. Fold the ingredients in by hand.

6. Fill a 1-quart glass jar about one-third full of cabbage and tamp it down firmly with your hand. Repeat until the cabbage almost reaches the lip of the jar. A 1-quart jar holds about 2 pounds of cabbage.

7. Tamp the cabbage down in the jars until the juice it releases covers the cabbage by about 1/2 inch.

   If the cabbage didn't release enough juice when you tamped it down, boil 1 quart of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of pickling salt and cool it down. Pour the cooled salt water over the cabbage in the jars until covered.

8. Cover the mouths of the jars with a couple layers of cheesecloth and thread the lids on them. The cheesecloth will prevent you from tightening them all the way, which is what you want. Place the jars in a dark area that has a temperature between 70 and 75 F.

9. Check the kraut every couple days for bloom, a mold-like byproduct of lacto-fermentation, on the surface of the liquid and skim as needed with a spoon. Press the cabbage back down with clean hands if it starts to float.

10. Taste the kraut after two weeks to check its tartness. Seal the lid and store the kraut for eating if you like it, or let it ferment a few more days, weeks or as long as it takes to reach the desired tartness.