Sauerkraut

 Our cabbage crop was very poor this year so we had to buy cabbage to make sauerkraut. We had the cabbages in the root cellar for quite a while and didn't get our kraut made until December! We just opened up the crock today to see how it was doing. It is yummy! We use a recipe that Ann found in a book from Chelsea Green Publishing . The name of the book is Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning. The recipes are all from the gardeners and farmers of Terre Vivante which is a French organization promoting natural and organic methods, etc. I don't want to infringe on their copy right so you will have to find a recipe on your own.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who lives off grid as it has been very useful in helping us find ways to preserve our food. These are traditional recipes from a time when fermentation was one of the few dependable methods of preserving the harvest. We have kept this sauerkraut in the crock in our root cellar with no additional processing. Of course the U.S.D.A. and F.D.A. say this should be canned in a hot water bath to be safe. I guess we are just reckless and wild. We eat it right out of the crock as is. Every one has to decide for them selves on that issue.