Stinky good stuff....

Sorry for such a long delay in posting my dear friends. I am truly trying to keep up and as soon as the first frost hits - life will slow down a bit. Then I can bore you daily with my little corner of the planet!

I am going to post about the Saur Kraut that I canned a couple of days ago. Before I go further, I must explain that this kraut had been 'potted' last fall. To make saur kraut at home you must have an old fashion 'crock' to put it in. This is the canning process after it has fermented - so in other words I am putting the cart before the horse as far as this is concerned. I had to can this kraut before I could 'pot' the kraut for this year. So anyone confused yet... almost as bad as - I dont know what it is as bad as.

When you can your kraut it has to be done all at once, no waiting a day. This is a picture of the kraut still in the crock. Please understand that this crock was FULL, about 6 inchs from the rim, with kraut last year. We ate most of it but I had to can the rest so that it doesnt go to waste - I hate to waste anything. When I pot the next bunch of kraut it will explain things a bit better. This is a 10 gallon Red Wing crock... and my dirty foot - please dont look at my dirty foot. I had been running in the mud with the boys that morning....and did not wash it - sorry...

This is the uncanned kraut in the crock...



Looks kinda snarky dont it...However, it must ferment to make good kraut. My granny and her mamma used to leave it in the crock all year, but she told me that they usually had eatin it all by the middle of the summer. When I pot the new batch I will go into detail about it. The old timers really knew what they were doing. Now days, we think that this is going to make us sick or that will make you sick... that thinking - makes me sick - sick I say!!!

The canning process is pretty darn easy. I sterilize my jars in boiling water, keep my lids hot and my rings dry. I usually do this outside on my deck with my King Cooker propane burner but this is what it looked like out the deck door the day I did it.

First you must pick off the stuff that is not good and throw it in the 'slop pail' - yes I have a slop pail that is taken out daily for the chickens now that the pigs are gone. Chickens eat anything too - just in case you were wondering. Especially Lispys rooster - Baserd.


I filled my jars till there was only about 1 1/2 inchs from the top. There is some juice left after the jars have been filled, so I divide that out between the jars evenly. Don't mind my ole coffee pot - its outlived the animals that it came over with on the Mayflower.


Then I put them in a hot water bath for about 15 min - no longer because the kraut does not need to be 'cooked', just sealed.
.



Then ya just let them cool. I got 15 quarts out of the little bit of kraut left in my crock.
This was distracting me the whole time - my mamery glands were kicking in overtime!
I am going to be doing more peaches today - I hope to post that a little later today or tommorow. Please dont leave me and not come back - I promise to post more when I have gotten the garden under control -or at least went into complete denial of how much I have to do and that I will get it all done!