In my ongoing attempt to wrest control of the products that come into my life so that I should know how things are created, prepared, fashioned, tooled, finished, grown, or otherwise brought to market for my convenience, I am making sauerkraut. Fermented foods have a long history dating back approximately 9,000 years. Sauerkraut or Sour Cabbage, though associated with the Germans (Sour Krauts – hehe), was invented by the Chinese over 2,000 years ago. Gengis Kahn is thought to have brought the fermented dish to Europe a thousand years later.

Our Harsch 10-liter crock is made just for this fermentation job in Germany and costs about $125. I picked up 18 pounds (8kg) of organic cabbage, shredded it on a mandolin, and with about 4 tablespoons (55g) of sea salt, I packed the cabbage tightly into the crock, covered it with the supplied stone weight, put the lid on the crock filling the groove with water to seal and protect the cabbage on its 6-week journey of fermentation before it can be called sauerkraut.