Sauerkraut

I based the kraut I made on these recipes, which have some good info on what to look out for:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-homemade-sauerkraut-in-a-mason-jar-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193124 

http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/homemade-sauerkraut

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_06/sauerkraut.html

This turned out to be delicious.  It also was not as vinegary-tasting as regular sauerkraut is.  I don't know if this is because I didn't ferment it for as long; it definitely tasted fermented/not like salted cabbage, just not quite as sour, which I liked better.  It did remind me of a yogurt taste which I guess makes sense since it's the same bacteria.

I made two kinds, one with red cabbage and the other with Napa cabbage.  For each one I used:

Ingredients:

-  ~5 lb cabbage

-  ~3-4 Tb sea salt (made sure it had no caking agents, just pure sea salt)

-  Seasonings

Seasonings:

-  For the red cabbage, a little over half of it I made plain, but I also made a little bit with red chili powder -- basically, I packed 3 pint-sized mason jars plain and then added about a Tb of the chili powder to the remaining, which filled 2 pint-sized mason jars.

-  For the Napa cabbage, I added coriander seeds (did not like, ugh, but hard to taste unless you eat one of the seeds) and about 3 jalapenos, sliced thinly into sticks.  I used all the seeds from the jalapenos and it wasn't very spicy, just a little hint.

Use food processor slicing attachment to slice up the cabbage.  Put it in a big bowl with the salt and massage until there's enough brine to cover the cabbage.  Add any other seasonings you choose at this point.  Pack into mason jars and use a small cup or something to weight the cabbage down so it stays under the brine.  Leave it out for 3+ days depending on the size of the container.  Room temperature should be between 65-75 degrees.  

For the red cabbage (all in pint-sized containers) I left it out for about 5 days.

For the Napa cabbage (some in pint sized, some in quart sized containers) I left it out for about 3-4 days.  The pint sized container was definitely a bit more sour but not by much.

The articles say it should bubble up and mine did, so I was glad I put them on a plate to catch the spillage.  Next time I think I might make it all in a crock so that there's more room for the liquid to bubble and more room for extra brine on top (especially for the Napa cabbage, I had leftover brine that didn't fit).  The only problem with the crock is that you have to leave it out for much longer, and I don't have a suitable container that I can spare for several weeks.