Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Let’s Make Kraut

Homeschool Review Crew

Fermentools 

I love making things.  Getting in the kitchen and working with my hands to create things that my family will eat is something that I love to do.  So, let’s make kraut!  I have made sauerkraut before but it’s hit or miss normally because I would often develop mold on the top.  When offered a starter kit from Fermentools I knew exactly what I was going to make with it. 

Sauerkraut can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it.  For me, I used a whole red cabbage, a shredded beet, and some caraway seeds. It’s one of my favorite combinations.  But it can get pricey buying it from the store. 

About the Kit

With the starter kit from Fermentools, you receive everything you need to ferment except for the veggies and a mason jar.  The kit fits on a wide mouth mason jar of any size. 

The first piece in your kit is a stainless steel lid.  The lid comes with a rubber sealing gasket.  It is heavier and sturdier than your normal mason jar lid and has a hole in the middle which is essential for the fermenting process. 

Second in your kit is a thick and dense glass weight.  This is used to weigh down what you put in the mason jar so that it stays below the liquid line and things don’t mold.  Definitely, an important piece that you don’t want to have gone missing. 

Third, in your starter kit is an airlock.  This is something that you can’t really just piece together on your own.  This is also essential for the fermenting process.  A fun fact about the airlock is that it’s made in Canada and the only piece that is not made here in America.  When you’re fermenting this is probably the most essential piece as it provides the barrier to keep the bad bacteria out while creating the perfect environment for the good bacteria to go to work. 

Fourth in the kit is a rubber stopper to help close the hole in the stainless steel lid and provide support for the airlock. 

The fifth piece of the kit is a bag of pink Himalayan salt.  Salt is a key piece in the fermenting process. 

One of the last pieces in the kit is the instruction manual.  This will answer a lot of your questions and help you get started.  Their website will offer more information as well.  

Another piece that I think is great is the bag it all comes in.  This is a great way to store the kit when it’s not in use.

There is a lot of science behind fermenting foods and how it creates the finished product.  Fermentools offers information on their website on the science behind it and all the nerdy details if that’s something you want to learn about.  

What We Thought

I really enjoyed making sauerkraut in my new kitchen tool.  If you’re curious or think you might enjoy fermenting I highly recommend you grab a kit and turn to a friend and say “let’s make kraut” because you’ll both create something for your table and have fun in the process.  

How to Make Kraut

My process was so simple.  I finely chopped up my cabbage.  Think of grating the cabbage but doing it with a knife.  I did grate the beet though because it seemed like a good idea.  I put them both into a bowl and added some salt to them smashing them around a bit.  Then I strained the juices off using a clean cheesecloth.  From there I put them all in the jar and packed them in tight adding in a few caraway seeds as I went.  

After everything was smashed into the jar good and proper I added in brine to cover the cabbage with about 1/2 inch above the solids.  Place the weight.  Add the lid and then the stopper.  Next, put the airlock in but add some water to it first.  It was that simple!  Let sit on your counter and watch the bubbles form.  I liked mine to ferment for a little longer but you can eat it at around 7 days if you want to. 

This was so easy and honestly, the kit has been in almost constant use since we got it.  Because the good thing about having teens who can cook and take over the kitchen is that they can take over fermenting as well! 

I highly recommend this product if you’re wanting to do small scale fermenting in your home.

Learn More

Ready to learn more?  Want to say to your family “let’s make kraut” or simply let’s ferment something!?  Then check out all of the reviews linked up on the main blog post over on the Homeschool Review Crew blog to see what other crew members made with their kit.  

As always you can check out more on how to make kraut and Fermentools by going to their website.