sourkraut

[George]

I got the urge to try making some sourkraut and am running a small test batch. Dead simple, cabbage and salt, and it seems to be going well. I have no idea kraut ever showed up in an 18th century camp, although many of the early longhunters and settlers were of German extraction. They were a large influence on the development of the longrifle, of course, and I know they brought many, many other things of German culture with them, but kraut in camp? Anyone have anything on this?

Anyone make kraut? Not part of my background, and even though my wife's family is of German extraction, and arrived in colonial times, the kraut gene apparently had faded out before her parents came along.

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

I can't speak to...kraut in camp but, I was raised around sauerkraut...both my parents loved it....Me, not as much but I do like it on pizza... :haha:
On the other hand I make pickled cabbage....Sweet.

 

[BullRunBear]

Sauerkraut was certainly around in the 1700s and much earlier. Apparently Captain Cook took barrels of it on his voyages. My wife's aunt and uncle in Wisconsin made kraut each year from cabbages grown in their backyard. She says it took several weeks, required regular attention, and it smelled pretty bad during the process.

We couldn't find any reference to kraut in long hunter camps but it is rather heavy for a man on foot to carry much of it. I presume kraut would be available at most established German farms or settlements. As you said, it is a simple process using an easily grown crop.

Good luck with your kraut. I love the taste and it is proving useful in controlling my diabetes through diet.

 

[nebraska steve]

http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/s...[user]=142354557&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0
I came across an abandoned house while hunting the other day. My wife cans, so I snapped this photo of jar of kraut. Looks like it lost the seal. A news paper in the cellar was dated 1973.

 

[George]

I think that kraut is about ready. :haha:

Spence

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I too doubt kraut was in camp, also due to the water weight. On a ship, kraut is another matter, as it will keep, and is what the German navy used on a daily basis to keep the men healthy (antiscorbutic - prevents scurvy) into the 20th century.

Now on the frontier, since cabbages are pretty easy to raise, and were popular, it's highly likely that frontiersmen ate kraut, at least once in their lives.

In September of 1768 George Morgan was shipped seeds for four types of cabbage, "long, early, red, and savory". (Baker, Sons of a Trackless Forest p.333) Additional cabbage seed varieties were shipped in October of the same year.

In the summer of 1769 because Morgan in Kaskaskia was selling to local French settlers, as well as to the local English garrison, Morgan encountered Soup Meagre, cabbage soup sans meat. In fact at one point during the summer, it was customary for an entire meal to consist of several cabbage dishes.

Now I'm not sure cabbage boiled in whole milk would be very good, but fried with some salt pork, might be right tasty. (Baker p. 339) I've had it fried in salted butter, a combination of both red and white cabbage, and yowzaa I went back for a second helping! Morgan wrote to his wife that four cabbage dishes in one meal made him "sick of cabbage", but on the other hand his English partners shipped him more than four varieties of the plant...for some reason. So perhaps cabbage alone (sans meat) was his complaint. (Anybody for a good cabbage roll :grin: ???)

Baker also notes he found a source in 1762 of request from a junior officer to Colonel Henry Bouquet for two padlocks, one to be used to secure the "cabbage house". (Baker p.339)

So at an event, especially Winter, or in early Spring, cabbage and/or kraut would be a good choice, if one is replicating what would be available at that time of year.

LD

 

[Grumpa]

Captain Cook carried it on his voyages (and it was commonly used on Dutch ships), as it was known to prevent scurvy.

No reason to think it wasn't eaten here, from earliest times. Cabbage and salt, readily available.

We think of it as German, but it fed the builders of the Great Wall of China, and from there, was introduced to Europe by Gengis Khan.

One of my Grandmothers (Irish, once removed) practically lived on sauerkraut, and the beer it was cooked in. She always had a pot simmering on the stove. Both the kraut and the beer were nutritious. :thumbsup:

 

[BillinOregon]

Spence, I know a food historian on another forum and will ask him about this.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I eat sauerkraut at least once a week. Some is quite tasty and other just too sour. I also like RotKohl the sweet red cabbage that is a bit like sauerkraut.

However, the PA Dutch here about have an annual New Years Day dinner of pork and sauerkraut baked together and served over mashed potatoes. (I find it disgusting) So on New Years we have BBQ ribs, coleslaw and french fries. As close as we will come to pork and sauerkraut.

There were many potteries near here and some straight sides crocks could hold 10 gals of the stuff. Some of those crocks are from the early 1800's.

I have no written authority for saying yeah or nay. But gauging by the long history here of such crocks produced, it is rather certain that it was common in the settlements.

 

[Grumpa]

Disgusting?!! :shocked2:

We have pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes every New Year's Day...I love it! :thumbsup: A little Heinz ketchup on it...mmmm! Been eating it all my life. And my people were all Irish. :haha: :haha:

I agree with you on the sweet red cabbage :wink:, and BBQ ribs with sauerkraut and french fries? :metoo:

 

[Kansas Jake]

Spence,
We have made sauerkraut a number of times. It is quite simple. We shred the cabbage and put it in a crock or glass container. We mix a pinch of salt with each quart or so as it goes into the crock. We press it down with as we go. Once you have the cabbage in the crock we place a plate or other loose fitting item on top of the cabbage with something to hold the plate in place. That is to keep the cabbage in the juice. You don't have to add water. We have cured it in the garage in the summer or in the basement. We also cover the top of the container with cheese cloth to keep flies etc out.

After a few days it will start to stink and from time to time we skim the foam off the top. Usually a couple of weeks will result in a decent kraut. Our problem is we start sampling it before it is fully cured because it is so good. You may can it in jars, but we usually use the non PC method of freezing it in separate quantities in freezer bags. When we need some we just pull it out of the freezer.

I like it raw, but it also can be cooked. I've been told that curing it in a warm place makes a sweeter kraut. If cured in cool, it is more sour. A quick google should give you a number or recipes. Go to Mother Earth's site and you will find more info.

Now who has the brats on the grill. Just writing this made my mouth water for brats and kraut. Pork chops will also do.

Jake

 

[George]

Good to now about bagging and freezing it, Jake, thanks. That won't be a problem this time, I'm making only a small test batch, a couple of cups of cabbage. Day 16, and it's doing well, fluid is clear, no foam or mold, good sharp sour smell, which I love. I took a taste, and it's mild, not as sour as I like it, is beginning to soften nicely and to turn tan. Not long until sauerkraut dogs, now.

Spence

 

[B.Habermehl]

It'll soon be time for us to make a good fifty pounds of kraut. We use a electric slicer, buckets and kosher salt. Slice up about one head of cabbage. Throw it in the bucket layer it with some salt. Pack it good with a baseball bat. Repeat. Till all cabbage is sliced salted and bucketed. Take a plate and a plastic bag, lay the bag on the top of the cabbage, the cover with the plate. Then snap the lid on the bucket. Put in a cool place and forget about it for a couple months. When you open the buckets you will not like what you see. The top inch or so will look positively evil. Just scrape it off and dispose of it. The rest will be good kraut. My mouth is watering........BJH

 

[sidelock]

Just like my Mom did it when I was a kid, except she placed a pretty heavy rock on the plate to hold all down and a cloth over the top of the container which was a milk churn that my brother now has. I have several "BIG" cabbages in my garden now, Thinking about trying to make some.

 

[tenngun]

Kraut I. One form or another dose indeed go back to China and also Greece where a onion- cabbage kraut was made and served with fish. It was famous for its stench and jokes about it were made in Greek classical comedies. One of the late roman imperiors gave up the throw to go raise cabbage. It was not to be found in English cooking. When Cook shipped it his men refused to eat it. He stopped its issue to the men then privately ordered his officers to eat as much as they could hold. He then wrote that the men revolted demanding they get a share of a special food that just the officers enjoyed. Cook soon had to ration it. When in New Jersey Cornwallis was invited to a dinner wirtg German officers in a German household. He complained about the gut like look of the sausages and the sour fermented cabbage that he found disgusting. Is your persona German Dutch Scandinavian ? Kraut would have been on your table. English Scott French Irish? Maybe not. However English men married German girls and she brought her house hold skills and foods to her new home. By the 1770s there were few pure 3ed generation Americans. We were a melting pot before a country.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

the PA Dutch here about have an annual New Years Day dinner of pork and sauerkraut baked together and served over mashed potatoes.

I LOVE that stuff...lots of international variations too...


Colcannon - often made with unfermented cabbage
Cawl Cennin - same thing but Welsch
Stampot - Dutch, with kraut
bubble & squeak - again usually unfermented cabbage
Rumbledethumps - Scottish, see Bubble & Squeak
Stoemp - Belgium, similar to Stampot
Trnxat - Northern Spain, made with pork sausage, mashed potatoes, and cabbage.


LD

 

[BullRunBear]

Okay, I give up. I'm already salivating.

Grill the brats or any wurst, slice them thin and toss in with LOTS of warmed kraut. Dab good German mustard on the meat and stir together so the mustard flavors the kraut. Skip the spuds. Serve in a bowl with a piece of homemade rye or pumpernickel bread. I know what's for supper tonight.

And to keep with the ML theme, the next time I'm at the range all day I might take a batch of this to share with my buddies for lunch. It should taste good even when seasoned by black powder smoke.

Jeff

 

[Kansas Jake]

That really sounds good.

My in-laws also made kraut out of turnips. It tasted about like regular cabbage kraut.

 

[ddoyle]

One of mankinds great accomplishments is the fermentation of cabbage. Yummy and healthful and cheap.

One of the things that makes a house a home is a proper fermentation pot. Cabbage Kraut is only one of dozens of foods that can be preserved this way. I'd own 10 of these pots if I could find/afford them.

For the trail you can dry Kraut and it reduces to nothing, put in water and in short order it is hydrated and excellent. Cold from the fridge kraut is ok but warmed in meat juice or even alone in a pot and it becomes magic.

Do your guts a favor and eat it daily.

 

[tenngun]

How do you dry it, sounds good