Sauerkraut for quick consumption

For 2 kg of white cabbage, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 glass of sour milk or whey

Wash the cabbage, remove any damaged leaves, cut it in half, do not remove the core and cut the cabbage into thin strips with a knife. Mix thoroughly with salt, place in a stone pot or glass jar, knead and pour over beaten sour milk or whey drained from cottage cheese. Cover the pickle with a cloth, press it down with a plate, weigh it down with a stone or a jar filled with water and leave to ferment at room temperature.

(Bohdan Jacórzyński, Przetwory z warzyw i owoców.., Warszawa 1982)

Sauerkraut delicatessen

2 kg cabbage, 1 kg carrots, 1 kg hard apples, ½ kg parsley, ½ kg celery, 1/2 kg leek, ½ kg onion

Chop everything or cut into strips like cabbage. Mix thoroughly, add 10 dag of salt and 2 tablespoons of natural honey. Put the well-mixed mass into jars, pressing firmly until the juice appears. Then, close jars and put them in a cool place.

(Robert Miernik, 150 domowych przetworów.., Warszawa 1991)

Quickly fermented cabbage

Rinse the shredded cabbage in cold water and throw it into boiling water – when it boils, drain well, pour very cold water, preferably with ice, until it cools down completely. Place in a stoneware jar, put a bit of salt, layer with sour apples, ripe but still firm tomatoes, carrot slices, sprinkle with cumin or dill seeds. Press firmly with the lid, plate, and stone until the juice flows out. After 4-5 days it is good to eat.

(Janina Izdebska, Polska kuchnia i spiżarnia, Warszawa 1905)

Sauerkraut in a stone pot [stoneware]

8-10 liter stone pot, scalded white cloth, plate or 2 flat scalded planks, jar of water or non-crumbling scalded stone, paper, string and 8-10 kg of cabbage, almost 1 full glass of salt (2 dag per 1 kg of cabbage)

Chop the cabbage, mix with salt. Wash, rinse and sterilize the pot by pouring boiling water over it and cover it with a bowl or plate for half an hour. Pour out the water, place the shredded cabbage mixed with salt in the pot. Press the cabbage slices down, place a piece of cloth on top, press the cabbage down with a plate or two crossed planks, and weight with a stone or a jar filled with water. The juice released from the cabbage should flow onto the linen cloth. Cover the pot with paper, tie it with a string, and place it in a warm place. When the cabbage begins to bubble, remove the cloth and pierce it with the handle of a wooden spoon or a knife. If you store cabbage in a pot you need to wash it at least once a week, i.e. use a scalded cloth to wash the plate (boards) and jar (stone), rinse and scald the cloth. Re-cover the fermented cabbage as before. There should always be juice on top. If it is missing, add some lightly salted water. You can add whole cabbage leaves to sauerkraut, which are used to make stuffed cabbage rolls. You can also put in whole small apples (washed thoroughly) which are then eaten whole as a delicacy. To the cabbage fermented in a stone pot you can also add grated apple, carrot, cranberries or blueberries. Per 1kg of cabbage – 5-10 dag of washed fruit.

(Anna Gasik, Kapusta biała, Warszawa 1984)

Sauerkraut in Weck jars

1 kg of cabbage, 1 flat spoon of salt, 1 liter Weck jar, rubber band, spring

Wash the cabbage, chop it as thinly as possible, mix it with salt in a bowl. Pour into prepared jars, press with your hand or a wooden stick, fill the jar to the top. Put on a boiled rubber band, lid, and spring and put the jar on a plate in a warm place. When juice and foam start to pour out from under the lid, open the jar, pierce the cabbage several times with a thin knife and close it again. Cabbage is best eaten after 7-10 days, but it can also be stored in a dark, cool place for several months. You can add to pickle with the cabbage: grated carrot, grated apple, cumin or dill seeds.

(Anna Gasik, Kapusta biała, Warszawa 1984)

Sauerkraut salad with wood blewits

9 kg of cabbage, 1 kg of wood blewit mushrooms, a tablespoon of dill or cumin seeds, a tablespoon of dry juniper seeds, 17 dag of salt

Chop the cabbage. Wash the wood blewits very thoroughly, boil them in a lot of water for 7-8 minutes, drain, rinse with cold water and, after draining, cut them very finely into strips. Mix mushrooms with cabbage and spices. Line the bottom of a stone pot with large cabbage leaves, add the cabbage mixed with mushrooms and spices, and press down. Cover the pressed cabbage with a plate and weight down. When foam forms on the surface, you can uncover the plate and use a sharp tool to pierce holes in the cabbage in 2-3 places so that the gases accumulating inside can escape. After the foam subsides, cover the cabbage and set aside to ferment. Put the fermented cabbage into jars, close, and pasteurize. Pasteurize the cabbage in 0.5 l jars for 20 minutes, in larger jars a little longer.

(Kazimiera Pyszkowska, Z działki na stół i do spiżarni, Warszawa 1989)

Salad cabbage with apples

For a 10-litre container we take about 14 kg of fresh cabbage heads and about 2 kg of hard late autumn apples (Antonówka). After peeling the cabbage, cut it in half, completely remove the core and chop it finely using a shredder. Peel the apples, cut them into slices, remove the cores, and then cut them into strips. After mixing the cabbage with salt in the amount of 2 dag per kilogram of the mixture and other flavourings, such as bay leaf, bitter pepper, allspice, put the cabbage in a container and press firmly until a large amount of juice is released. After filling the container, put a clean piece of cloth, a wooden bottom or a few planks on top and press down with a stone or a jar filled with water.

(Robert Miernik, 150 domowych przetworów.., Warszawa 1991)

Sauerkraut ready in three days

If you want to have freshly made sauerkraut for quick use in the summer or autumn, you should thinly slice a few heads of cabbage with a knife, lightly salt it, and after half an hour squeeze it to remove the bitterness, put it in a stone pot, pour in hot water drained from boiled potatoes, add a piece of wholemeal bread and place it in a warm place over the stove.

(Maria Ochorowicz-Monatowa, Uniwersalna książka kucharska, Warszawa-Lwów 1913)

“Parzonka” sauerkraut

2 ½ kg of cabbage, 1 kg of apples, ½ kg of carrots, 6 dag of salt, a flat teaspoon of dill seeds

Chop the cabbage together with the core. Peel and grate the apples and carrots. Mix vegetables with salt and dill, place in a stoneware pot and press down. Pour in water from the boiled potatoes, cover, and weight down. Cabbage will ferment quickly into sauerkraut but it should be consumed daily.

(Grażyna Michalik, Smaki Powiśla, Kwidzyn 2012)