Put Your Sauerkraut Where Your Mouth Is.

Making homemade Sauerkraut started out of necessity not love of the side dish.  I was weeding my garden when I realized I was going to have an excess abundance of cabbage.  Doing the math, I realized we were going to have 60 pounds of the leafy stuff in our kitchen.  That same day my husband asked me  with a smile on his face, “What we were going to do with all of the cabbage?”  As if he were expecting me to say I had made a mistake by planting so many cabbage plants.  Well that wasn’t going to happen.  I pretended to know all of the answers, and blurted out “Sauerkraut”.  His smile widened as he thought I had a plan. I quickly realized now I needed to learn how to make it.  After much reading and youtubeing, I found the science of chemistry does all of the work. Sauerkraut is easy to make and the ingredients are simple. 

You will need 2 ingredients, cabbage and salt. The ratio is about 1/2 a pound of salt to every 25 pounds of cabbage.   The cabbage can be any type or color; however, for the best end result the classic green has the best appearance.  The salt you choose is a personal preference as long as it is iodine free.  I use a canning salt, but many people prefer kosher salt.    The first tool used is a knife or mandolin to slice the cabbage.  The thinner the slice, the easier it will be for the fermentation process.  You also will need a large food safe container, a plate and a weight.  There are crocks specifically made for this process, but they can be costly.  I use a large and very clean (food safe) plastic 5 gallon bucket. For my weight, I use a growler cleaned and filled with water but a large jar will work as well.  Now you are ready to put it all together! 

Layer your salt and cabbage in your container.  You will notice your cabbage starting to wilt because of the salt.  Now put the plate so that it’s pushing the cabbage down and place the weight on top of the plate.  After some time the liquid releasing from the cabbage will cover the cabbage protecting it from the air.  The weighted plate will keep the cabbage on the bottom and the salt brine will rise above the plate.  Cover your container with a cloth to protect it from outside contamination.  Place your batch in a cool spot, out of the way, but where you won’t forget it. 

Mother Nature can now take over, but every day or so check on your sauerkraut’s progress.  The brine is pickling the cabbage by the process of lacto-fermentation.   After time you may notice a scum forms at the top.  Skim it off the surface and re-cover your container.  Don’t worry about this “bloom”.  The salt brine is protecting the cabbage from allowing toxic bacteria to spoil the final product.   The salt allows beneficial bacteria to ferment the cabbage as well as lower the PH level.  This is preserving the cabbage and increasing its storability.  This process takes 6 to 8 weeks and depends on the temperature the cabbage is kept at.  Sauerkraut is worth the wait. 

Sauerkraut can be an acquired taste; however, the benefits of a homemade batch have been scientifically proven.   It contains probiotics that can aid in digestive health and boost your immune system.  Sauerkraut also contains compounds that can fight cancer.   It has been shown to prevent and shorten the severity of communicable diseases.   Nutritionally, sauerkraut contains high levels of vitamin C.  It was used historically by many nations over the last 2,000 years as a scurvy preventive.  Even if you are hesitant, the reasons to try and incorporate Sauerkraut into your diet are too numerous to be ignored.   Besides you already know someone who has lots of extra cabbage.

Why Did the Chicken Move to Alaska?

The very best part of going to school full time, and not working in Radiology is being able to sleep in.  So why have I been awake at 5:45 every morning this week?  Well, I have a rooster that has his found is crow.   ARRRH-RH-AARRR every morning for a good 60 minutes.  I think he is going to be soup very soon.  He is a Plymouth Barred Rock chicken and I have 3 of them.  I also have 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Araucana chickens.  I would love to keep all of them, but I need to pare down my flock for winter.  I am not a large production chicken hatchery, so I have to keep my flock on the smaller side.  The best way to decide which breed to keep through winter is to examine the attributes that make them best suited to a back yard life in Alaska.

The most important attribute for an Alaskan back yard chicken is cold tolerance.  You can’t put a coat on a chicken, so they better be able to acclimate to a harsh winter.  The Plymouth Barred Rock is a “Heavy” Breed and does well because of size.  This breed also has a very large comb that is susceptible to frostbite.  My Buff Orpington chickens are also hefty ladies, but they also have abundance of strawberry blond feathers to keep them warm.  Their comb is slightly smaller, but they did also get a little frostbitten last year.  The newest additions to my flock are the Araucana chicken.  The Araucana is a small breed native to Southern South America.  This could be a problem, however they are feathered nicely and the comb is a small pea style.  I have noticed it’s almost nonexistent on the female chickens.  That is helpful because frostbitten comb was a real problem last winter.  One of my Plymouth Barred Rock chickens would not go in the coop one night last winter.  She recovered this summer, but her comb was hard to look at this spring.  I feel that Buff Orpingtons are the best cold weather chickens because they have size, extra feather and less prominent comb.

I love gathering fresh eggs for my family.  I have found that is a very common passion when I talk to other chicken keepers in Alaska.  The eggs are fantastic tasting, and the nutritional quality of a free range chicken egg is superior. Plymouth Barred Rock chickens lay a large light cream egg and they are considered high production layers.  They will slow down in the winter and stop laying.  Buff Orpingtons are also considered good egg layers with around 5 to 6 large cream eggs a week.  The major attribute of the Orpington is that they are known for not slowing down when the weather is cold.  This is a plus in Alaska, and I feel that they are the best layers in my flock for this reason.  When you average out eggs laid in the year the Buff and the Barred Rocks lay about the same.  Araucana chickens do not lay as many eggs.  My chicken is a young “pullet” and has not started to lay at this time.  I have been told that they lay around 4 to 5 medium blue eggs a week.  I do not know how much or if they slow down production in the winter.  I will argue that the production of eggs from the Araucana is equal to the Plymouth Barred Rock because of input vs. output.  My Plymouth Barred Rock hen eats two times the amount of food my Araucana chickens eat.  Taking all of that into consideration I believe that the Buff Orpington is the clear winner in the egg production because of its ability to lay in the dead of winter.

Lastly I would like to raise the question of temperament.  You will find it hard to work up the motivation to take care of a mean chicken when the weather dips into the negative digits.  I value this trait because a back yard chicken keeper often times considers their chickens as pets.   I have found the Plymouth Barred Rocks to be skittish, and they do not approach me.  The Buff Orpingtons will run up to me and squat so that I can pet them.  I have named one of them Labrador because we have to move her out of the way so that we can tend the rest of the flock.  These fluffy chickens are great with my children and will eat out of our hand with no problems.  I hand raised the Araucana turning the eggs in an incubator 4 times a day, and they imprinted on me when they hatched.  So they franticly run to me and fly up to my shoulder.  I am not a good judge on the temperament because I am the “Mom.”  I have watched them with other family members and they are almost as friendly as the Buff Orpingtons.  I would have to say that out of the three breeds the Buffs have the best temperament.

I primarily have chickens because I like to have a connection to my food, and know where my food comes from.  I have grown to find my chickens charming, as well as entertaining pets.  I chose my current chicken breeds by doing research on all of the above qualities.  Practical real world experience has led me to the conclusion that the Plymouth Barred Rock chicken is not going to be a breed I endorse for a backyard flock in Alaska.  They all but stop lying in the winter.  The consumption of food is the greatest comparing them to all other chickens I keep.  The Plymouth Bard Rock is the least friendly chicken I have.   I recommend the pint sized and rare Araucana, as well as the fluffy, friendly and productive Buff Orpingtons.