# How to Make Sauerkraut How salt, squeezing and lactic acid bacteria turn shredded cabbage into tangy sauerkraut over three to four weeks in a jar\. By Joshua Shanks Topic: Food & Drink [Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/5OCzJUlHWOqS) ## Transcript ### 1. Sour cabbage, made by tiny helpers Sauerkraut is German for "sour cabbage"\. All you need is cabbage, salt, a jar and time\. Tiny living helpers do the rest, turning crunchy leaves tangy\. Drag the scene to look around\. No vinegar goes in\. All the sourness is made by bacteria\. ### 2. Shred the cabbage Pull off the tough outer leaves, rinse the head and cut it into quarters\. Cut out the hard core, then slice the cabbage into thin ribbons\. Thin shreds give up their juice more easily\. Aim for ribbons about as thin as a coin, roughly 1\.5 mm\. ### 3. Weigh in the salt Put the shreds in a big bowl and sprinkle on salt\. Use about 20 grams of salt for every kilogram of cabbage\. That is 2 percent, or 3 tablespoons for 2\.3 kg \(5 lb\) of cabbage\. Use plain canning or pickling salt, and measure it rather than adding salt to taste\. ### 4. Squeeze out the juice Scrunch and squeeze the salty cabbage with clean hands\. Salt pulls water out of the leaves, making a salty juice called brine\. Keep going until juice pools in the bowl\. Press Squeeze to help\. No water is added\. The cabbage makes its own brine\. ### 5. Pack the jar tightly Press handfuls of cabbage firmly into a clean jar and pour in all the juice\. Push down until the brine rises over the shreds\. Leave about 5 cm of empty space at the top\. Use glass, food\-safe plastic or a stoneware crock\. Avoid bare metal containers\. ### 6. Keep it under the brine Set a small weight on top so no shreds float up into the air\. Under the brine, mold cannot grow\. Put the lid on loosely so gas can escape\. A glass weight, a sealed bag of brine, or a plate with a water\-filled jar on top all work\. ### 7. Meet the tiny helpers Lactic acid bacteria already live on cabbage leaves\. With salt and no air, they thrive and eat the cabbage's natural sugars\. They make sour lactic acid and carbon dioxide gas: the bubbles you see\. Different kinds take turns: bubbly early workers first, then sturdier ones that make the brine more sour\. ### 8. Wait while it ferments Keep the jar at room temperature, about 21 to 23 °C \(70 to 75 °F\), for 3 to 4 weeks\. Bubbles slow down as the brine turns sour, and the shreds turn pale gold\. Slide to move through the weeks\. Cooler rooms take longer: about 6 weeks at 15 to 18 °C\. Above 26 °C it can turn soft\. ### 9. Taste, then keep it cold Ready sauerkraut tastes tangy and is still a little crunchy\. Close the lid and keep it in the fridge, where it lasts for months\. Its brine is sour enough, about pH 3\.6, to hold off harmful germs\. Fuzzy coloured mold, slime or a bad smell means throw it out, without tasting\.