This is an old time recipe that’s very dear to me. It came straight from my mama’s kitchen and it’s called the krauting recipe.
Back in the days when I was young, the ingredients came together so easily and there was so much enjoyment and fun.
And for anybody that doesn’t know what I’m talking about, they were never around when I helped mama and daddy make kraut.
Sour kraut was the proper name and it had to be done just right. Mama made sure of that even if it took the whole day and all night.
She had her way and everybody had their own, but you can ask anybody around and they’ll tell you it was the best they’ve ever known.
Mama went by the signs and the signs had to be good, or no krauting did she do if the cabbage all ruined and sometimes they would.
And the cabbage had to be chopped with a cream can, not just any can would do. It had to be a cream can and a new one too.
Daddy took on the job of removing the top of each can. Using a file to sharpen them, they were so sharp they’d cut the pan.
Now daddy may have been slow but those cans were sharp when he got through. They’d chop your fingers off before you even knew.
That’s the way mama wanted them as sharp as could be. The more fine the cabbage the better the kraut would be.
Early in the morning we’d cut the cabbage and get them ready from the patch, so we could get started early before it got so hot with a big batch.
We’d wash and clean the cabbage and cut all the bad leaves away, then in a big dishpan we’d cut the leaves small enough to chop and lay.
We each had a pan three pans in all, and three cream cans started chopping with hands large and small.
And like I said before daddy was a lot more slow, and mama would say chop that cabbage Tom before it decides to stand up and grow.
But daddy always seem to get his pan done before we did, but there was always plenty of cabbage left in the bottom of the pan hid.
It was the funniest sight I ever did see, to watch mama and daddy argue underneath that old shade tree.
Some people might say mama was just mean. But she wasn’t mean, she just wanted her kraut done the way she seen.
But finally daddy took all he could take, he threw down the cream can and said do it yourself old woman and the whole batch you can make.
He took off back inside the house and although I was bursting to laugh, I knew better and stayed quiet as a little mouse.
Then mama said, that man’s slow as Christmas but he sure does like kraut. I hit the ground laughing, I’d held it long as I could without a doubt.
When we got through laughing we packed what we had in each jar and kept on krauting but we didn’t get far.
Before daddy came back and stared chopping again. He acted as if nothing ever happened and picked up where he began.
Needless to say, we got the kraut done by suppertime and carried it to the smokehouse to work off in case it blew up if it was so inclined.
That kraut was always white as the snow on the ground. But it was suppose to be, after all it was mama’s recipe the best kraut around.
I remember sitting at the super table eating kraut one cold winter’s night when daddy got a big piece of cabbage in his mouth when he took a bite.
Mama saw him when he took that bite and said, that’s from the pan you chopped and daddy kept chewing and chewing in spite.
Now my mama’s recipe for making kraut may not be to some people’s taste, but one thing’s for certain, no ingredients will I ever waste.
And each year when I make kraut I keep those ingredients close beside me and the laughter too, that’s what memories are about.
But oh how I miss mama’s kraut.
—Susie Swanson “Echoes of Time”
I hope you enjoyed Susie’s poem about her mama’s kraut as much as I do. As we get ready to plant our cabbage I think of the krauting that will come later if we have a good crop.
When it comes to making kraut, you only need salt and cabbage. But as Susie indicated everyone has their own way of making kraut.
You can see how we make kraut here.
And how Granny makes hers here.
Last night’s video: Blowing up TVs, Planting Taters, & Filling New Garden Beds in Appalachia.
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Hi,
I’m glad you and Matt still have that magic spark that you still share sugar!
Concerning sour kraut– My mother and I made kraut when she was living.
It is so good. We didn’t put peppers in it. I think I’ll try that next time I make it. Her cousin raised cabbage commercially and we would go get old cabbage when they were through harvesting. We used a food chopper and chopped it like crazy outside. Once again, you and Matt keep your work area so clean and neat. Mommy and I would let it sour in the cellar. One year we let it sour in the kitchen.
We had a real mess. It ran over on the kitchen counter. Next time we put it in the cellar.
Your mother’s kraut was so pretty and white. Ours ended up being darker. We taste our kraut
each day to check to see if it has reached the desired sourness. We keep doing this for several days.
When it finally gets right then we heat it to stop the action and we can it in pint jars. To get it to seal
we use a hot water bath for about 15 minutes.
Now, I want to try your recipe. Kathy Patterson
I cut my biscuits with a Campbell’s soup can, it stays in my big self rising flour bin with the flour. Makes you wonder if that is where the design for the Rada chopper came from.
My aunt Pauline always used a baking powder can for her biscuits. Really worked well.
Kathy Patterson
I might be worst of doing the way I do things in the kitchen cause when I can I do it all by myself. I’d drather do it like that cause people just get in my way. I remember helping my mom chop up kcraut it was so much fun the talks we would have. I was already married then and my dad had pass and she remarried. We did chop and chop till it was fine. what we make we divided. O how I wish she was here now to do it again. I love and cherish the memories .though.
My Mommy always used a cream can for chopping kraut and Daddy always fixed it for her. I love chopped kraut, it tastes better! I just can’t get used to the shredded grocery store kind! I do love kraut! None will ever be as good as Mommy’s!
That old cream can in Susie Swanson’s story brings back lots of good memories. In fact, I can recall my mom using a cream can, and she would carefully go around the edge burning off the rim exposing the sharp kraut cutter edge. It actually worked better than the one they make, because you could get a good hold with a potholder while you chopped. The can was also a perfect size for cutting biscuits, but most of the time Mom just shaped the big ones. I was at a flea market once, and this older guy was selling his homemade cream can choppers for a dollar each, and I bought one. I have biscuit cutters and choppers, but generally use that cream can just like my mom did. I remember they used a lot of homemade gadgets back in the day. Mom was good at stabbing the tops of the cream cans in two places to pour the cream. I still have a scar on my left hand from following my mother’s example. We used a non-electric hand mixer growing up, and back then nobody used a chopping board. They simply cut everything up by hand just like Clara on Great Depression Cooking. The chopping board is a big improvement.
Making kraut used to be a very fun chore. My mommy used an old cream can too as her chopper. She krauted by signs and it smelled when it was fermenting in those big fat crocks. But I do remember the joy kraut added to dull sausages, pintos or a hot dog. Wasn’t mommy’s the best that EVER WAS? I know yours and granny’s kraut is utterly delicious. I really hope you end up with bumper crops this year, Tipper dear. Thanks for the endearing story today. I loved it.
That was so funny! When I was little I would watch my Aunt make kraut and hominy.I love sour kraut and weiners with soup beans and cornbread but a few years ago I had my colon removed and the small intestines will not digest a lot of food and kraut is one of those foods.
That poem was funny, and isn’t that just how it is with people who have been married a long time? : ). I almost burned my pancake I was enjoying that poem and laughing so much!
I never had homemade kraut until I came into my husband’s family. His grandma made it in a big ole crock out in an old wooden garage she turned into a canning center. Whenever we went down to her place I’d go sneak me a bit of it right out of the crock and it was so good and totally incomparable to the store bought canned stuff.
Watching you and Matt work in your yard is giving me spring fever, stop it! Lol.
TeresaSue
Every year I read your posts on making sauerkraut, and every year I tell myself that this is the year I am going to make some, and every year I never get it made. I enjoy reading all your posts every year despite my yearly failed attempts to even try making some! I enjoyed Susie Swanson’s guest post today. Thank you!
Donna. : )
P.S. I did write a comment on last night’s video, but I think it got lost in all your other wonderful comments and you missed it. I enjoyed your video last night! I always do!!
Mommy used a cut off can to chop cabbage for kraut. I wouldn’t eat it so I don’t know how good it was. I don’t know what a cream can is, or was. We always had a cow or two for milk, cream and butter. I buy cream now occasionally but it’s always in a bottle or paper carton.
I do use cut off bean cans to chop cabbage and to cut out biscuits. I file off the top rim as the author describes. I didn’t read the mention of it but I make holes in the other end of the can so pressure is relieved as you press down. That also keeps a vacuum from forming and keeping the cabbage from falling free.
Canned cream? I worked in the wholesale grocery industry for 40 years and don’t ever remember seeing canned cream. Have I lost it?
Ed-a lot of folks call evaporated milk cream so I’m guessing that is what Susie was talking about 🙂 Granny calls it cream
I didn’t think about that! There’s also sweetened condensed milk. Is that called cream too?
At least I’m familiar with using a tin can as a chopper.
Ed-I’ve never heard sweetened condensed milk called cream but it might be by some 🙂
I remember chopping cabbage with a cream can. My wife doesn’t. She said her Mom had a chopper. We never did. Every now and then, thanks to your posts, we discover little things like that. I think that little spat over the chopping is so funny because it is more mischief than anger. The way we two grew up, a fella never mixed in how the women organized and ran their house and most especially the kitchen. It was a place to say, “Yes ma’am.”
I’ve never made kraut like my grandma did, but I sure do enjoy eating it.
video last night was one of the best. I enjoyed hearing about Mama’s kraft too. love how the entire family was involved.
I make kraut like Daddy did. Finely chopped cabbage is packed into about 16 oz jars. He always used an old hammer handle to pack the cabbage tight. Once the jars are packed tight with cabbage to within a small space for head room at the top, sprinkle a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar over the top. No need to stir or mix. Add cold water to the jar. It will trickle down. Add water until it covers the cabbage. Leave expansion space at the top for fermentation.Enjoy your homemade sauerkraut after about 3 months of the jars sitting undisturbed. Just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Tipper,
My husband and I had a big laugh listening to Matt’s tale about repelling from the attic window. When we went to bed, one of us mentioned it again and our laughter started all over. Last week we had the same reaction when he referred to you catching his cold by “wallowing” all over him “to get some sugar.” You married a true comedian!