How to Make Cortido (Raw Mexican Sauerkraut)

Time: About 30 minutes active including clean-up
14 to 21 days to ferment

Before you begin, sanitize a 2 quart or 2 - 1 quart canning jars with boiling water. (Just boil the water, fill jars with the boiled water and allow to sit for five minutes.)

Ingredients:
2 large heads Napa Cabbage or 3 small heads
6 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded
4 medium carrots
1 small red onion
1 fresh jalepeno pepper, seeded
2 tsp ground cumin
3 TBS Celtic or Himalayan salt

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Picture above is missing the carrots!

Instructions:

Before you start, if you have a scale, weigh the bowl you will put the veggies into. Then, after chopping, add veggies to bowl and weigh again. You will use 3 TBS of salt for 5 pounds of veggies. So, if you do not have a full 5 pounds, use a bit less salt. When making sauerkraut, there is no need to do it all perfectly. There has never been single case of food borne illness from raw sauerkraut!! There are many ways to make it, this is just one! Typically, the rule for salt is 2 tsp - 1 TBS per pound of veggies used.

Using a food processor with the grating attachment, slice all veggies (except garlic) to fit the feed tube of the food processor. If you do not own a food processor, simply chop all veggies into thin, lengthwise pieces or grate with a hand grater. Mince garlic and add to veggies. Add salt and cumin.

With clean hands, knead the veggies. As you do, the juices will be released and this will form the brine or liquid in which the veggies will ferment. If you are worried about the bacteria from your hands, rest assured, this is an important step in the process as you are adding your 'love' to the kraut! We are so afraid of bacteria in our culture that literally, it is damaging our health. Consider welcoming the bacteria:) We are actually made up of 10x more bacteria than cells. Adding healthy bacteria to our bodies every single day is more important than most other things we can do for our health.

If you have a canning jar funnel, place this on top of your sanitized jar/jars. I always use a funnel so I don't end up spilling all of my kraut down the sides of the jars. Add veggies to jar. If they are submerged in water all the way to the top of the kraut, leaving about 2 inches at the top for room for kraut to expand as it ferments, then no need to add water. If the water level does not come to the top of the veggies, add a bit of pure water. Making sure to leave about 2 inches at the top of the jar, place a lid on top and set the jar in a bowl because some liquid may leak out as it initially expands. This can get stinky for a few days so you may want to put this in the garage if it's not too hot out there.

Allow kraut to sit for at least 7 and as long as 21 days. If you like it really sour, leave it longer and if you don't, leave it for a shorter amount of time. There is no right amount of time. The amount of time depends totally on your taste preference. You can open the jar every few days and taste it to see how you like it.

I eat a couple tablespoons of raw kraut at every meal for digestion and to continually add healthy bacteria to my gut!

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions by commenting below!