When I was a small girl, I loved to watch my Mama make kraut. Mama brought a big ten gallon crock jar, that was stored in the cellar, to the house. She scrubbed it down to make sure it was clean and sterile. Then, she placed it on her kitchen work table. She selected several heads of cabbage and trimmed away the dark green outer leaves to the more tender cabbage. Then, she used a big butcher knife to slice thin layers of cabbage into her dishpan. She did not have a kraut shredder like many of the other women had; however, she quickly sliced the cabbage with the knife without any trouble.
When she had enough cabbage sliced to fill the crock, she generously salted each layer as she dumped it in the crock as she tamped each layer down tightly with a wooden stick. When she had finished this step, she placed a large dinner plate on top of the prepared cabbage and weighed it down with a heavy rock.
The last step was to top the crock with a sterile dishtowel. The crock was then ready to be taken back to the cellar for the kraut to ferment. Mama tested the kraut every day or so to see how it was progressing. The ideal fermentation temperature is 70ºF to 75ºF. At temperatures between 70ºF and 75ºF, kraut will be fully fermented in about three to four weeks; at 60ºF to 65ºF, fermentation may take five to six weeks. At temperatures lower than 60ºF, kraut may not ferment at all. Above 75ºF, kraut may become soft.
One year, mama tried to make dill pickles using a similar method of making kraut. They did not ferment as they should have. They tasted salty and flat, so she never tried again Our cellar seemed to be the right temperature for making good kraut. We three kids sneaked a few tests too; however, it took about a month before the kraut began to taste like it should. When the kraut was ready, we ate the kraut from servings taken directly from the crock. I do not think Mama ever canned her kraut. As bad as it smelled during the fermenting process, it was certainly good eating.
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