The traditional recipes of sauerkraut, many housewives often modify to your taste, adding different spices, fruits and berries. One of these delicious innovations is the cabbage-cranberry tandem. To make the appetizer perfect, you need to know the secrets of cooking. About this we continue to talk.
What kind of cabbage is better to take
The experienced hostess easily chooses the one that is more suitable for sourdough or pickling from the many varieties of white cabbage. Mostly late-ripening fruits are used for these purposes.
They are not in a hurry to clean the beds, waiting for the heads of cabbages to become juicy and sugary. In addition, it is not recommended to keep specimens selected for leaven for more than 3 months. 
Did you know? Fresh cabbages were revered by the ancient Greeks as a symbol of sobriety and a clear mind. And all because this product was attributed a wonderful power to eliminate alcohol intoxication.
The fact is that late cabbage leads among other varieties in the number of components of natural sugars. Namely, these substances contribute to the formation of lactic acid, due to which fermentation occurs.
Read about the best cabbage varieties for pickling and pickling.
Heads must be whole and dense. It is important to remove the green leaves from them, to the white cabbage head. If this is not done, the leaven may differ in the unpleasant, specific taste and odor that green foliage possesses. Throwing such "waste" is not necessary. Many of their hostesses kvass
Video: how to choose cabbage for fermentation
Learn how to ferment cabbage quickly at home.
Kitchen tools
Depending on how you used to chop a vegetable, and in which containers you prefer to make a bookmark, you need to prepare the necessary inventory.
In this case, useful:
- wooden cutting board;
- shredder or kitchen knife;
- plastic food buckets with lids;
- large plastic basin (for food purposes);
- measure;
- wooden pointy stick;
- sterile rubber work gloves.
Important! Vinegar and sugar facilitate the starter process. But it is better not to use them - cabbage should reach the condition in a natural way.
Ingredient list
The classic version of sauerkraut involves adding grated carrots, constituting about 10 percent of the whole cabbage. But each housewife herself chooses what she wants to diversify her workpiece. Some are limited to apples and plums, others - cranberries or lingonberries, and others - ginger and garlic.
Familiarize yourself with the beneficial properties of white cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, Beijing, Savoy cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, romanesco, pak choi, kale, and sauerkraut.
Our recipe consists of the following components:
- shredded cabbage - 5 kg;
- grated carrots - 200 g;
- salt - 130 g;
- fresh cranberries - 100 g
If desired, seeds of cumin, anise, coriander or jira can be added to taste variety. Some spicy food lovers also use red pepper.
You will probably be interested to get acquainted with the recipe for making sauerkraut with beets in Georgian.
Step by Step Cooking Process
The starter process will not take much time. After you have prepared all the necessary products and tools, you can start cooking:
- First, clean the cabbage heads from the green leaves and rinse in running water, laying out on a towel to dry.
- Peel the carrots, wash and grate the required amount.
- Wash the cranberries and let dry.
- Chop cabbage heads in a convenient way. Put the ground mass in a bowl.
- Grind the cabbage with salt until the juice appears. Vegetable should be soft and tender.
- Add carrots.
- Pour cranberries and mix well. In the tank should be allocated a lot of juice.
- Put the bottom of the plastic bucket with clean, whole cabbage leaves and pour the whole mass from the bowl along with the juice.
- Cover the cabbage with a layer of clean cabbage leaves on top, put the bowl upside down and some kind of oppression (any heavy object can play its role). If you wish, you can use a gauze napkin, but do not forget to wash it periodically. The tank should be in a warm place.
- In the future, monitor the state of the workpiece and, to the extent necessary, remove the foam that appears on the surface. This is a clear sign of the beginning of the fermentation process.
- The first 2 days to 5 times in several places pierce the cabbage, releasing gases. Otherwise, the harvesting will leak through the unpleasant smell and will be unsuitable for consumption. This should be done with a wooden stick with a pointed end. It is important that the instrument is clean (the procedure is repeated until gassing occurs).
- 5 days after laying the bedrock can be removed and brownish cabbage removed from the surface. If desired, the workpiece can be shifted to the banks, tightly rammed.
Important! Do not add onions to sauerkraut, because this ingredient contributes to the rapid deterioration of the workpiece..
Video: Cooking sauerkraut with cranberries
What to apply to the table
Many like the versatility and simplicity of sauerkraut. It is suitable as a starter for first and second courses, as well as an ingredient for the preparation of new culinary masterpieces. This component is necessary for solyanka, cabbage, borscht, pancakes, pastries, vinaigrette, kulebyaka, dumplings and various quenching.
In winter, housewives often use this billet as a salad base. And add to them both vegetables, and meat, fish. Traditionally, sourdough combined with mashed potatoes. But if you go beyond the canons, it is very good to have sauerkraut stew, steamed vegetables and cereals.
Some cooks bake sauerkraut, fry or boil. But nutritionists strongly recommend consuming the product in its raw form, since this is how it retains its nutrients as much as possible. 
Where and how much can be stored
During fermentation, the product should be at a temperature of 18 ... 20 degrees Celsius. And after five days, when the foam stops forming on the surface and the brine becomes transparent, it can be transferred to cold with an optimal mode of 0 ... +5 degrees Celsius.
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the ways of preparing red winter, white, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli for the winter.
This starter can be cooked in large portions, since if the necessary conditions are met, it will be stored for a long time without being damaged or moldy. The best storage for such blanks is the cellar, because there is an appropriate temperature and humidity regimes.
In addition, cabbage is not exposed to sunlight. In apartment conditions, the ideal place to store would be a refrigerator or a balcony (in the latter case, it is important to take into account weather conditions). 
For better storage of snacks, experienced housewives advise you to fill containers with cabbage mass so that the brine covers it - this will extend the shelf life. Indeed, ascorbic acid evaporates very quickly from the crushed mass in a bare form.
Did you know? In the Roman markets, cabbage appeared only on holidays and only in boiled form. For a change in taste, vegetables are often packaged with different spices..
Sometimes young housewives do not know what is best to cook the dish. Of course, three-liter jars are ideal for storage. And for preparation it is better to take wide tanks.
They can be enameled, plastic, metal, glass. The main thing is to properly comply with all storage conditions of products. Do not forget to periodically visit the cabbage and check it for mold (this happens only when gross violations of the technology of cooking and improper storage). 
Note that adding cranberries to sauerkraut is one way to prevent mold.
These also include:
- adding lingonberries;
- periodical sprinkling of sugar;
- powder mustard powder;
- adding grated horseradish;
- adding to the pickle sack with mustard seeds.
Categorically it is impossible to allow your billet to be frozen. In ideal conditions, it will stand for half a year. Although it is doubtful, sauerkraut is so tasty that in a month nothing will be left from it.
Did you know? Cabbage first began to sour Chinese. And they did it in wine. And slaves were fed with this dish during the exhausting construction of the Great Wall of China.
If you ferment cabbage according to the above recipe, then you can be sure that you will have a very tasty billet in stock. Minor adjustments of the above servings of ingredients are allowed, depending on your gastronomic preferences. See for yourself: it is cooked quickly, simply, but it turns out delicious.
