Homemade Lactofermented Sauerkraut

I LOVE sauerkraut. But I grew up eating the stuff our of a jar from the grocery store, which is delicious, but not as nutritious as it could be. This recipe for traditionally lactofermented sauerkraut is even more delicious, easy to make, and full of healthy probiotics! Probiotics help populate your gut with healthy bacteria, aiding in digestion and immunity! This sauerkraut is a great way to get some probiotics into your diet! Give it a try!

Ingredients:
-1 head of cabbage. Remove the outer leaves. Core it and shred it finely. You can make this easy and run it through the shredder blade on your food processor. But I actually love chopping veggies (I know, it's weird) so I like to do it by hand- it's relaxing to me.
-approximately 1 tbsp sea salt
-4 tbsp liquid whey (here is how you get that)

Directions:
-Place your shredded cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle over your sea salt. Now you want to get really friendly with your cabbage. Use the best two tools God gave you- your hands! It's key to really massage the salt into the cabbage for a few minutes. The point of this is to draw the liquid out of the cabbage.
-Go back every 45 minutes or so and turn and massage the cabbage. I like to let the cabbage sweat for about 3-4 hours.
-Get a quart size mason jar and a wooden spoon. Place about 1/2 cup of cabbage into the jar and take the handle of the wooden spoon and beat the cabbage down. Just go for it here. REALLY beat the crap out of it. You need to push the cabbage down to minimize air bubbles. This will also ensure that the liquid is coming out of the cabbage. 
-Repeat this process until you have the jar filled, leaving 1-2 inches at the top. Don't forget! Really beat down the cabbage with the wooden spoon good! You won't hurt it!
-Add in your 4 tbsp of liquid whey. Between the whey and the liquid released from the cabbage, the cabbage should be covered with liquid. If it isn't, you didn't pound hard enough. Or, you can add in some of the liquid that accumulated in the bottom of the bowl you sweated the cabbage in. 
-Cover the jar, and let it sit UNDISTURBED on the countertop at room temp for three days. After three days, crack that baby open. There should be some fun fizzy bubbles at the top. Give it a taste and see if it's sour enough for you. If not, close it and let it sit another day. Just keep tasting and letting it sit at room temp until you reach your desired sourness. When you've reached that, you're ready to enjoy! And enjoy you will! It is DELICIOUS!
-Store it in the fridge for up to six months. 

*Please use organic ingredients when possible. 

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