Sour Kraut done!

Hey it's me wearing one of my vintage aprons.


Today Chance and I processed the sour kraut.It had to be done with Thanksgiving coming and the family about to fill the house we needed the counter space the kraut bucket was taking up.
I think it took longer to heat the canning kettle than it did to fill the jars.Our 5 gallon bucket of kraut had really shrunk down so, we ended up with 7 jars to put away and one to put in the fridge to be eaten soon. We are happy with it.Sour Kraut is not a huge part of our diet,the jars should hold us most of the year.I may take that back by the end of the jars but I have written down the amounts used and the amount of jars we ended with so I can always adjust next fall.
To process the kraut we heated the kraut in our large kettle until it reached 185 degrees.(Ball Blue Book said 185-210 degrees.) Then we packed it into hot jars until it was an inch from the bottom of the jar neck.We then poured in the hot liquid from the kraut until it reached the bottom of the jar neck.The jars were processed for 20 minutes in the canning kettle.
Overall Sour Kraut proved to be an easy thing to do.I liked that we did some work,let it sit for many weeks and then could finish it.
I did notice that without my glasses on, the jars of kraut could be mistaken for Apple Sauce opps that could be bad,I made sure we marked the jar lids in big letters KRAUT. I could just see me the sleepy headed mother at 6 AM packing school lunches,reaching for what I think is Apple Sauce and packing the boys Kraut instead. I really am useless until I have had many cups of coffee.And I think the only smell I am focused on in the morning is the coffee I am waiting for.
Tomorrow I figure out my Dark Days Challenge Dinner #1,come back soon to see what we come up with.Have a great weekend.
Rois