Sauerkraut Making - A Lesson Plan

One of the things I found most exciting about the location of our home when we moved here over three years ago is its proximity to the 4-H County Fair Grounds.  Ever since we started homeschooling over 15 years ago in the city I have wanted to get involved with 4-H.  For whatever reason, it never worked out with the last group of children.  However, things are looking up this time around.  

Attending the fair has already become a family tradition.  Now, we're taking the next step.  I totally feel like a fish out of water, but we're putting one foot in front of the other and working our way toward participating with entries into this years fair.  Harmony plans to do photography, and Avery is considering entering a collection or a piece of artwork.  We'll see where it all leads.

For now, we are enjoying getting together with another family as a farm group similar to the 4-H groups that meet throughout the year in preparation for the summer fair.  We are enjoying ourselves now that both of our families are finally well, and we held our first hands on meeting this week.  The kids learned about sauerkraut, and we're trying our hands and making our own batch.  

I really enjoy cooking with kids.  It's such a fun way to learn.  This lesson could easily be used to compliment a study in history, geography, food preservation, or even science.  Below is the precise lesson plan I followed at our last meeting.  

Lesson – How to Make Sauerkraut

Needed Supplies for Sauerkraut -

Ingredients:

1 medium head green cabbage (about 3 pounds)

1 ½ tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional, for flavor)

Equipment:

Cutting board

Chef's knife

Mixing bowl

2-quart widemouth canning jar (or two, one-quart mason jars)

Canning funnel (optional)

Smaller jelly jar that fits inside the larger mason jar

Clean stones, marbles, or other weights for weighing the jelly jar

Cloth for covering the jar

Rubber band or twine for securing the cloth

*See attached document for instructions.

Process of Lesson -

1. Bake treat ahead of time, if desired, or bake together as a group. *I made this ahead of time, served it to them at the end of the meeting, and then told them that one of the ingredients included sauerkraut. Two recipes are included to choose from.
2. Advance prep supplies and ingredients as desired.
3. Share the background of sauerkraut with the kids, and answer any questions they may have.
4. Make sauerkraut together.
5. Handout recipe for Bratwurst and Sauerkraut for use at the end of fermentation of their sauerkraut.
6. Serve the snack.
7. After they've stated how good it is let them know sauerkraut is one of the ingredients. :)

Background – Sauerkraut has been made and used for centuries in various cultures. The word sauerkraut means “sour cabbage” in German. It is made through a process called fermentation where you combine shredded cabbage and salt and allow it to sit, or ferment, for several days. In history this method was used to preserve food for long periods of time such as the long winters experienced in Germany. Sauerkraut is very high in vitamin C and was often taken on long sea voyages as a treatment for scurvy, a disease common among sailors from lack of vitamin C.

The Chinese are credited with the creation of sauerkraut over 2000 years ago. They used to ferment the cabbage in wine, but over the years it was discovered that using salt produced a better tasting product.

There are many traditions around the world that involve eating sauerkraut. The Dutch eat a special Chicken dish stuffed with sauerkraut at Christmas as well as a special dish made with pork and sauerkraut at the New Year. Many cultures also believe it is good luck to eat sauerkraut at times of celebration like Christmas, New Year, graduations and other family celebrations.

Worldwide more than one billion servings of sauerkraut are eaten each year. Two out of three Americans eat sauerkraut on a regular basis. Sauerkraut can be eaten hot or cold and can be included in recipes from soups and sandwiches to burgers and casseroles, and even smoothies and desserts!

Snack Choices and Ingredient Lists -

Sauerkraut Brownies

¾ cup salted butter

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. Almond extract

½ cup + 2 Tbsp. Flour

½ cup + 2 Tbsp. Unsweetened cocoa powder

1 – 16 ounce package sauerkraut, rinsed and drained

1 cup water (approximate)

½ cup whole pecans

½ cup butterscotch chips

- OR -

Crunchy Date Bars *This is the recipe I made.  I used GF All Purpose Flour.

2 cups (1lb. Package) pitted dates

1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed and drained

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

2 ½ cups water

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 ½ cups sifted flour

¾ tsp. Salt

1 ½ tsp. Baking soda

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup butter

Resources:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-homemade-sauerkraut-in-a-mason-jar-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-193124

http://www.sauerkrautnews.com/FAQs.html

http://www.sauerkrautnews.com/Recipes.html#Desserts

Eat Your Way Around the World by Jamie Armini, pg.44

Gluten Free Scone Recipe for St. Patrick's Day

I shared this last year, and our tradition is carrying through to this year.  The kids are really looking forward to seeing the rest of the family, and they cannot wait to help make the food.  We really do enjoy the simple things in life the most.

Originally published on March 13th, 2014:

As I mentioned before, in our family we do two big celebrations each year.  With our family size I don't think I could put together more than that.  Over the years it has worked out that we gather once around Christmas and again for St. Patrick's Day.  Being Irish was always a big deal on my dad's side of the family.  It's the only heritage I was raised to know anything about.

When I was younger I always invited my dad over for the typical Irish-American meal of corned beef and cabbage.  Most of my kids didn't care for corned beef.  Once my dad passed I figured we'd just carry on the tradition within our home.  I never planned to make a big family celebration out of it, but my kids had a different idea.  Imagine my surprise the first year after he was gone when I started getting phone calls from our children that had already flown the coop asking when we were going to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Thus, a Smith Family Tradition was born.

Over the years I have learned to make a few more traditional Irish dishes that I just love.  One of my favorites is Champ.  This year, however, we are changing things up a bit, and I am making Irish Stew for our celebration with Soda Bread, of course.  Corned Beef is just too expensive to feed to nearly 30 people.  We're reigning it in a bit, and I have locally sourced beef on hand, so I can think of nothing better to serve my family.  I do get tempted, though, to make Champ to serve the stew over, but the point is simple, right?  We will still be having the "traditional for us" meal on the actual holiday, so we'll get our fill of all our favorite foods this year.

So far the kids and I have made Soda Bread and Scones.  We even made them gluten free this year, and we're having a hard time leaving the scones alone.  They are SO good!

Here's how we made them:

1 1/2 cups   Rice Flour
   1/2 cup    Sorgum Flour
   1/4 cup    Natural Sugar
   1/4 tsb.    Salt
   1/2 tsp.    Baking Soda
   3/4 cup    Plain Greek Yogurt  (I use Fage)
      1          Whole Egg
   1/2 cup    Rice Milk
      2 Tbs.   Butter
      1 cup    Carob Chips or Cinnamon Chips
                 Raw Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Mix together flours, sugar, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.

In mixing bowl, mix yogurt, egg, milk, and butter.  Add the dry mixture a little at a time until combined.

Gently stir in your favorite chips.

I lined my baking sheets with parchment and made both varieties.  We made 12 larger chocolate chip scones  using an ice cream scoop and baked them for 18 minutes.  We made 24 smaller scones using a baking scoop and baked them for 13 minutes.  We sprinkled them with a little raw sugar before placing them in the oven.  The trick is to remove them just as they start to brown.

These are not as dense as traditional scones, and they spread out like cookies.  In the future I plan to try adding a bit more flour.

Cooking with Kids

I love to cook, and I love to cook with kids.  There is a small, in stature and number, audience watching me almost anytime I do anything in the kitchen, especially cook.  My oldest granddaughter was parked on the kitchen counter beside the stove just as soon as she could sit upright.  Everyone thought I was crazy, but she loved it.  She could stir a pot.  They understand so much more than we generally give them credit for, and she never did burn herself.

Harmony at 3 years in her rightful spot on the counter.

Now that she and her sister live with us, and we reentered the homeschooling circle, there is plenty of time spent in the kitchen together.  Recently she learned how to make her own egg over medium just like Papa likes it.  She is very proud!  Her younger sister is a constant presence and has no fear of anything cooking related.  I do have to watch her a little more closely, though.  She is much more bold and is the type of person that cannot just take your word for something, like a hot stove; she has to find out for herself.  So, I cannot say that she's never been burned, but she has survived just fine.

This is where you find Annabella when I'm cooking now.

I love the layout of the kitchen in our new home.  The open counter with the built-in oven allows for me to be on one side of the counter or stove with the kids on the other.  It's like our own little hands on cooking school.  It really works well for including them in all aspects of the process without interfering with my cooking space.

So much can be learned in the kitchen.  A lot happens in cooking.  Math is the most obvious, but there is science, art, history, and creativity as well as character building aspects like self-confidence and hospitality.  Then, there's the opportunity to learn good health, preparedness, and self-sufficiency.  Not to mention meal planning and learning what is and is not a good deal in the grocery store.

Over the next year we will be doing a lot of learning in the kitchen.  There's the whole wheat free adventure we're stepping out on, and we plan to add learning to exist without sugar in our cooking as well.  Then there's the gardening we will be doing which will hopefully produce enough produce for opportunities in drying, freezing, and canning.

Harmony in the kitchen today.

I'm great one on one in the kitchen.  My new goal is to learn how to work with three kids in the kitchen at once since that's my new audience participation number.  I lack experience in that department despite the fact that we are currently raising kids number 8, 9, and 10.  I managed to potty train two at once this time around, so one would think I could figure out how to cook with three at once.

Avery gets in the kitchen now and then as well.