When Kemal was growing up, he and his family made sour cabbage (sauerkraut) in the winter. They used the leaves of the cabbage to make a very popular Balkan entree called sarma. Sarma is sour cabbage leaves that are stuffed, rolled, and then cooked. It’s similar to stuffed grape leaves except instead of grape leaves, sour cabbage leaves are used.
Kemal taught me how to make sour cabbage in the winter, and it’s very easy to do, but you just have to be patient because it does take about 4-6 weeks before the cabbage sours. It’s well worth the wait though because the cabbage is so tasty. You can use the sour cabbage leaves to make sarma, and you can also cut up the cabbage to make kraut. If you want sour cabbage but don’t want to wait that long, there is a way to make it on the stove that sours it, but it doesn’t taste quite the same. I’ve listed that alternative method in this post in case you’re interested in trying it. 
Sour Cabbage (Sauerkraut)
Sour cabbage ingredients:
- 5-9 heads of cabbage
- Approximately 3 cups sea salt (not iodized)
- 3 ears corn, with the corn kernals cut off
- water
- 1 cup distilled vinegar
Instructions for making sour cabbage:
- Core the cabbage and fill the insides of the holes with sea salt.
- Place them in a crock, 10-gallon Igloo water cooler, or large food-grade plastic container. Many restaurants use pickles that come in large food-grade plastic containers, and you may be able to purchase them for very little if you ask.
- When you place the cabbages in the crock or container, make sure the cored-hole filled with salt is facing upward so the salt doesn’t fall out.
- Then sprinkle the corn and about 2 cups of sea salt around the cabbage heads.
- Cover everything with water and vinegar.
- The, cover the cabbages with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly inside the crock.
- Place a clean weight (a glass jug filled with water, a brick, or a large stone) on the cover. This weight is to keep the cabbage submerged under the salty water.
- Now you need to cover everything. You can do that by putting a pillowcase or towel over the crock.
- Place the covered container with the cabbages outdoors on your balcony or back porch and leave it there, covered, for about 4 to 6 weeks.
- After 4-6 weeks have gone by, you can remove the cabbage from the crock as you need it for cooking. Whatever you don’t need for cooking, leave covered outside in the crock in the cold temperatures. As long as you keep the cabbages submerged in the salty water in the crock during cold weather temperatures, it will be fine. You want to make sure you eat all the cabbage before the temperatures rise. Kemal said they kept the cabbages outside covered in the crock as long as the temperatures were below 45 degrees.
- How you prepare the cabbage is up to you. If you want to make stuffed cabbage leaves (sarma), you can remove the individual leaves from the cabbage and then store them in the refrigerator so you can use the leaves for sarma when you want to make it. You can also cut up some of the cabbage and make sauerkraut with it.
Alternative Quick method for making sour cabbage if you’re in a hurry:
- Core a cabbage
- Boil the cabbage in water (enough to cover the head) and 2 tbsp. distilled vinegar until the leaves are soft.
