Small-Batch Sauerkraut

From the garden

• 1 medium green cabbage, outer leaves set aside, cored, finely shredded · about 2½ pounds

From the pantry

• 1½ tbsp canning or pickling salt · 2% of the cabbage weight; weigh and scale the salt if your head is bigger or smaller

1. Shred the cabbage finely and weigh it if you can: the rule is 2% salt by weight, about 1½ tablespoons of canning salt per 2½ pounds of cabbage. Toss the cabbage and salt together in a big bowl.
2. Squeeze and massage hard for 5–10 minutes, resting occasionally, until the shreds go limp and glossy and the bowl pools with brine. That brine is the whole preservation system. Don't rush this step.
3. Pack the cabbage into a clean quart jar a handful at a time, punching each layer down with your fist so brine rises over it. Leave 2 inches of headspace, lay a reserved outer leaf on top, and weight it down (a small jelly jar or a zip-top bag of brine works) so everything stays submerged.
4. Cover loosely (lid barely engaged, or a cloth and band) and ferment at cool room temperature out of direct sun. Burp daily the first week, press the cabbage back under if it floats, and skim any white surface film (harmless kahm yeast). Bubbles by day 3 mean it's working.
5. Start tasting at day 7. Anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks in, when it's as tangy as you like it, cap the jar and move it to the fridge.