Found out my grandfather's sauerkraut recipe is over 90 years old

Was cleaning out my dad's attic last weekend and found an old notebook. Tucked inside was a handwritten recipe card from my grandfather dated 1932. Same basic salt to cabbage ratio I use today, 2.25% by weight. Made me wonder how many generations have been making the same batch without even knowing it. Anyone else stumble across old family fermentation recipes?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimw572d ago

Laughed out loud when I read this because my grandma's sauerkraut "recipe" was literally just a sticky note that said "cabbage + salt + don't mess it up." She probably learned it from her mom and never wrote a thing down. 90 years is impressive though, makes me wonder if your grandfather ever had a batch go bad and just secretly started over without telling anyone lol.

nancy_wood2d ago

Kimw57, I actually see it a little different. A 90 year track record means he probably had a system that worked most of the time, not that he never messed up. If a batch went bad he'd just toss it and try again, which is basically the same as starting over.

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nancy_wood1d ago

Oh man, that sticky note recipe sounds exactly like something my mom would leave me. She once gave me instructions for her pie crust that just said "cold butter, dont overwork it, good luck." Classic. I've definitely had batches of stuff go sideways and just quietly disposed of the evidence before anyone knew. There was this one time my sourdough starter got all moldy and I just scooped out the good part and pretended nothing happened, like some kind of kitchen criminal.