1. Rinse the cabbage really well. If the cabbage is not organic, soak it for thirty minutes in water with either lemon juice OR food grade hydrogen peroxide. Organic is best, but none of us live in a perfect world and sometimes we have to make do with conventional produce.
2. Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage. Save them for later.
3. Cut the cabbage heads into quarters.
4. Juice a quarter of a head of red cabbage, a quarter of a head of green cabbage, two carrots, the garlic, and the pepper. Compost the pulp or save it for using in other recipes. Reserve the juice.
5. Coarsely chop the remaining cabbage and carrots. Put the chopped cabbage and carrots in a large glass or stainless steal bowl. Pour the reserved veggie juice over the cabbage and carrots.
6. The veggie juice should just barely cover the cabbage and carrots when you press down on the cabbage and carrots. If it doesn't, add equal parts of water and apple cider vinegar until you have enough liquid to cover the cabbage/carrots.
7. Cover the cabbage/carrots with the reserved outer cabbage leaves.
8. Put a plate on top of the cabbage/carrots, and put something heavy on top of the plate.
9. Leave the saur kraut on your counter for 3-4 days. When it smells vinegary, it is ready.
10. Remove the outer leaves and the very top layer of chopped cabbage/carrots.
10. Transfer the finished saur kraut to a glass jar and store it in your refrigerator. The cold temperature of the refrigerator will slow down, but not stop, the fermentation process. If you don't eat your saur kraut in time, eventually it will be all fizzy when you open the jar. Fizzy saur kraut should not be eaten. It should go directly to the compost pile. I include garlic in my kraut because it kills some bacteria, slowing down the fermentation.

This recipe may sound like a lot of work, but it is relatively easy compared to the old-fashioned way of making saur kraut. It also is much cheaper than buying unpasteurized saur kraut at a health food store. Best of all, saur kraut is a wonderfully nutritious, delicious predigested superfood. Have a great day everyone!