The Opelousas courier., 1888-01-28
SAUER KRAUT.
Manufacture and Sale Of theDish
in the Quaker City.
Processes of Preparing the Cab
bages for the Market.

Processes of Preparing the Cab
bages for the Market.
- .
It has only been within the past 90
years that sauer kraut has become an
article of commerce. For some time
previous it was sold in a small way by
shop keepers, who would "put up a
barrel or two yearly for sale to their
customers. Forty years agoit could not
event be obtained ir that way, as 1t was
only the farmers possessing large gar
dens who put up the "kraut" for their
W use and to comply with the occa-
sional request Of aneiyhbor fora"mess."
But gradually as its excellent
qualities as food came to be
appreciated its manufacture and
sale increased, and at the present time
there are very few families in this sec
ton of the country that do not have a
dish of sauer kraut occasionally. Its
use in beer saloons as lunch has also
come to be a CIRCULAR thing" This
increase has stimulated its manufacture,
not only in this city, but all over the
country. AS hundreds of families here
abouts put up their own kraut 40 esti-
mate can be made Of the quantity eaten,
but by those regularly manufacturing it
for sale in this city, it is estimated that
800, 900 quarts will cover the quantity
yearly.
The following points about cabbage
and its manufacture into oauer-kraut
were obtained from an establishment on
Brown street, which, it is Gained, is
one of the largest of it's kind in the city
and the only one where steam operates
the cutters. The cabbage, the manu-
facturer states, is procured chiefly from
New Jersey, but he also gets it from
Montreal, Canada, Rhode Island and
Massachusetts,. From these latter points
it is shipped in cattle cars, the open
Stat work Glowing a free circulation of
air through the cabbage. The late crop
of cabbage in this latitude is, h. says,
short fully oae half this season, ia con-
sequence of a summer drought. He is
paying for cabbage from 81 to $40 a
hundred, a considerable advance over
that paid last year, and which will adj
vance the price of krout about So q
barrel over last year.
Cleanliness appears to be invariably
observed If the manufacture of sauer
krout. As fast as the cabbage is re-
cereed the outer and soiled leaves are
removed and the cqFe bored out. The
heads are thin fed to the steam cutter
(Which. works up 5000 heads in ten
hours, and the coarsely and uniformly
shredded cabbage is dropped into a box
beneath. It is then transferred to a
| barrel with a fork, and saltcd. The
only time in which it is touched by
hand is when the salt is incorporated.
After this process is completed it is
transferred to casks and slightly packed
down, and, when they are filled, have
the heads laid loosely on top under a
weight of stones. These casks are
placed in cool vaults to ferment, the re-
suit of the fermentation being carefully
removed once a week, and the heads OF
the casks washed. At the end
of seven weeks, at this time Of
| the year, and a much shorter time in
summer, the kraut is considered cured,
and it is packed in barrels of 80 or 40
gallons capacity and shipped to dealers
in the city, all parts of the state, t
New York, and as far south as Florida.
German sauer kraut continues to be
imported and considered a better article
than the American make, on account o.
the finer quality of the cabbage. It usu,
ally sells at q higher price aad is easily
distinguished by its longer shreds, ane
in some cases by the admixture of fen
mel and other aromatic seeds. -[Phila.
delphia Ledger.