Cramer's Kraut: Not Just For New Year's

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Here in Pennsylvania Dutch country it’s a strong age-old tradition to eat pork and sauerkraut at New Year’s. Whether consumed on the eve or the exact day, it’s said to be the trick to ensuring that it’s a year filled with wealth and health. And we could all use a li’l bit of that right now, eh?

When you’re low on time, tossing a pork roast and some kraut into the slow cooker is one of the easiest meals of all time. And if you’re like me, easy meals are what keep me going throughout the week. After all, I’d like to eat good home cooking every day, but sometimes the schedule crunch makes it tough. Tell me I can do dinner with less than 10 minutes prep and cook time and it’s a big winner in my book.

Sauerkraut’s gotta be one of the quickest and easiest ways to keep the energy of the New Year going strong and keep it filled with good fortune. After all, cabbage is one of the most economical veggies—seems like it is always less than $1 a pound—sometimes dropping to 25 cents. Of course, buy it in canned or jarred form and you’ll pay more—unless you make your own, that is.

Homemade what? For those of you (like me) who grew up on Silver Floss, homemade kraut is a whole new experience. But don’t pass it by if you have the chance—especially if you like tangy, flavorful kraut.

Yeah, I'm talking homemade kraut that has been shredded, tamped and tucked in to ferment by friends and family. It’s quite a process, from what I hear. You see, my hubby has a good friend that has created an annual tradition in sauerkraut making. He’s been doing it for 20 years—we call it Cramer’s Kraut. It is, no doubt, the best kraut in the whole world.

Every year in the fall right when the autumn colors are dwindling, Kevin Cramer sets up a grand sauerkraut-making party in his back yard. It’s one that hubby has attended for many a year now—and whenever the kids can go along, they do.

So what exactly do they do? Well, for a party like theirs, you need a serious crew of workers: they handle a whole pick-up truckload of cabbage—each year they make around 2100 pounds at their house. According to my handy helping crew, they use only hand slicers and stomp it all using homemade stompers. No wonder the kids came home with blisters and calluses on their hands! It’s enough for me to deal with one lowly head of cabbage for dinner, much less shred, mash and ferment 2 tons of the stuff. Yikes!

Cramer’s kraut. Highly recommended. One taste of it and you’ll never think of kraut the same again—and guaranteed, canned kraut will take a distant second. If you’d like to learn the ins-and-outs of homemade kraut, feel free to send me a note—I’ll be happy to put you in touch with Kevin, who has loads of info to share. He said he knows at least ten different people who have tried it on their own—and some have gone on to have their own kraut makin’ parties.

Now that’s definitely a meal to keep the New Year’s energy running strong.

Serves/Makes: 8

• 4 pounds pork loin roast
• 2 quarts sauerkraut, with liquid