In his August 10, 1927 bulletin George Washington Carver built it as a list of questions, one of them was, should a farmer have a garden? Nothing will pay him better, Carver answered, calling it one of the greatest money-makers on the place, and he gave two reasons that belong together. The garden makes health, because a family eating plenty of good, well-cooked vegetables works harder, tires less, and spends less on doctors. And the garden makes cash, because there should always be a surplus of beans, peas, melons, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, turnips, pumpkins, beets, and squash to sell, and because the garden opens the drying, canning, pickling, and preserving season. Then came the number that stopped me. Fully two-thirds of fruit and tons of vegetables went to waste every year, when a little effort would have turned them into food that lasted through winter and spring. The dominant caste held the land, the processing, the distribution, and the retail counter, overcharged lower caste customers for inferior food, and withheld the resources that would have made economic independence possible. A household that grows its own, puts it up, and sells the extra is stepping partway outside that arrangement. Sour kraut is one of the plainest ways to do it. Cabbage, salt, a weight, and time. No jars to buy, no sugar, no vinegar, and nothing that spoils if you keep it cool and covered.
Sour Kraut
Ingredients
Good, firm cabbage heads, outer leaves removed
Salt, a trifle more than you would use for cooking
Water, for a weak brine
A clean keg, barrel, or jar
A heavy stone weight
A thin cloth, to cover
Directions
Take a clean keg, barrel, or jar. Select good, firm cabbage heads, remove the outer leaves, and wash and quarter them as for cooking. Shred with a spade, sharp knife, or slaw-cutter until very fine. Rub the sides and bottom of the vessel with salt. Put in a two- or three-inch layer of shredded cabbage and pound it down with a wooden pestle. Add another layer of cabbage and salt and pound as before. Continue this process until the vessel is as full as you desire. Cover the top with cabbage leaves and weight it down with a heavy stone. Make a weak brine of salt and water and cover the cabbage with it, using just a trifle more salt than you would for cooking. Tie a thin cloth over the vessel to keep out worms and put it in a cool, dry place.
George Washington Carver, “How to Make and Save Money on the Farm”, Bulletin 39 (Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute Experiment Station, 1927), 5–6.