Making Homemade Sauerkraut

Today I made my third batch of homemade sauerkraut.  My recipe today included: cabbage, onions, jalapeno’s, garlic and stinging nettles (blanched), sea salt.  It is making my mouth water already.  I love the idea of using free to forage, stinging nettles.  I have been doing A LOT of reading up on this wonderful springtime veggie which can be used much like spinach or kale in recipes.  I had about a pound of nettles, using tongs, plunged them into boiling salted water for five minutes.  I put them immediately into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and retain their green color.  Cooking them had a wonderful earthy aroma.  I squeezed out the excess moisture. Chopped up a bit of it and added it to my mixture of chopped cabbage, onions, jalapeno’s, garlic, and sea salt.  I don’t have exact measurements- I just eyeballed what sounded good to me, tasting as I was mashing.  I added more water to cover the kraut.  It is sitting in my kitchen in a warm spot.  I can’t wait to eat this!  My next adventure in cooking with nettles will be making a cold soup, much like I had a couple years ago at a foodie event in Seattle, made by a local chef.  It truly is a treat and a delight to eat local foods.