Sauerkraut – Latvian style

My mom has always made sauerkraut this way.  I am assuming it is the way it is made in Latvia, since she learned how to make it with her grandmother.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cabbage – thinly sliced
• 1 can sauerkraut
• 1 onion – chopped
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 dried juniper berries
• 1 cup water or you can make my version with apple juice
• 3 Tablespoons sugar – to make a dark caramel

Directions:

1. In a large pot, fry the chopped onions slightly in a little bit of oil.
2. Add the sauerkraut, cabbage, salt, bay leaves, juniper berries and apple juice (or water), and cook at medium heat for at least 45 minutes.
3. Now comes the tricky part.  You need to make a dark caramel with the sugar in another pan. Use a deep one, because you will need to dilute the caramel in water, before you add it to the sauerkraut.  I like to wear nice, long kitchen gloves while doing this, because I have a lot of respect for making caramel!
4. Add the diluted caramel to the sauerkraut and continue cooking the sauerkraut for another 30 minutes.