Three of the men of Trinity Lutheran tamping down the kraut: John Vargo (left), Pete Carlin (right), and Dick Kling (back).
Members of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Wellsville are proud of this longstanding traditional event, where volunteers make the meal’s centerpiece by hand. The saurkraut, for the uninitiated, is fermented cabbage that is prepared the same way it has been for centuries. After shredding hundreds of pounds of green cabbage, the “krauters” combine fresh water and salt with cabbage in a large crock. Some recipes call for apples, or bacon, or beets.
As you can tell in the picture above, once the cabbage is in the crock the fermentation begins. The team has to literally keep pressing the shredded cabbage back down into crock as the magic happens, turning cabbage into saurkraut. It is a process largely attributed to the German culture, and very few Oktoberfest dinners don’t include a heaping pile of ‘kraut.’
The fact this dinner is traditionally served on Election night shouldn’t be lost on any of us. Gathering at a big beautiful feast to eat a community meal in a local church after a hard fought election is really great. The ability to go cast your votes, and then celebrate that act of democracy with friends, neighbors, even political foes, is maybe the most patriotic thing an American can do.
This years meal is limited so get your tickets ASAP.. Only 100 will be seated for the 6pm, November 2nd meal.
The church will be selling their handmade saurkraut starting at 9am on Election day, until its gone!!
