Friend of mine got kicked out of his apartment for the smell, but I once helped him make a batch for his sauerkraut business, and to pay me he gave me a couple jars from a previous batch.
Holy shit that stuff was delicious. I ate one of the jars on my way home walking down the sidewalk.
But yeah. His neighbors weren’t too happy with the smell.
Cabbage and yeast. We pounded the cabbage with wooden thumpers to release enough liquid to cover the shreds, then put weights on top of the cabbage to keep it under the water line.
That’s all there is to it. I’m not even sure if we added yeast — it might have been naturally occurring bacteria that caused the fermentation.