CENTER TWP — It's Oktoberfest time. And what's Oktoberfest without sauerkraut? And what's sauerkraut without Ruth Thoma making and selling her own version of the dish?

Well, starting next year, Butler County sauerkraut fans are going to find out. Ruth Thoma, 86, of 278 Holyoke Road, is hanging up her apron and cabbage grinder this month as both a sauerkraut maker and demonstrator.

“I'm a sauerkraut demonstrator and I'm known in the Zelienople area,” she said. “For 25 years, I've been at the Zelienople Fall Festival and at the Cooper Cabin in Cabot.”

She's leaving at the top of her game, said her husband of 25 years, Wyane Thoma.

“She had 80 jars that sold out at the Zelienople Festival. We were out of there by 4 p.m.,” said Wayne Thoma.

“It's of great interest to young and old at the festival,” Ruth Thoma said. “When I demonstrate people will say 'Is that the way you make it?”

The secret of sauerkraut making is there is no secret, she said.

“People do not know that all that is in sauerkraut is fall cabbage and pickling salt,” she said.

Pickling salt is a stronger salt than table salt she said. It has no additives and has very fine granules.

“The main thing is take off the outside leaves and cut it in half,” she said of her cabbage preparation.

“Take the core of the cabbage out. The core is real bitter and if not removed will give the sauerkraut a strong flavor,” she said.

Then using a wooden grating board, Thoma grates the cabbage into slivers into a stone crock.

“About every four inches, stop and add salt, and with a wooden mallet, you pound the cabbage and salt layers to start to break down the water from the cabbage,” she said.

When the cabbage and salt mixture gets about four inches from the top of the crock, stop and cover the crock.

Although the recipe is unchanged from the one she got from her mother, Esther Lauten, the way she tops the crock is different.

It used to be the sauerkraut crock was capped with a plate weighed down by a stone while the mixture fermented.

“Sealing off is important,” she said. “We need to keep the air out which causes spoilage and there is a smell. In the old days, everyone's house smelled the same.”

Not any more, since Thoma started using plastic bags and water to seal off the crocks.

She places three large plastic bags one in another and puts them on top of the grated cabbage and salt. Then she fills them with water.

Pulling out the sides of the bags forms a water balloon that makes an airtight seal.

“Now there is no smell no spoilage and loss of kraut.” she said. She added you can pull the bag back to check on the process.

“Let it sit in the crock for five to six weeks, then you can use it out of the crock or can it for sale,” Thoma said.

She hit the two festivals annually for 25 years giving a demonstration of how to make sauerkraut, selling it in jars or selling hot dogs, kielbasa and kraut.

“I am 86 years old. I'm looking for someone to take over. I don't want this tradition to die,” she said.

“There are a lot of people that are making it for themselves, but the young people are not interested in making it,” she said.

Wayne Thoma said, a successor “would have to buy the equipment and quart jars.

Ruth Thoma said she's made her last batch of sauerkraut. A large barrel is fermenting now that she plans to can come November so that her successor will have something to sell when she begins to give demonstrations.

Anyone interested in taking over Thoma's vocation should give her a call at 724-287-5007.