This is part of a new series of blog posts for beginner gardeners. These posts may be a little shorter and more specific in nature. Some will focus on ways to deal with what you grow, and how to preserve your harvest.

Sauerkraut is an easy, delicious, and nutritious way to preserve cabbage, and it requires no electricity.

Let’s look more closely at it, so we can understand the process and where it came from.

Sauerkraut – a Brief History and Recipe

What is Sauerkraut?

Lactobacillus fermentation is not the kind of fermentation that produces wine. The wine making process requires the presence of yeast and sugar (for the yeast to eat), and when you ferment fruit this way, you end up with a beverage that contains alcohol.

Lactobacillus fermentation digests some nutrients that would spoil food if it isn’t cooked and canned, so it is a great way to preserve food without using fuel. Generally you add salt, which draws juice out of the vegetable, and bacteria do the work. All you need is your vegetable to ferment (in this case, cabbages) and salt. Depending on what you are fermenting, you may need to make brine (salty water); in that case, use filtered water, NOT tap water. Tap water sometimes contains chlorine, which will kill the bacteria that work their magic on your vegetables. And that will ruin your batch of fermented veggies.

If you want to be extra certain that your fermented vegetable is safe to eat, and free of botulism, you should invest in a pH meter or some test strips. As long as your ferment has a pH below 4.5, you’re safe. That’s too acidic for C. botulinum to grow in.

Where did Sauerkraut come from?

It is believed that sauerkraut originated in China and was brought to Europe by Tartars, who were nomads. Sauerkraut is German, meaning literally “sour herbs” or “sour greens”. There are many culinary traditions that include sauerkraut, including the French choucroute, and many versions of it in Eastern Europe. Korean Kimchi is another variation, with a lot of hot peppers in it. The Germans often add caraway seeds, while the Russians tend to add apples. Germans eat so much sauerkraut that they were called “Krauts” during WW2, while in the US the name was changed to “liberty cabbage” during the war.

The making of sauerkraut involves more than one type of bacteria.

It involves a succession of species, just like a forest does, each species succeeding the one that came before and prepared the environment for its successor. The first bacteria to show up are Coliform, which produce acid. Leuconostoc bacteria like this more acidic environment, and they take over, producing more acid. Finally, Lactobacillus arrives, the third and last type of bacteria. This may sound complicated, but once you create the conditions needed, it happens on its own. 

How to make Sauerkraut:

Late summer or autumn is a good time to make sauerkraut, but you can make it any time. Basically, the day you find a big sale on cabbages is the best day to make it! This recipe can also be found under the “recipes” tab on my website, under the category “fermented foods”.

I adapted this recipe from “Wild Fermentation” by Sandor Ellix Katz, which gives the following proportion of cabbage to salt. For 5 lbs (almost 2 kilograms) of cabbage you need 3 Tablespoons (45 ml) of salt. I use Pink Himalayan salt, but sea salt should work fine.

Chop or grate your cabbage finely, or however you like to eat it. (Save a few outer leaves to use later as a cover to keep your kraut submerged). As you put some of it into your bowl, sprinkle on some of the salt. Massage the salt into the cabbage well, or pound it. Keep adding more shredded cabbage and salt, massaging and pounding as you go. You should see juice in your bowl. There is some flexibility in the proportions. In summer, you may need a little extra salt, and if it’s winter and your house is cold, you may use a little less.

You can add some grated carrots, some thinly sliced onion, garlic, other greens, sprouts, beets, turnips, and burdock root. Some people add fruit or herbs and spices, like caraway, dill, celery seed, or juniper berries.

Pack your now hopefully soppy veggies tightly into your jar, tamping it down as you pack it in. The vegetables should be completely submerged. Don’t allow any floaters, as these can ruin your ferment. I cover mine with a cabbage leaf and put a fermentation weight on top of that, to keep the leaf and greens under the brine. You can buy fermentation weights online, or you can use something you already have in your house, like a rock (well cleaned!).

If you don’t have enough brine, you can make extra (1 Tablespoon salt dissolved in 1 cup filtered water). Put the lid on and store your jar of sauerkraut. You should check it every day and burp it, in case pressure builds up. By that I mean, open the jar quickly, and if there are no floaters, close it again. You should put the jar on top of a plate, in case fluid leaks out of the top.

You may start seeing white moldy stuff floating on top of the brine.

Just use a paper towel to get it out. It is, however, harmless. The kraut, being submerged in its brine, is protected. After a few days of fermenting, the kraut should start tasting a bit tangy. If you store it in a cool place, it will keep much longer than it would in a warm place. Heat makes it softer and squishier, and eventually less tasty. It’s good to make sauerkraut in the fall or winter, so that it keeps even longer. And cabbages are often ripe then!

Whenever you remove some from your jar or crock, make sure that what remains is still submerged. If the brine is evaporating, add more. Also, if you want to always have a supply, make a new batch a little before you finish the old one. You can use the brine from the older batch to jump start a new one.

Enjoy!

I eat mine raw, either with a salad, as a snack, or with sausages (both vegan or other sausages go well with it). I’ve read that eating sauerkraut with (meat) sausages helps to offset the cholesterol one consumes with a sausage.

How wise our ancestors were!

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