What is Sauerkraut and why is it good for you?
Sauerkraut or ‘sour cabbage’ is a type of fermented cabbage that can be eaten as a side dish or condiment. It is a rich source of probiotics (or ‘live bacteria’), vitamins and minerals, which aids digestion, boosts immunity, and provides many other health benefits too.
Have a couple of tablespoons each day alongside a meal or add it to a salad or sandwich – a great way of getting your portion of fermented, probiotic food into your diet. However, if fermented foods are new to you, or you are not used to a fibre-rich diet, you may experience some bloating or flatulence, therefore, it is best to introduce this into your diet more slowly e.g. try a teaspoon each day for a week, then slowly increase the amount consumed.
Caution:Â
Sauerkraut is safe for most people, however, as it is rich histamine, those with a histamine intolerance, may experience side effects after consuming it.
Introducing fermented foods to someone who is immunocompromised or critically ill should be done with caution and under the guidance of a GP or healthcare professional.
Unlike cabbage in its natural state, sauerkraut can be high in sodium. Keep this in mind if you’re watching your salt intake.
Sauerkraut recipe (dry fermentation technique)
Sauerkraut is easy to make and various different methods can be used for the recipe. The recipe below is adapted from the College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) Natural Chef recipe, which uses a dry fermentation technique – using salt to draw out liquid from inside vegetables to facilitate the fermentation process.
Ingredients & equipment needed:
Quarter of a whole red cabbage + quarter of a whole white or green cabbage – to get a nice pink sauerkraut. Use fresh vegetables, as they will be more hydrated and contain more liquid
for the fermentation process.
1 tablespoon of Caraway seeds (optional) – alternatively use Juniper Berries, Mustard seeds, Dill.
1 Apple (optional) – adds more flavour and liquid to aid fermentation process.
Sea salt – you will need 1.5% of salt to total weight of vegetables used (see recipe method for a worked example).
A small Kilner style jar (with a rubber seal/ring around the lid – as per photo above) – big enough to put your fist in the jar.
*You can use any vegetables with high water content e.g. carrots, onions. Or mix and match with cabbage – experiment and get a feeling of how this dry fermentation technique works.
Method:
Cut the cabbage into small, thin slices using a knife (alternatively, use a mandolin, food processor or a large sauerkraut grater).
Place cut cabbage into a big bowl. Grate the apple (with skin on) into the bowl containing the cabbage. Mix this together.Â
Weigh how much of the combined cabbage and apple mixture is in the bowl (e.g. may be around 300g). Add 1.5% of salt to total weight of vegetables used and mix well – so for example, if the weight of your combined cabbage/apple mixture is 300g, then you would add 4.5g of sea salt (i.e. 1.5% of total vegetable weight) of salt to the cabbage and apple mixture.
Massage salt into the cabbage/apple mix, stirring the mixture around to ensure it is all covered well in the salt. Leave for 15 minutes for the salt to draw out the water out of the mixture.
After standing for 15 minutes, the mixture will look like it has started to release some liquid. Continue to massage and squash the mixture, as you turn it around in the bowl. Keep massaging until liquid starts to drip out of the mixture when you hold a fistful above the bowl.
At this point, add the caraway seeds and mix thoroughly.
Fill the glass jar with the cabbage/apple mix, tightly packing in the mixture ensuring there are no gaps. You can use your fist or the end of a rolling pin to push the mixture down into the jar.
Do not overfill the jar; ensure that you leave a small space at the top of the jar to allow gases to be released as the mixture ferments. When you press your fingers down on the mixture in the jar, you will see the liquid rising up to cover the mixture. You need something to push down on the mixture as a weight to ensure this liquid covers the top of the mixture – to do this, place a clean cabbage leaf over the mixture in the jar and cover the leaf with cut off chunks/ends of leftover cabbage (cut to size if needed). Close the lid of the jar, sealing it tightly.
Leave to ferment at room temperature for 3 weeks – if your kitchen is too hot, then you can leave it somewhere slightly cooler e.g. a basement or cellar. The flavour and texture of the mixture will change, with probiotics forming within the mixture.
Important note: During the fermentation process, the mixture will release a lot of gases, therefore in the first week, it is important to ensure that you open the jar slightly, for a couple of seconds only, to release the gases and prevent the jar from leaking.
After 3 weeks, your sauerkraut is ready to use! After the fermentation process is complete, store your sauerkraut in the fridge and consume within 3 months of making it.
Have fun making sauerkraut with cabbage or try experimenting using different vegetables like carrots, onions, beets, fennel, radish.