This article was originally published here and is part of the January 2009 round up.
Sauerkraut, sour cabbage, is a german lacto fermented cabbage dish. In the 18th Century Captain James Cook used sauerkraut to prevent the death of his sailors from scurvy but Germany’s sauerkraut is actually a version of chinese kraut, brought to Europe by the hoards of Gengis Khan.
Raw cabbage is implicated in depressed thyroid functioning, while fermented cabbage and other vegetables provide many health benefits and should not be under estimated for their healing powers. Sally Fallon in her book, Nourishing Traditions provides some excellent instructions on the fermentation of vegetables and fruits, in addition to grains, nuts, seeds, fish and meat.
Basic Recipe for Sauerkraut
- 1 litre glass jar with plastic lid or spring lid
- 1 Cabbage Medium sized (1kg)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 4 tablespoons of Kefir whey (you may use already fermented sauerkraut for an innoculant or simply add another tablespoon of salt.)
- 1 tablespoon of carraway seeds or fresh chopped dill.
Germans have always sliced the cabbage with a specially made machine and pounded them with a wooden mortar in a large crock to bruise the cell walls.
Grate cabbage with a hand grater or process in a food processor, then mix in a large food grade plastic bucket (get them at a hardware store) with the salt and Kefir whey. Pound with a meat mallot or wooden pounder of some kind. I’ve been known to use a pick handle, a clean one of course. Pound until the juices cause suction when you pull the pounder out of the mix.
Press the mixture into a clean glass jar using a wooden spoon. Press firmly until the juice rises to the top and covers the mixture, which it will do when it is pounded enough. Leave at least one inch or more of space at the top of the jar to allow for expansion.
Cover the kraut and store the jar in a cupboard for 3-5 days (depending on the ambient temperature) before transferring to the refrigerator. The sauerkraut may be consumed after a couple of weeks, though if you allow the fermentation process to continue for a month or so in the refrigerator you will be well rewarded with a most delicious flavour. I love sauerkraut at 4 months old.
As with all fermenting, follow your nose. If it smells putrid or you have any doubts about the quality, then discard the sauerkraut and start again.
Commonly Asked Questions Answered by Sally Fallon
Question: In Nourishing Traditions and Eat Fat Lose Fat, the sauerkraut instruction is to place cabbage in a tightly closed jar, with expansion room. However, in Wild Fermentation, the instruction is to add a weight (e.g., a smaller jar filled with water) to keep cabbage below liquid line. This also is the instruction with my Harsch crock (custom weights) and the practice of old-timers with board and plate (for weight). Is the cabbage (recipe with closed lid and no weights) safe from problems because of the closed lid? We noticed the shredded cabbage did expand in closed lid process, which lifted kraut above the liquid line during three days. No kahm yeast appeared, so we ate even kraut above liquid line.
Answer: There are many ways to make sauerkraut, With my method, you push down into the jar with a pounder and don’t really need weights.
Question: Young children aren’t fond of the caraway flavor. I understand caraway is a fermentation aid. Can we just add extra salt or whey instead?
Answer: there are many ways to do sauerkraut–the caraway is not necessary.
Question: Is there increased nutritional/probiotic benefit from fermenting kraut longer than three days? Does it continue to grow good properties in refrigerator, or is the ‘fridge time’ only a flavor/texture enhancement?
Answer: Hard to say, more research is needed! It will definitely get more sour if you leave it longer, so it is really a matter of taste.
About the Author...
A Super Hero and one of many who have realised their true calling as saviors of humanity, healers of our connection with Nature and creators of Heaven on Earth. The Nourisher's gift is the re-spiritualisation of the 'process of recreation' we call eating. Mother of three Super Heroes in training and wife to her God incarnate, The Nourisher hails from the place of feminine healing, Byron Bay, Australia. She gathers together Life Creators from all over the globe at NourishedMagazine.com.au
Jan 5th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Hi Guys,
Thought I should add this as I think I have the easiest way to make awesome kraut! Well it is just a different take on Sally’s method but it sure does works a treat. Here goes…
Firstly I never wash the cabbage only remove the outer leaves to expose the nice clean inner leaves.
Using nice sharp chefs knife cut the cabbage into quarters.
I use a v slicer (but knife works as well) to shred to thickeness of $2 dollar coin into a large bowl.
With one quarter shredded into bowl I sprinkle a big spoon full of good salt flakes - I did work out that lots of salt helps IMO you almost can not oversalt kraut.
Follow salt with teaspoon or so of whey - I find too much whey gives an unfavourable taste and you only need a little to help fermentation.
I use my CLEAN hands to scrunch up the cabbage instead of a pounder. I find this much quicker and effective. Scrunch until lots of water has come out into the bottom of the bowl and cabage volume has almost halved.
Now grate another quarter of the cabbage directly on top of this or until bowl is full again. Follow with more salt and whey and scrunch again.
Depending on you bowl size you can probably do this a couple of times at least. If your bowl is really full empty some of the kraut into the jars that you’ll be using but always keep the bowl half full - this seems to help get more water out of the cabbage.
When all your cabbage has been grated and scrunched with salt and whey start filling your jars. For me 2 one litre preserving jars is almost always perfect for a good sized cabbage. Fill the jars pressing down with a spoon as you go. Leave at least 3 cms at the top for expansion. Now if your cabbage is fresh there should be plenty of liquid to cover the cabbage. If not pour a little water into the bowl you used with some salt and whey mix and use this brine to top up you jars, but dont overfill!
Put the jar lids on tightly and leave somewhere warmish but cover with a cloth to protect from light.
After 24hrs it might look like your cabage has risen above the liquid line. Open up you jars to let out some gas. It might bubble up a fair bit at first but wait a second then push down the cabbage with a spoon till it is well covered with liquid. You will find you will actually have way more liqiud than the day before, plenty to cover.
Top the jars and follow this step again 24hrs later. It will be even more active on day 2.
On day 3 repeat the above step and top both jars. This time they go into the fridge. Now I like to eat one jar as soon as it’s cold (12hrs or so) and the other 2-3 weeks later. The taste definately changes. I like the older tangy kraut my wife however really likes the much sweeter fresh stuff! So its all about preference I guess.
Anyways hopes this helps someone.I honestly think it is the best and most easy way to make the worlds most underated condiment.
Thanks,
Dan.
Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Thank you both for such wonderful and seemingly-easy instructions!!! I want so much to make my own organic fermented UNPASTERURIZED sauerkraut but am always afraid to try it for fear it won’t come out right, or it might not ferment all the way, or something….so I’ve been purchasing it and it’s so expensive especially if one uses it daily (nearly $10 a small jar!). I’m going to be brave this weekend and try it thanks to both of your instructions - it seems very easy!
Thank you so much!! Mia.
Apr 21st, 2009 at 9:26 am
Hi to all,
This is my first time making sauerkraut. I panicked a bit and put oregano (dried) in the mix to kill any bacteria. Do any of you know if this will interfere with the fermentation process?
Thanks,
Maria
Apr 21st, 2009 at 9:27 am
Hi to all,
This is my first time making sauerkraut. I panicked a bit and put oregano (dried) in the mix to kill any bacteria. Do any of you know if this will interfere with the fermentation process?
Thanks,
Maria
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
Maria, there is nothing to panic about, even if you don’t use whey, cabbage is loaded with beneficial bacteria. Has anyone ever made a bad batch??? Also nothing bads going to grow with all that wonderful sea/celtic salt.
Let us know how it turns out. Personally I like the flavor of caraway seeds, couldn’t imagine how it would taste with oregano.
Apr 24th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Maria,
That’s fine. Oregano is used in the Latin American/Mexican version of Sauerkraut called ‘Curtido’, with hot peppers. The bacterias are good for you, no need to kill them! See 2 articles about it here- http://solarfamilyfarm.com/?p=28, http://westonaprice.org/motherlinda/sauerkraut.html
Jun 6th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Hi,
I’ve just stumbled across this site whilst looking up how to make my own sauerkraut, thanks for the great info.
I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to buy (or easily make!) the kafir whey and where would you buy it? Iid find a website devoted entirely to kafir and it was a bit daunting to a novice, a bit too in-depth for me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! thankyou
Jul 12th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Tina, you can buy kefir grains at wilderness family.com
Jul 13th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Tina,
I have Kefir grains to share, if you’re in Australia. I can post them anywhere in Oz. Let me know- gamgoAToptusnetDOTcomDOTau (replace caps with @ & .)
Aug 8th, 2009 at 1:46 am
I have Sally Fallon’s cookbook, Nurishing Traditions, which is my health bible. Whenever a recipe calls for kefir grains, you can use whey. (My book says whey in this recipe.) You can strain yogurt through cheese cloth, separating the yogurt into whey and cream cheese. When I have been too lazy to do the separation, I just add a little yogurt or just the clear liquid that settles at the top. I have made my own Kimchi from Sally’s cookbook, using yogurt, and it was delicious!!! I use organic, whole, plain yogurt.
Sep 22nd, 2009 at 8:13 pm
We just made a large (about 20 cabbages) of kraut in a crockpot using 1 tbsp salt and 4 tbsp salt per 2 kiligrams. Since we have all the whey in it does that mean that I only ferment for 3 days then put in fridge in jars? Would rather leave it in crock, but imagine it will go bad? Really need suggestions as we are quite worried.
Nov 12th, 2009 at 9:57 am
nice one friends ,bt u guys didn’t tell us the of organism involved
Nov 30th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Does anyone here know the name of the Melbourne band that sing about the benefits of fermented foods like Sauerkraut and Kefir and dancing in the kitchen? I saw them once at Melbourne Uni and thought they were great!