With the cabbage season well underway, it seemed a good moment to write about sauerkraut. Homemade sauerkraut is a cheap, quick, delicious and easy way to preserve fresh produce and prevent waste. You’ve likely read numerous articles encouraging you to incorporate fermented foods into your diet; a healthy dose of probiotics equals a healthy gut. Think yoghurt (some cheeses), kefir, kombucha, miso, tempeh, kimchi, sourdough bread and sauerkraut.
The Ferment
At its most basic, the ingredients are simply cabbage and salt, which provide the perfect environment for lactic acid bacteria to thrive and convert the sugars in cabbage (and/or other vegetables) into lactic acid (aka fermentation). Making sauerkraut is a journey. Taste it as it ferments to understand precisely the flavour you want – more tangy, more sour, more or less crunchy to achieve your perfect jar of kraut. The longer the fermentation, the more sour and tangy the kraut, but softer the cabbage.
Quick Sauerkraut History
Sauerkraut dates back over 2,000 years, when it was first recorded in China. One thousand years later, Genghis Khan introduced it to the Europeans after he invaded China. The original rice wine was replaced with salt, and Sauerkraut (or sour cabbage in German) was born. Captain Cook fed it to his sailors to prevent scurvy. Hippocrates prescribed it for weight problems, and the Romans ate it to avoid stomach infections. Convinced!
Equipment and Cabbages
You don’t need any specialist equipment (fermentation jars or crocks) to get started. A standard recycled jar (sterilised) is perfect. Use a rolling pin or a pestle to tamp down the cabbage. The one thing you do need is an electronic scale. They are not expensive. Work with clean hands and clean tools.
Cabbages should be fresh (organic, ideally), and your salt must be iodine-free. I use pink Himalayan salt. If the cabbage is not fresh, it won’t leach water and create enough liquid for fermentation.
The Salt Mix
Crucial to a healthy fermentation is a salt concentration of at least 1.5% and no more than 3% of the total weight of your vegetables. This environment is ideal for lactic acid bacteria to survive and inhibits harmful bacteria. I’ve followed the excellent advice of Holly Howe at makesauerkraut.com, who recommends a 2% salt concentration. There is no added water, as the cabbage will produce enough liquid to cover itself. However, this is vital to its success: the liquid must cover the cabbage to create an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment and further prevent the growth of harmful bacteria or mould.
I am not a fan of pale green sauerkraut. So I combine green and red cabbage with grated beetroot, apple, or carrot; the result is a lovely pink colour that looks as delicious as it tastes. Additions such as grated beetroot, carrot, and particularly grated apple can also help if you need more liquid. For a perfect balance, stick to the rule of thumb: 75% cabbage and 25% ‘other’.
Seasoning
Spice it up – once you are comfortable with the method, feel free to mix it up. Think anything from grated or finely sliced garlic, turmeric, horseradish, and ginger to fennel, cumin, dill, caraway, and coriander seeds, or bay leaves, juniper berries, peppercorns, chilli, star anise, and cloves. Consider dividing one cabbage evenly between two jars; make 500g of kraut, adding different seasonings to each.
See notes in the recipe card below for flavour combinations.
It should be ready in around 7-10 days. Taste it, and when you are happy, secure the lid and move it to the fridge. At this point, fermentation will all but cease. It will be soft, but the cabbage will still have a crunch or bite and a delicious sour flavour. It should never be mushy, smell strange, or be mouldy 🙃. If you spot any mould, it will more than likely need to be thrown in the bin.
Always use a clean spoon or fork to avoid contamination when removing the kraut from the jar.
Serving suggestions are endless: It is good with an egg for breakfast, as a topping on a salad, dropped into noodle soup or as a side with just about anything. And, of course, it is particularly good with grilled pork or sausages.
Homemade Sauerkraut
Equipment
- 1 500 ml sterilised jar with lid
- 1 large non-reactive bowl
Ingredients
- 500 (approx) g cabbage (½ red and ½ white) finely sliced – ideally with a mandolin
- 200 (max) g grated beetroot, carrot or apple – or combination of all three the general rule of thumb is 75% cabbage and 25% 'other'
- non-iodised salts like sea salt, Himalayan pink salt or kosher salt I prefer Himalayan pink salt – whatever you use it must be free from iodine or anti-caking agents, which will interfere with the fermentation process
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Weigh the bowl you are using to salt the cabbage and vegetables.
- You don't need to wash the cabbage (unless there are a lot of bugs; remove any tough outer leaves and the inner core. The best method is to cut it in half, cut out the core, then halve again into quarters. It's much easier to slice this way. Finely slice the cabbage (green and /or red) – reserving a good outer leaf to cover the sauerkraut later. If using, grate carrots or beets over the cabbage bowl to avoid wasting valuable liquid.
- Weigh your bowl of cabbage and vegetables. Subtract the weight of the bowl from the weight of the vegetables to get the exact weight of the vegetables.
- For 500g of vegetables, multiply by 0.02 (2% salt ratio). 500 x 0.02 = 10. (See notes below for table of measurements).Therefore, you need 10 grams of salt. Conveniently, two teaspoons!Sprinkle the salt over the cabbage and massage the leaves for 5 minutes. Add the remaining vegetables, massage again, and mix well. Set aside. Leave for up to an hour or until you have a small pool of liquid under the cabbage.
- Fill your jar with the cabbage mixture and any liquid. Tamp down as you fill the jar to ensure there are no air pockets. You want it to be nice and compact with the liquid covering the cabbage. Leave a generous 3 cm gap at the top of the jar. Clean any bits on the jar's side and around the jar's top with a clean cloth or paper towel. You don't want any stray bits of cabbage to contaminate the lid or remain out of the salty liquid.
- Cover the mixture with the saved cabbage leaf and then weigh this down with fermentation weights, a sterilised stone or a small zip-lock bag filled with water. Loosely screw on the lid to avoid needing to burb the jar. If you are using specialist equipment, follow the manufacturer's instructions.
- Remember: firmly tamp down, avoid air pockets, and use a weight to submerge the cabbage in the liquid. Loosely tighten the lid to allow gases to escape. Set jars on a saucer to collect any escaping liquid from super-active ferments.
- If you don't have enough liquid to cover the cabbage, you'll need to recheck it in 24 hours. The cabbage cannot ferment and will spoil unless immersed. If there is still insufficient liquid to cover the cabbage, add a sprinkle of non-chlorinated water, tamp down, recover (with cabbage leaf), weigh down, and loosely screw on the lid. See notes for adding water.
- It should be ready in around 7-10 days. Taste it, and when you are happy, remove the weight and cabbage leaf, secure the lid and move it to the fridge. It will be soft, but the cabbage will still have a bite and a delicious sour flavour.
- Always use a clean spoon or fork when removing from the jar so it does not get contaminated. Sauerkraut lasts for easily 2 weeks plus in the fridge.
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