Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is prepared from shredded cabbage that is fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Its sour flavor and long shelf life are a result of the lactic acid that is formed when bacteria ferment sugars inside the cabbage. Sauerkraut is well liked for its nutritional profile and health benefits. For instance, sauerkraut

  • promotes healthy digestion. This is best known as a rich source of probiotic bacteria (beneficial gut flora). However, in addition, it also supports other aspects of healthy digestion like stomach acidity, bile production and enzyme activity. Read about speeding up digestion.
  • can prevent or fight polyps in the colon.
  • is full of essential nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals
  • may contribute to improved heart health, bone health, immune function, and inflammation
  • controls blood sugar and therefore useful for managing diabetes
  • is a versatile food (some uses below)
  • Fermentation differs to pickling because the end result promotes the growth of good bacteria. In contrast, pickling uses vinegar that wards off and kills both bad and good bacteria. For this reason, sauerkraut is a live food.
  • allows phytonutrients to be more bioavailable to the human body. (This is possible because the good bacteria counteract, thereby disable anti-nutrients).


Basic Sauerkraut Recipe

You will need

  • A wide fermentation container. This may be made from glass or food grade plastic. 
    • mason jar
    • glass juice jug
Image (above): Combination of red and white cabbage. flexible plastic container cover cut out and used below a shot glass. The blue cover of the jug forces the shot glass and cabbage to stay in place below.

  • cabbage, white or red. See nutritional differences below. Remove outer leaves, especially if store-bought. You can use the tough cabbage hearts by very finely grating them in advance.
  • Natural salt, 2% to 2.5% weight of cabbage weight. The primary purpose of salt is to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria. A secondary purpose is to expel the water from the cabbage leaves. Avoid salts with iodine or caking agents because they may inhibit the fermentation process.
    • sea salt
    • Himalayan rock salt
    • pink salt
    • Kosher salt (that is free of iodine, caking agents or other undesirable additives)
  • Optional ingredients
    • inoculant. This helps to inoculate the sauerkraut mixture with probiotics, which can increase the odds of successful fermentation. If you use whey, you may use less sea salt. This is also useful if you are concerned that the cabbage might get exposed to the air.
      • kefir whey (optional), 8% cabbage weight.
      • 2% salt water brine (highly advisable)
    • caraway seeds or fresh chopped dill (optional), 2% of cabbage weight
    • See the many other options (below).
  • weight. A weight helps to keep the solids submerged below the brine. This is a must-have to keep the sauerkraut safe. Never overlook this requirement.
    • Well scrubbed and boiled rock will suffice.
    • For mason jars; a shot glass that can be firmly taped in place (with masking tape) to the side of the jar and then covered with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap is soft enough to allow air to escape. The shot glass can be retaped as tightly as necessary after using more of the sauerkraut. When the level of the kraut is too low for a short shot glass, I use a narrow bottle. Since the bottle held sauce that I bought from the supermarket, I wrap it with a brand new, sterile plastic bag that I turned inside out to be extra safe. See the image of this adaptation below. 



Instructions for making sauerkraut

  • Grate or shred the cabbage finely. Grind the rough fibrous heart of the cabbage as finely as possible. Its fiber makes it a useful prebiotic ingredient that feeds the probiotic bacteria. 
  • Mix the cabbage with salt (and inoculant like liquid brine). The process of adding only salt is called 'dry salting'. The salt draws the water out of the cabbage. Allow this process to occur by leaving the mixture to stand for roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Pound the mixture with the help of a meat mallet or a wooden pounder until the cabbage becomes bruised and releases juice. There are multiple ways of achieving this. My most recent preferred method is to place the cabbage inside a bag and then pound it with a mallet or other very hard object.
  • Compact the cabbage into the bottom of a clean glass jar until the juice rises to the top and completely submerges the cabbage below. The aim is to prevent the cabbage from making contact with the air.
  • Cover the surface. The primary objectives are to prevent dust or other air borne particles from falling into the sauerkraut and to prepare for weighing down the mass of little bits of cabbage. Example(s)
    • DIY plastic discs YouTube video clip by Elly's 'How to make mixed vegetable sauerkraut'
      Crudely cut discs made from plastic containers

    • disposable plastic lunch box cut to the circumference of the jar. In the image below, you will see that, when I cut one side of the lunch box, I did so close to the vertical sides. I used lunch boxes that were as close in circumference as possible to my fermentation jar. This allowed me to create handles by leaving 2 vertical sides of the lunch box. 

    • sealed plastic bag fill of water. This idea both covers as well as weighs down the sauerkraut. It is good at filling spaces and crevices. 
    • un-shredded cabbage leaves
    • plastic wrap
  • Leave behind at least one inch of space for expansion.
  • Place some type of weight over the surface to ensure the cabbage remains submerged. Ensure the weight is very clean and free of potential contaminants. Example(s) 
    • a shot glass that can fit inside most jars. See image above.
    • sealed jar of water
    • a rock, washed and boiled
  • Cover the jar fully to prevent fruit flies or other contaminants. The container need not be air tight. However, the lactic acid bacteria prefer an anaerobic (ie airless) medium, within liquid without air contact. This is why the cabbage fiber must be kept submerged. However, always make provision for air release from the fermentation process. As an option if you are concerned about mold, remove oxygen as much as possible from inside the jar. Some airlock gadgets also suck oxygen out of the jar. Example(s).
    • air lock
    • a non corrosive lid (because metal lids will rust). Screw on lids VERY lightly to allow gases to escape.
    • air lock with oxygen suction feature
    • a cloth that is secured with rubber band
    • cling wrap (aka plastic wrap) or discs of wax paper (video clip). I lay the cling wrap directly onto the top of the sauerkraut to block air from entering. Since wrap is so light weight, air can escape. I allowed some excess wrap to cling to the inner sides of the jar above the level of the sauerkraut. During the first few days of a vigorous fermentation with cabbage and semi-ripe papaya, the cling wrap had bubbles caught between itself and the liquid. In that case, I changed it until the sauerkraut barely created bubbles. 
       
      YouTube video clip by Elly's Everyday soap making 'How to make mixed vegetable sauerkraut'

    • schedule for daily burping if you completely seal the jar. Beware, if you can not keep the schedule, the bottle can explode.
  • Label the jar with the production date and store in the dark at room temperature for roughly 2 to 4 weeks. The ideal range of temperatures is roughly 16C to 24C. 
  • Catchment tray for overflow. Place the fermentation inside of a catchment tray just in case of messy overflows.
  • Place in a warm part of the kitchen (ie NOT the refrigerator) but away from direct sunlight.
  • Within the first week, you may see bubbles rising. This is a sign of fermentation. However, this may force some of the cabbage to rise. for this reason, keep checking to ensure that the cabbage remains submerged. (If not, the cabbage might grow mold or rot).
  • If your brine ever gets too low and can no longer effectively cover the leaves, top up with a 2% salt brine.
  • After the first week, the bubbling slows down. You may therefore need not be as worried about the cabbage rising into the air. 
  • After the first week, you may start to taste test the sauerkraut. The time period beyond this point is a matter of personal taste. The longer you allow the process continue, the tangier and less crunchy the sauerkraut will become.
  • pH test the brine. Pre-fermentation readings without any acidic additives usually give a pH of about 5. Harmful microbes can not survive in a pH below 4.5. Consequently, the reading should be under pH 4.5 to be safe, usually within the first 3 days. This will also indicate that the fermentation process has occurred successfully.
  • Skim off kahm yeast with a clean paper napkin. (See how in YouTube video by Clean Food Living 'Fermented beans & lentils') Since it grows back quickly, like a day in my case after skimming it off only when you are ready to eat the sauerkraut. You may also opt to transfer the ferment into a refrigerator if you do not want to keep removing the yeast each time. Another consideration is that, since it can not survive vinegar for long, I think it will likely thin out over time if your ferment gets very potent. 
    Fear not if you see kahm yeast. However, ensure that you are seeing Kahn yeast and NOT mold since the latter is unsafe. See below how to identify and deal with mold. Kahn yeast forms a thin layer that completely covers the top of ferments. Over time, it may trap air bubbles below its surface. While kahm yeast is not ideal, it is not harmful. It is therefore safe to eat a ferment that is contaminated with kahm yeast. You will find it impossible to remove it without some breaking a way into the sauerkraut. Do not stress over this. 
  • Other observations about which you need not worry 
    • garlic turning blue. This is perfectly safe for consumption. This is a normal reaction between sulfur compounds found in garlic that react with copper found in some water sources (like spring water, well water, etc). The blue / green color is a copper sulfate. If you want to prevent this from happening, use distilled water. Additionally, acidity (including from well known sources like vinegar and lemon juice) can speedup this chemical reaction. If you wish to avoid the blue color, consider the following. Since this reaction more likely when the acid was present before you added the garlic, consider using garlic only when you are starting your fermentation from scratch, ie rather than adding garlic to brine that has already fermented and produced the acidic bacteria. 
  • When you are happy with the level of fermentation and need the process to stop, store the sauerkraut in roughly 7 to 10C (which is around the temperature of a standard refrigerator). Since the cold will stop or drastically slow fermentation, you may place the sauerkraut in a sealed jar. As a rule of thumb, people try to use the sauerkraut within 4 to 6 months. (You may also add citric acid which helps to slow down fermentation).
  • Over time, a dry method sauerkraut seems to 'lose the brine'. (The dry method refers to adding only salt to the vegetables so as to expel water that naturally exists within the vegetables to produce brine, ie rather than adding water from an external source). This common phenomenon occurs because the vegetable may re-absorb the brine, salty and all. Vegetables that have reabsorbed well fermented brine should not easily grow mold because the low pH inoculates it thereby keeping mold at bay.
    • As mentioned otherwise, refrigerate the sauerkraut if the sauerkraut brine has 'disappeared'. This helps to reduce the chance of drying out un-submerged vegetable and inviting mold. If there is only a little mold, you may toss at least that and nearby sections. 
    • Do NOT add new unfermented brine to counteract the 'disappearing brine' phenomenon. The problem with doing this is that it will lower the pH, thereby potentially increase the susceptibility of allowing mold to grow. Having said this, depending on how much you added, the sauerkraut may eventually return to an ideal pH. However, it is ideal to avoid the risk of setting back the fermentation this way. Furthermore, do not vinegar to counteract the way that adding unfermented brine raises the pH. While vinegar will provide an appropriate pH, depending on the concentrations, vinegar will kill at least some of the live bacteria and thereby also defeat the purpose of fermenting food. (See explanation in 'benefits of sauerkraut' for discussion on the difference between fermentation and pickling.)
  • I eat sauerkraut in various ways. My preference is to eat mine raw because heat (temperatures over 46C / 115F) kills the probiotics. However, that does not mean you can not do it.
    • raw, on its own
    • raw, with tortillas. I absolutely love my ultra colorful sauerkrauts with tortillas. Not only is the taste delightful, but it is also visually very appealing. Outside of the white cabbage, the color comes from carrots, red bell peppers, katuk leaves, thyme leaves, garlic, onion and chives. 
    • raw, as a salad condiment. When I found my pineapple sauerkraut too acidic for me, I mixed lots of it with otherwise 'boring' / bland salads made of christophene or cucumbers. The slight sweetness really makes the salad more interesting.
  • If you have any, use remaining fully fermented brine for other ferments.  
    • fermented COOKED (& only a few, not all slightly bruised; NOT mashed; NOT canned) red kidney beans, garbanzo or (dahl) lentils. Since vegetables improve the success rate, add the beans to a fully fermented jar of sauerkraut or just add vegetables to the fully fermented brine. Choose garbanzo over red kidney beans if you want less potassium in your diet ... and if you want more healthy fat and vitamin E in your diet. Choose red kidney beans over garbanzo if you want more fiber, potassium, phosphorus or calcium in your diet. (Regarding protein, garbanzo has only marginally more protein than red kidney beans.) Some people increase the salt percentage, even up to 4%. When a batch of sauerkraut is running low on the counter, I add the beans. Choose lentils over garbanzo if you want more B vitamins B6 which is good for brain health (as brain food, especially if black lentils) and B9 which is good for the blood, iron, phosphorus, fiber, protein ... garbanzo over lentils if you want more calories, more unsaturated fat, carbohydrates in your diet. BTW, beans are considered a longevity food. Coincidentally, blue zones like Okinawa and Costa Rica are high bean consumers. See below YouTube video by Clean Food Living 'Fermented beans & lentils'.



Variations 

Variations abound beyond plain sauerkraut. Some involve combining other ingredients at the same time as cabbage* to be massaged and pounded while others involve separate preparation. Generally, the difference in treatment is based on the structural integrity of the ingredient. For instance, apples and pears will turn into a mush. Consider how ingredients will impact on taste and nutritional value. Here are a few ideas of additives.

  • Apples, apple skins, diced or grated and added when stuffing fermentation jars. Apples offer pectin, a prebiotic. Apples are a source of polyphenols.
  • Beets. A popular recipe involves dicing it and adding it to cabbage at 32% of the cabbage weight. Beets are good for brain health.
  • Beans, cooked and some skins broken (NOT mashed) to expose starch.
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Corn
  • Dill greens
  • Fennel bulb*
  • Fennel seeds, freshly ground
  • Garlic
  • Ginger root, minced* Rich source of Vitamin C.
  • Herbs (thyme is my favorite)
  • Horseradish
  • Katuk leaves
  • Lemon
  • Lentils (dahl variety), cooked, NOT mashed.
  • Onions, RED. Good for protecting & restoring the nervous system and safeguarding against neurodegenerative diseases (like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's). Overall loved for brain health. Much more potent than white onions.
  • Onions, thinly sliced*
  • Orange zest, pith and or pulp. Even zest and pith are a source of vitamin C. Don't worry, the pith should not make the sauerkraut bitter.
  • Papaya. Great source of prebiotics and digestive enzymes that help with digestion of proteins and fats. Below, I used barely ripening green papaya with red cabbage. Images also above. Delicious! 

  • Pear, diced
  • Pepper
  • Peppercorns
  • Pickling spice
  • Pineapple (for Vitamin C). This makes the sauerkraut slightly sweet. Do not worry, this process does not produce alcohol. Example(s): 

     YouTuber Kickin' it with Karen's combination of pineapple at roughly 33%  of vegetable weight with ginger and turmeric (with black pepper); someone else used it at roughly 30% by weight)
  • Polyphenols (carrots, citrus, onions, etc)
  • Pumpkin 
  • Radish
  • Sprouts
  • Turmeric (with black pepper as an option)

All other vegetables should be used raw, except green or yellow wax beans, cooking them for at least 5 minutes before being pickled.




CONTENT RELATED TO DIY SAUERKRAUT 

YouTube video 'Cabbage nutrition facts - Which is better: green or purple cabbage? In-depth comparison' by YouTube channel Clean Food Living 

Overall, red cabbage is by far the victor on so many measures. However, consider your personal needs. For instance, white cabbage has a few significant victories that might meet your current objectives. For instance, it offers over twice the amount of vitamin K (a nutrient that is particularly important for bone health) than red cabbage. Someone concerned with bone health as they age may consider this. However, if that aging person is also particularly concerned about Alzheimer's disease, they may prefer red cabbage. If they are concerned with both, they will likely want to use a bit of both varieties.

  • Some of my favorite sauerkrauts thus far.
    • cabbage, 55% by weight
    • carrots, 29%
    • sweet red peppers, 11%
    • greens (katuk), 5%
    • salt, 2.25% of vegetables
    • parsley, thyme


Mold
Mold. Most types of mold are problematic. If your sauerkraut has a brine that has under 2% salt and it develops mold, throw out the entire batch. Do not try to skim off the mold because, like other fungi, most types of mold have filaments called hyphae that are invisible to the naked eye that extend below the surface. (The only time that mold can be safely skimmed off is when the brine has at least 2% salt because the salt prevents the hyphae from growing below the surface. However, remove any kraut that was floating and could have potentially become contaminated, even if you can not see signs of mold. The kraut that has remained submerged below the surface of the brine will be safe for consumption.) Here is how to identify it so that you do not confuse it with kahm yeast.
  • Mold is usually blue, green, black, brown or white. (Kahm yeast is white)
  • Mold is usually fuzzy. (Kahm yeast creates a thin, flat layer that floats on the brine) 
  • Mold does not cover the entire surface area of the ferment. (Kahm yeast spreads out over the entire surface of the ferment).

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