Sauerkraut
The Sauerkraut I make contains only natural, raw components. Nothing is being cooked or otherwise altered before and after fermentation. For all White Cabbage (Round Cabbage) Fermentation, we do not add any Water to the making of Sauerkraut, the liquid from the cabbage is sufficient. The Salt I use is either Himalayan Pink Salt or Sea Salt. We use no Vinegar and no Sugar and not any Additives to our Sauerkraut making.
When it all started …
It was sometime in 2017 that I “discovered” that it is possible to make the own Sauerkraut. Not to buy quite “worthless” pasteurized commercial products, but make my own “Editions” of this so healthy Superfood.
Here on the picture you see the early stages, glass containers with cups to keep the cabbage under the liquid level, and you notice the brown tray in which all is standing, this is because I had quite frequent “overflow” when the fermentation was in full progress.
The Upgrade …
The day before Singapore closed down everything due to Covid, the shipment of The Upgrade from Germany arrived. The Airfreight cost 5x more than the Goods.
I acquired a 10 Liter Fermentation Crock and a 5 Liter Fermentation Crock and a nice Cabbage Slicer with 3 Blades. At that time already I thought the 5 Liter to be for “experimental batches”.
Capacity Increase …
I have a group of “Friends of Ferments” who acquire the remainder of my fermentation batches. So my 5 liter and 10 liter Ceramic Crock are often not sufficient, and I use now also sometimes a15 liter Glass Jar in addition.
Here you see the fermentation of Purple Cabbage in a 15 liter Glass Jar.
Much Easier …
So much easier to slice the cabbage.
Outch … are these blades sharp
My Favorite …
This is one of my common favorites of Sauerkraut, nice in Taste and Appearance, so I call it Regular Edition.
It contains Red Capsicum (Bellpeppers), Carrots, Onion, Garlic and Caraway.
Here you see the ingredients being hand-squashed before the filling into the fermentation Jars. We never need to add Water when making Sauerkraut, the juices from the Cabbage are sufficient in quantity.
Capsicum Edition
This Sauerkraut Edition contains as “Add-On” just Red Capsicum, Onion, Garlic and Caraway.
The Capscium gives it in my opinon a nice flavour.
Multi-Capsicum Edition
This Sauerkraut Edition contains as “Add-On” Red and Yellow Capsicum, Onion, Garlic and Caraway.
The Capscium gives it in my opinon a nice flavour.
Pineapple Edition
When Brainstorming with some Friends of Ferments, the idea of fermenting a Sauerkraut together with fresh, raw Pineapple came up.
This Edition is quite unique and the Pineapple give the Sauerkraut a very nice taste.
People really like this Edition, and with the Pineapple “leftovers” I make usually 10 liter of Tepache, a nice fermented drink.
Beetroot Edition
The Beetroot (rote Rueben) are in themselvs already a Superfood. To add raw Beetroot to the Sauerkraut gives the Sauerkraut a nice firy-red color.
This Edition is quite special and the Beetroot gives the Sauerkraut a bit of “earthy” flavour. Some “Friends of Ferments” are only waiting till I make this again.
Purple Cabbage Edition
The Purple Cabbage (Blaukraut) beats the White Cabbage, that is normally used for Sauerkraut, in many ways with regards to Nutrients, Enzymes, Vitmains and Minerals. So yes, sometimes I do make Sauerkraut only of Purple Cabbage (or a mixture of White and Purple Cabbage).
If it were not the missing pieces of Beetroot, it looks very similar in color to the Beetroot Edition. However Purple Cabbage is more demanding in the slicing and squeezing process, as it is much “harder” than white cabbage. The finished Sauerkraut is also somehow more coarse than the white cabbage, but having the Increased Nutritional Benefits, we like it still.
Mushroom Edition
Recently I made a test-batch of Sauerkraut with fresh Oyster Mushroom, Onion and Garlic.
The sliced Mushroom fermented together with the Cabbage are giving it a nice, mild taste.
I consider this experimental batch, Mushroom Edition of Sauerkraut, a success.
I love to eat a little plate like on the picture every day. This makes a nice snackfood.
Regular Edition
I call this my “Regular Edition”, as some others are just slight variations of this.
This Sauerkraut contains Red Capsicum, Carrots, Onion, Garlic and Caraway.
I do like the flavour of the Capsicum (Bellpeppers) in the Sauerkraut.
The Way we Eat Sauerkraut
Cucumber Salad
Vinegar Replacement in Salads
We eat daily lots of Salads. After we cut the cucumbers, we simply add Sauerkraut, sometimes additionally cut raw Onions & Garlic and add just Virign Olive Oil, Avocado Oil or Walnut Oil and mix it thoroughly. Let it stand for 1/2 hour so the flavour of the Sauerkraut gets into the Salad.
Depending on the occasion, we sometimes fine-cut the Sauerkraut so it’s appearance is not so visible and I myself must have freshly ground Pepper on “everything” …
Mixed Salad
Vinegar Replacement in Salads
Another variant of our daily Salads. After we cut the ingredients (here: Cucumber, Apple, Celery, Red and Yellow Capsicum, Tomatoes), we simply add Sauerkraut, sometimes additionally cut raw Onions & Garlic (or like here, cut raw Purple Cabbage and boiled Eggs) and add just Virign Olive Oil, Avocado Oil or Walnut Oil and mix it thoroughly. Let it stand for 1/2 hour so the flavour of the Sauerkraut gets into the Salad.
A bowl of this nutritious, healthy Salad serves alreay as a full meal.
If you have family members who are not partiuclaly fond of eating raw Sauerkraut, if you fine-chop it as Vinegar Replacement in a Salad like on this picture, they may not even notice it and you did your part of helping your loved ones to be healthy and give a good support to their immune system.
Add-On to Daily Afternoon Snack
Mona and I have the habit of eating every day in the afternoon a “fruits snack”, what is a box of cut raw carrots and cucumbers (nothing added). Most of the time we add to this a good portion of raw Sauerkraut.
Healthy Snack
Or we just get ourselfs a good portion of Fermented Day Starters (here Sauerkraut with fermented Garlic and fermented Cucumbers).
Gives us the daily requirement of Vitamin C, K2 and much more on Probiotics, Enzymes and Fibre.
All Fermented Items should not be exposed to temeratures above 40 deg C and also not to Sunlight (as UV-C kills bacteria). Therefore you should always make sure you get Raw, Natural Sauerkraut. The one you get from the Supermarket or in Glasses from Poland, Germany and others, is “dead on arrival” already, as it is almost always Pasteurized, i.e. no more Probiotic Bacteria. The same if you eat cooked Sauerkraut in a Restaurant or cook yourself, the final product is “dead”. Therefore we take great care of our production process and the way we eat it. You find a link in the Health/Nutrition section of our WebSite to some clips.
To answer a question that popped up at my Friends of Ferments page: Yes, I can make Sauerkraut without any Salt (zero Salt), and I did it already successfully. However it is a lot of more hard work and risk involved, and I would only make it “upon special request”. I found it weird to do so much extra work and in the end I found the “Salt Free Sauerkraut” kind of “flat tasting” and what did I do, when I made my Salad I added Salt again. So I stopped the “salt-free” approach and I add the 2% Salt for a smooth nice process and add therefore less Salt to the Salad later 😉
