When I began my career in culinary nutrition, homemade sauerkraut was a dying art. Over the years while I was teaching in-person classes, I made it my mission to bring it back to my community and typically had a sauerkraut demo on the docket. Thankfully, fermented foods like sauerkraut are experiencing a popular resurgence and plenty of people are now trying it at home. It’s inexpensive, easy to make, and incredibly nutritious – so there’s really no reason not to do it.
What Is Sauerkraut?
Sauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage that is combined with a brine or massaged to create its own brine, and sometimes herbs and spices. It’s generally used as a condiment on things like burgers, tacos, salads and sandwiches.
What’s The Difference Between Fermented Sauerkraut and Vinegar Sauerkraut?
The only type of sauerkraut I eat is the kind that has gone through a lactic acid fermentation process – basically fermented in naturally derived salt brine. During the fermentation process, various bacteria work on the cabbage to produce lactic acid. No special cultures, preservatives or chemicals need to be added.
Non-fermented sauerkraut is usually coated in a heated vinegar-salt brine and then canned. Often, food producers will use extra preservatives to keep it more shelf-stable and to ensure that the colours stay bright and vibrant. Most of what you’ll find in your supermarket has been pasteurized, which means all of the good bacteria have been killed. We want the good bacteria!
Canned sauerkraut has a very different taste from naturally fermented sauerkraut – the former is quite vinegary, while the latter is tangy and delightfully sour.
Health Benefits of Sauerkraut
Fermented foods like homemade sauerkraut are rich in probiotics. The word ‘probiotic’ means ‘promoting life’. Probiotics are the good guys; the beneficial bacteria we need in our gut that help keep us healthy. They support healthy digestion, immunity and our brains.
Key Health Benefits of Sauerkraut
Loaded with Vitamin C, Vitamin K and B vitamins, particularly B6 and folate.
I like to have a little bit of fermented foods, like sauerkraut, every single day. I also give it to my son Finn, as it’s one of his favourite foods. You don’t need a ton of it – a small amount, 1 or 2 tablespoons only, will do. If you eat too much (and aren’t used to eating kraut), you may end up with diarrhea.
Serve it over avocado toast, poached eggs or omelettes
Mash it into guacamole or salsa
Don’t forget about the brine – save it to use in salad dressings or any other recipe where you’d use vinegar
Sauerkraut Troubleshooting
The recipe I’ve included in this post is very easy to make. However, I know that fermenting can be scary if you haven’t done it before! Fermentation can sometimes be a science experiment, where you don’t always know the results.
Some things to keep in mind:
The sauerkraut must be submerged in brine to prevent mold. To keep it submerged, use a rolled cabbage leaf or a fermentation puck on top.
Depending on where you live and the season (summer vs winter), fermentation can take different amounts of time. In a cold climate, it can take several weeks to ferment.
Always taste test with a clean spoon.
Don’t double-dip into your kraut. I like to make a big jar (my ‘main jar’), and then transfer to a small jar as I use it. That way, the main jar has less exposure to air or other bacteria, so it lasts longer.
Sauerkraut will change colour as it ferments.
If you get tired of massaging your kraut, leave the salt on it for about an hour before you begin massaging or pounding it. This will help naturally release the juices, cutting down on massage time.
If I see mold, I throw my kraut out. Some people like to live on the edge and just scrape it off, but if there is mold on top, there is likely mold throughout that you can’t see.
Your nose will likely tell you if sauerkraut has gone off. But when it doubt, throw it out. You can always start a new batch tomorrow.
Never made it that way. We just put the shredded cabbage in an old pillowcase, put in a large crock, folded the case over, put on a wooden lid & a rock on top. When you could smell it upstairs, it was done….
Hi there, beautiful recipe, sounds so awesome. I want to get into fermenting more, but I live in Nepal and know that not all the ‘goodies’ on raw foods here are not good for you, due to contaminated water/soil. We tend to cook everything so we don’t get those nasty tummy bugs / for salads we soak everything in iodine water :( Do you know if the fermenting process would get rid of the nasty bugs but keep the good ones? There are some nasty things on raw food here unfortunately and I am aiming for better health not another trip to the antibiotics dude down on the street corner ;) Sorry for long question, hope for some advice on this – would love to get
fermenting!
This is my second try. The first time was pretty good, I thought It was a tiny bit salty. This batch is all white, caraway, ginger , shredded caroots and presoaked wakame. I also added kelp and slightly less salt. Today I am making it in a old crock, weighted down by a dish with a large pomella fruit in a small pot to keep everything under the juice…also covered it with a clean cloth. I want to expose it to the air to get the local bacteria in the air inside to help with the fermenting….wish me luck
Going to try this for the time ever…with all this crazy COVID stuff happening…I have time to experiment in my kitchen! My question: you mention ‘brine’ in your tips but I don’t see brine listed in the ingredients. Is this something that will occur naturally?
Many thanks
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Never made it that way. We just put the shredded cabbage in an old pillowcase, put in a large crock, folded the case over, put on a wooden lid & a rock on top. When you could smell it upstairs, it was done….
Hi there, beautiful recipe, sounds so awesome. I want to get into fermenting more, but I live in Nepal and know that not all the ‘goodies’ on raw foods here are not good for you, due to contaminated water/soil. We tend to cook everything so we don’t get those nasty tummy bugs / for salads we soak everything in iodine water :( Do you know if the fermenting process would get rid of the nasty bugs but keep the good ones? There are some nasty things on raw food here unfortunately and I am aiming for better health not another trip to the antibiotics dude down on the street corner ;) Sorry for long question, hope for some advice on this – would love to get
fermenting!
This is my second try. The first time was pretty good, I thought It was a tiny bit salty. This batch is all white, caraway, ginger , shredded caroots and presoaked wakame. I also added kelp and slightly less salt. Today I am making it in a old crock, weighted down by a dish with a large pomella fruit in a small pot to keep everything under the juice…also covered it with a clean cloth. I want to expose it to the air to get the local bacteria in the air inside to help with the fermenting….wish me luck
Hi Meghan,
I love the recipe, but my sauerkraut turned out way too salty. What can I do to still use it and make it taste less salty?
Hi Meghan,
Is it ok to use a metal mallet instead of wooden?
Thanks for you help. Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Hilary
Can you let it ferment longer than 3 days? I always thought sauerkraut needed closer to 3/4 weeks to ferment.
Going to try this for the time ever…with all this crazy COVID stuff happening…I have time to experiment in my kitchen! My question: you mention ‘brine’ in your tips but I don’t see brine listed in the ingredients. Is this something that will occur naturally?
Many thanks