Simple Sauerkraut

One of the simplest fermented foods you can make at home with minimal ingredients is sauerkraut. This is a popular cabbage dish across central and eastern Europe.

Fermentation is a great way to not only preserve vegetables but feed your gut with good bacteria that you can eat all year round. Unlike other fermented foods, sauerkraut does not need a starter culture, the simple massaging of cabbage in salt helps draw out the juices to produce lactic acid that boosts the diversity of good bacteria in your gut. It’s a great source of probiotic containing many different strains of bacteria.

Simple Sauerkraut Ingredients:

• 1 kilogram cabbage (either white or red/purple or ½ of each for a pink colour)
• 15 grams salt (around 1.5% of cabbage weight) unrefined and untreated only Himalayan or sea salt
• 1 grated apple (optional)

Method:

1. Remove the outer leaves and rinse cabbage in still water
2. Remove x2 large outer leaves and put to aside
3. Cut away the core and chop cabbage as finely as possible
4. Put your cabbage in a large (glass) bowl and add the salt
5. Massage cabbage in the salt (add more if needed) -This can take up to ½ hr so be patient until the cabbage is soft, and you see enough juice in the bowl to submerge the cabbage.
6. Next, pack your cabbage into a sterile airtight 1L jar (Kilner type), pack tight leaving a 5 cm gap at the top of the jar to allow for the juices to rise. Place one or two of the outer leaves on top of the cabbage, then place the core of the cabbage on top of the leaf. It needs to be at a higher level than the cabbage, so that when you clamp down the jar, the juices rise up above the cabbage. The fermentation process is anaerobic, so you will want to make sure that the cabbage is always submerged in its juices. Rotting or putrefying is an aerobic process, so if you do find that your top layers have gone bad, just scoop them out. The rest of the batch should be unaffected.
7. Leave the jar to ferment at room temperature for approx. 2-3 weeks but not too warm. The longer you leave it to ferment the stronger it becomes, and more probiotic is formed.
8. Once you are happy with it, transfer to the fridge to stop the fermenting process. It will keep for many months in the fridge.

3 week ferment (white and red)

If you would like to learn more about fermentation and gut bacteria, listen to this podcast.