Sauerkraut

July 11, 2026

This is the second year I have tried raising cabbage (Brassica oleracea) in my raised beds.  Last year the weather was not conducive and the heads never formed.  I tried to use the individual leaves, but nothing I made worked.  This year I planted it earlier and put in more seeds.  Ten plants came up, but one was eaten (by something) almost immediately.  The other nine plants produced large leaves that were attacked by some sort of insect (never saw it).  Three of the plants were overstressed by the attacks and I ended thinning them out to give more space to the others.  That left two plants that had formed decent heads and the other four still in the process of folding (hopefully).  Sunday Melissa made a pork loin in the crockpot by combining the meat with baby potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus), and the smaller head of my cabbage.  Melissa thought the cabbage was picked too late and had a bitter taste.  I did not want that to happen to the one good head of cabbage left, so today I used it to make sauerkraut.    

When I went online, I found Sauerkraut (lit. ’sour cabbage’) is finely cut raw white cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria.  The dish has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both the result of the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferment the sugars in the cabbage leaves.  The English name is borrowed from German, but the dish did not originate in Germany.  Some claim fermented cabbage (Suan cai) came from China during the time of the building of the Great Wall.  The Romans also pickled forms of cabbage and are the likely source of European sauerkraut.  The dish became popular in Central and Eastern European cuisines, and countries including the Netherlands (zuurkool) and France (choucroute).  Glenn Randall Mack and Asele Surina published “Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia” in 2005 and credit the Slavic peoples of Europe with likely discovering fermented cabbage.  Before frozen foods and refrigeration, sauerkraut was readily available in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe, and provided a source of vitamin C during the winter.  Captain James Cook took sauerkraut on his sea voyages to prevent scurvy.

Sauerkraut is one of the easiest ways to preserve cabbage.  Wash the head, remove the outer leaves (setting one aside), cut out the core.  I used my large carving knife to cut thin slices off the head making a large pile of sliced cabbage.  I sprinkled on four tablespoons (60ml) of sea salt and gently mixed it into the cabbage, then let it stand for 15 minutes.  The important step is to knead the mixture for 5 minutes.  I was surprised by how much water came out of the cabbage and by how much it reduced.  I stuffed the entire head into the quart jar and poured the cabbage water over the mixture.  There was not quite enough water, so I made a salt brine of two tablespoons (30ml) salt to one cup (0.26L) distilled water and covered the mixture.  The last step was topping it off with the leaf I had set aside and adding one of Melissa’s decorative rocks to keep it weighted down.  I did not add the weight last year and the sauerkraut got moldy.  I need to wait 1 to 4 weeks for fermentation and then put it in the refrigerator.  It should last up to a year, but I think it will be eaten long before then.

THOUGHTS: One of my fond memories growing up was mom making sauerkraut in a ten gallon (38L) stoneware crock.  Mom would fill it with fresh cabbage and salt and place it in the basement to ferment where my brother and I would sneak “taste tests” out of the crock.  Sauerkraut, kielbasa, and baked potatoes are still one of my favorite meals.  Sauerkraut represents the two ways ideas, beliefs, and technologies spread.  There appear to be two simultaneous independent inventions (Slavic and China) which then spread by expansion (from one people to the next).  Technologies and ideas seem to have a life of their own and few things can be claimed as “mine” for long.  Act for all.  Change will come and it starts with you.