How to make your own sauerkraut (2024)

FAQs

Is it worth it to make your own sauerkraut? ›

Making sauerkraut at home can really save some money—a jar of fermented sauerkraut can cost upwards of $7 a jar! I can make organic sauerkraut for much less than that. And the process of making sauerkraut is quite simple, so the work involved doesn't mitigate the savings.

Store the container at 70°–75°F (21°–23°C) while fermenting. At these temperatures, sauerkraut will be fully fermented in about three to four weeks; at 60°–65°F (15°–18°C), fermentation may take six weeks. Below 60°F (15°C), sauerkraut may not ferment. Above 80°F (26°C), sauerkraut may become soft and spoil.

Sauerkraut is delicious, tart, and full of thriving probiotics. During the fermentation process, cabbage is thinly sliced, salted and sealed. Lactobacillus, a beneficial probiotic, grows and thrives in the delicious brine environment.

Homemade sauerkraut is more flavorful than the best store-bought brands and introduces masses of wild beneficial microbes into our microbiomes. Making homemade fermented foods is not as complicated as we might fear. Homemade sauerkraut can be as simple as three ingredients.

Canned kraut loses those healthy benefits during the heating process and produces a different taste and yellow-ish color. Raw kraut has a tangier taste, crunch, and more of a green, fresh color.

It's so, so good—it fills your mouth with so much fermented flavor and funk, but it isn't overly astringent or too acidic. Also, hot tip: I'd say there's a hierarchy of sauerkraut packaging. Bagged krauts are crisper than jarred, but jarred krauts are so much tastier and better than canned sauerkrauts.

Round cabbage (also called white cabbage or simply cabbage) is the best cabbage for making sauerkraut. The cabbage is dense with smooth leaves and weighs on average around 2 kg. Light green cabbage will give you the best results!

My only suggestion is to always rinse sauerkraut using warm water and drain well. I've also made this recipe using white wine and beef broth instead of sherry and chicken stock.

The salt then draws moisture out of the cabbage's cells through osmosis, forming a salty brine. This brine is important because it submerges the cabbage and deprives the Lactobacillus and other microorganisms of oxygen – the second step!

Vinegar is an acidic medium commonly used in commercial pickles, sauerkraut and condiments to give the final product a sour, tangy flavor.

How do you prevent botulism in sauerkraut? ›

You should still follow good practises while fermenting vegetables, like using fresh produce, chlorine-free water, iodine-free salt and ensuring your vegetables are properly submerged. Learn more about how to prepare for your ferment here.

The rule of thumb when it comes to sauerkraut is to just keep tasting the sauerkraut until the taste is to your liking. The sauerkraut itself should be safe to eat at every stage of the process, so there is no real 'fermentation time'.

Try fine sea salt, or Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. The Spices - spices are used for flavour, and they can also help to slow mould growth. Caraway seeds are popular in traditional Polish sauerkraut making.

You can eat sauerkraut every day. But if you're looking to benefit your gut bacteria, you can also eat other fermented foods and beverages like kimchi and kombucha. Yogurt also contains beneficial probiotics. Each product can contain different strains of bacteria, which may vary in their benefits.

The healthiest sauerkrauts are organic and raw (unpasteurized), and free of added sugar/vinegar or chemicals.

Anti-inflammatory effects

One 2021 review concluded that fermented foods such as sauerkraut could help promote greater gut bacteria diversity and protect against inflammation. Some animal research suggests that sauerkraut's anti-inflammatory effect may be due to reduced nitric oxide production.

Why make your own sauerkraut/kimchi? There are so many reasons! COST: making your own fermented veggies is WAY cheaper than buying them at the store! FLEXIBLE FLAVORS AND SALT LEVEL: making your own fermented veggies allows you to put whatever ingredients, flavors, level of salt or hot pepper that you want.

Mold or Discolouration

Looking at sauerkraut can tell you if it's safe to eat. If you see the mold that's blue, green, or black, or if the colour is odd, throw the sauerkraut away.

This won't be bad, as in make you sick, it just won't be probiotic or as tasty. My guess is the lack of pizzazz and sour is likely from the cabbage itself. Depending on the cultivar and time of year cabbages can have very little sugar and starch to break down. It is the sugar that turns into that lovely sour.

In order to reap the probiotic health benefits of sauerkraut, buy refrigerated sauerkraut available in bags or pouches instead of in cans or jars. Avoid sauerkraut that has vinegar or sweeteners.

Does jarred sauerkraut still have probiotics? ›

Most sauerkraut in your local supermarket is pasteurized—cooked at high temperatures—and afterward canned. Though canning makes for a shelf-stable product, the process kills off the beneficial probiotic microorganisms that our body needs.

Danish Ballhead, Late Flat Head and Premium Late Dutch are good cabbage varieties for sauerkraut. Krautman is one of the most popular varieties for making sauerkraut, and growers are encouraged to try new varieties as well.

One important issue to remember is that cooking sauerkraut will kill off the probiotic bacteria that we want to consume. Even after cooking, sauerkraut is a healthy, cabbage-based dish, but it will be missing out on that probiotic boost. So, when possible, try to add your sauerkraut to your dishes uncooked.

This is something special to know about sauerkraut: you don't actually need a culture to make it. The cabbage combined with salt will make its own good bacteria. These good bacteria dominate and crowd out the harmful ones and preserve the food in a safe way.

You can consume both homemade and store-bought sauerkraut. However, store-bought sauerkraut is regarded as less healthy than homemade sauerkraut because of the processing. Most store-bought sauerkraut variants are pasteurized during the canning process, which destroys any active probiotic content.

The taste is in the name, even if it's spelled the German way. Good sauerkraut has a sour punch, backed by acidic and salty notes. It's not sour like Sour Patch Kids or Warheads; it has a far more natural taste (close to the flavor of a pickle) that is quite delicious in big heaping doses.