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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

August 18, 2006

SAUERKRAUT

Sauerkraut To The Rescue

Sauerkraut was popularized by Genghis Khan when his marauding hordes brought the recipe back from China.  The recipe found its way throughout Europe and to Germany where the cabbage was fermented with salt instead of wine and given the name “sauerkraut.”  However, sauerkraut became a real hero in 1792 when Captain James Cook, who had heard of its possible health properties, decided to bring 25,000 pounds of it on his second journey to explore the Pacific Ocean.  Since sauerkraut has vitamin C, he lost only one sailor to scurvy in over 1,000 days at sea.  The sauerkraut supply lasted one year without going bad.

Sauerkraut a typical German dish, is finely sliced white cabbage fermented by various lactic acid bacteria including Leuconostoc,  Lactobacillu and Pediococcus. It has good keeping qualities and a distinctive sour flavor that both result from lactic acid, which forms when the bacteria ferment sugars in the fresh cabbage.

The word comes from the German Sauerkraut, which literally translates to sour cabbage. Sauerkraut is a prominent feature of cuisines from most of the cold regions of Europe, and it is eaten in many parts in the United States and Canada as well. A similar food is also seen in Manchuria, where it is called "suan cai" in Mandarin.

Fermented cabbage--otherwise known as sauerkraut--could be even healthier to eat than raw or cooked cabbage, Finnish researchers report.  The investigators found that fermenting cabbage produced a number of different compounds, known as isothiocyanates, which have been shown in test tube and animal studies to prevent the growth of cancer, especially in the breast, colon, lung and liver. Isothiocyanates are found in many foods, including cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and Wasabi, a pungent Japanese condiment. 

Preparation

Traditionally, the container is a stoneware crock and the seal is created with a piece of wet linen cloth, a board, and a heavy stone. This arrangement is not fully airtight and will lead to spoiled sauerkraut unless the surface of the brine is skimmed daily to remove molds and other aerobic contaminants that grow on the surface where there is contact with air. An alternative that avoids this problem is a type of ceramic jar, the Harsch crock made especially for home sauerkraut production, that has a trough around its lid. When this trough is filled with water the result is an airtight seal. Glass canning jars with clamped threadless lids can also be used. Whatever kind of container is used, it must allow the escape of fermentation gasses. Commercial-scale sauerkraut production typically employs large airtight plastic barrels.

Sauerkraut is made by a process of pickling called lacto-fermentation that is analogous to how traditional (not heat-treated) cucumber pickles are made. Fully cured sauerkraut keeps for several months in an airtight container stored at or below 15°C. Neither refrigeration nor pasteurization are required, though these treatments can prolong storage life.

No special culture of lactic acid bacteria is needed because these bacteria are already present on raw cabbage. Yeasts are also present, which cause soft sauerkraut of poor flavor when the fermentation temperature is too high.

Variations include sauerkraut prepared from whole cabbages instead of shredded strips. Sometimes other vegetables are added, such as carrots. Spices may be added; caraway and juniper berries are traditional. Sometimes wine is added. Red cabbage can be used to make sauerkraut. While this is rare in the United States, it is frequently found on the menu in Germany, where it is called "Rotkohl" or "Blaukraut". When sauerkraut is made from turnips or rutabagas, the product is called sauerr?ben.

For preparation at home, the USDA recommends a greater amount of salt than is traditional, making the sauerkraut unpalatably salty unless rinsed before eating. Such rinsing removes much of the nutrient content and flavor. When traditional amounts of salt are used, temperature control is critical, because spoilage leading to food poisoning can occur if the fermentation temperature is too high. However, once made, sauerkraut is a very safe food, because its high acidity prevents spoilage. USDA also recommends pasteurizing sauerkraut for storage, though this is not necessary if the raw sauerkraut has been properly made and stored. To be safe, do not eat any sauerkraut that has a slimy or excessively soft texture, or a discoloration or off-flavor, any of which can indicate spoilage.

Serving

Sauerkraut is a common and traditional ingredient in German cuisine, Alsatian French cuisine, and the Slavic cuisines of Central, Eastern Europe, as well as in Manchuria. It is also eaten in the Friuli region of Italy, where it is called capuzi garbi.

Sauerkraut can be eaten raw and unadorned; in this form it is often eaten as a relish with meat dishes, for example, as condiment on bratwurst or North American hot dogs. Raw sauerkraut dressed with oil and onions is served as a salad. However, sauerkraut is commonly cooked before it is eaten.

Cooked sauerkraut preparations include Central and Eastern European soups and stews, such as bigos, shchi or kapusniak (sauerkraut soup); filled dumplings (pierogi); and seasoned sauerkraut served as a hot vegetable side dish.

In Alsace (a region of France that belonged to Germany until 1678 and from 1870 until 1919), the traditional sauerkraut dish is choucroute garnie (garnished sauerkraut): a one-dish meal of sauerkraut, sausages, pieces of meat such as ham knuckle, and perhaps potatoes, all cooked together in goose fat. Typical accompaniment beverages are beer or white wine (Riesling).

Common ingredients in cooked sauerkraut dishes (besides those already mentioned) are bacon, caraway, and apples.

Kraut juice is a regional beverage in the USA that consists of the liquid in which sauerkraut is cured.

In Manchuria, the traditional cuisine with sauerkraut (suan cai) is to make pork stews or dumplings.

In North America, sauerkraut is a key ingredient in the Reuben sandwich.

Hartson Sager Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net