Kitchen Garden Forum

Been a bit of a good brassica year so far to the extent I have too many cabbages hearting at the same time. I've googled (& other) so have an idea of the principals of salting etc. to ferment it, but what spices do you put in to lift it from just cabbage? Any other hints & tips welcomed also!

Have a look at a jar and see if it lists the ingredients

I,m sure googling recipes for sauerkraut will come up with a few suggestions.

Westi, I grew up eating sauerkraut rather than making it (though my mother did) and, as far as I can remember, it was only ever just fermented cabbage, nothing else. Things like cumin seeds, apples, fried onions, white wine etc, were added at cooking time.
If you want to eat it raw, which of course you can, then I suppose you could add some dill, chives or chopped up chillies, though I think good sauerkraut has a very pleasant taste in itself.

Thanks Monika!

Just cabbage it will be then! I'll experiment with flavours when I cook it.

Cheers Tiger!

The key I think is keeping the cabbage submerged & allowing the gases to escape during the fermentation! Quite looking forward to it actually!

If you get some over active fermentation you may have to settle for cabbage wine! I'll look forward to learning the results of your experiments in due course.

My Dad was a displaced person after the 2nd world war, he came from Latvia and we grew up eating many eastern European food stuffs, I remember eating a lot of Sauerkraut(often Krakus out of a jar), when I was at home, don't recall eating it since he passed 28 years ago.

It's something I've never eaten but I think I might see if I can find a small jar in Lidl. It always looks a bit slimey and insipid, but from your description sounds quite healthy and a good way to use some of the cabbage. So I'll sample some first.

I think it's an acquired taste. My OH did not used to like it but has grown to love it. We usually buy Krakus (Polish) or Hengstenberg (German). I first tip it out of the jar into a colander and run some cold water through it and squeeze it out, that removes some of the salt, then cook it with white wine or cider, apples, cloves and lightly fried bacon, using it as a bed for a pork fillet or pork chops (first browned slightly all round). The secret is to cook it in the oven for a long time, say, 3 hours on a low heat with a tightly fitting lid. We eat half and freeze the other half, pork and sauerkraut.

As I have said before you can also eat it raw and, better still, cooked as above but cold.

Thanks Monika for the idea & tips!

It is an intriguing thing isn't it? I'm not overly keen on the raw product out of the (bought) jar but have thrown it into other things like bratwurst hotdogs (Charred on the BBQ first) which makes a big difference. It needs protein indeed to be a happy bed fellow! I think home made will be slightly crispier which will give more texture. Just to share - the £ shop has got Kilner jars - about 500mls I reckon & obviously not proper Kilner but nice tight seals never the less!

Thanks Monika, the recipe with bacon or pork sounds delicious.