Revisiting Fermentation: Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  Words to live by!  I felt quite happy that I had saved all the mason jars and glass bottles over time from store-bought honey, sauces and so on.  I ‘reused’ them to start off a few things to ferment in my kitchen.

Sauerkraut and Kefir

New York Times has made a short, visually appealing, wonderful documentary on Sandor Katz, the fermentation guru, aptly named “Sandorkraut: A Pickle Maker“.  After watching him digging with his bare hands in to a vat of sauerkraut, I was somehow moved to start my own batch.

Before this in Veggie Sutra’s fermentation series, I have attempted various fermented recipes, like shrubs, fermented salsa, South Indian lemon pickles, idlis, kefir and so on.  However, the most basic of fermented stuff, sauerkraut, the traditional fermented staple of Europe, had not make my list.  (It could have been because we have an excellent sauerkraut vendor in our local farmer’s market!)

Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

The sauerkraut recipe in Katz’s book, Wild Fermentation, was really simple.  All I did was to cut up a whole medium-sized red cabbage, massage it with salt to release juices, and pound it into in to a small bottle using my wooden buttermilk churner.   I promise to share notes after a few days when I have tasted it to see how it has turned out.  I also made a bottle of chopped cucumber pickle in approximately the same manner.  And a bottle of kefir is bubbling away in a corner as well.

Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

In other fermentation news in our home, V has become a huge fan of my shrubs.  He loved the Ginger-Mint Shrub and the Ginger-Chili shrub.  Last weekend, I started off a huge batch of Strawberry-Mint shrub, strawberries being so abundant now.  The shrub is right now in the last stages of fermentation.  I will post the recipe in a week if V approves of it!   But doesn’t it look delicious already?

Strawberry-Mint Shrub

Do visit Veggie Sutra’s Fermentation Series for all the recipes we have tried before.  However, to learn the basics of fermentation, get your hands on Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation.  He is the guru and his is the go-to book for all things fermented.

Strawberry Mint Shrub

Don’t miss out on the amazing health benefits of fermentation.  And if you are already enjoying delicious fermented stuff regularly, do share your experiences!

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