Got Cabbage? Make Sauerkraut!

Enlarge Image Image Gallery When European immigrants brought the technique for fermenting cabbage to the United States, many of their recipes included surprising ingredients such as apples, turnips, juniper berries, wine and garlic. MEGAN PHELPS

Issue #217 August/September 2006

By Megan Phelps

If you’ve only eaten store-bought, canned sauerkraut, you owe it to yourself to try the homemade variety. Fresh sauerkraut has a crunchier texture, a delightfully tangy flavor and a much greater potential for interesting recipes.

When European immigrants brought the technique for fermenting cabbage to the United States, many of their recipes included surprising ingredients such as apples, turnips, juniper berries, wine and garlic. In fact, traditional sauerkraut is very similar to the Korean dish kimchi, a food that’s also made with fermented cabbage but that contains additional vegetables, such as radishes and cucumbers, and is seasoned with ginger and other spices.

There’s nothing wrong with the classic, just-plain-cabbage variety of sauerkraut usually eaten on a hot dog or pork chop. But homemade sauerkraut made with additional vegetables, herbs and spices is more than a condiment; it’s a delicious side dish all on its own — and a surprisingly healthy one.

Superhealthy Sauerkraut

Perhaps because it’s often paired with hot dogs, sauerkraut doesn’t have a reputation as an especially healthy food, but that’s been changing in the last few years. One reason is that sauerkraut is a live-culture “probiotic” food. Fresh sauerkraut contains lactobacilli, beneficial bacteria that improve the functioning of the digestive tract. Probiotic foods such as sauerkraut and yogurt are often recommended for people taking antibiotics, which kill both the beneficial and harmful bacteria in the body. Live-culture foods can help restore the beneficial bacteria.

Sauerkraut also is a good source of fiber and essential nutrients, including iron, vitamin K and vitamin C. In fact, in the 18th century, sailors ate sauerkraut on long voyages to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency.

Another interesting health claim was made last fall by a group of Korean scientists. They reported that feeding an extract of kimchi to 13 chickens with avian flu led to a much lower mortality rate in the birds. More research is needed to support this claim, but the announcement fueled a spike in sauerkraut sales last year. Scientists also are studying cabbage and other vegetables in the brassica family for their potential to prevent breast cancer.