How to Make Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut, along with other fermented foods and drinks, is a fabulous food that we can include in our diet on a regular basis, to help support our gut health. After all, gut health is linked to every other system in our body, and without good gut health, we cannot have good overall health and wellbeing. So really, what better reason is there to support our gut health? The beauty of fermented foods is that they are often quite easy and inexpensive to make yourself. For those times when we might not have the time or resources to make our own fermented foods, it is generally quite easy these days to find high quality fermented foods to purchase. However, if you are keen to give making sauerkraut a go, read on!
You will need:
A large glass jar with airlock (note - although having a jar with an airlock is not absolutely essential, I do highly recommend it as your ferments are much less likely to spoil during the fermentation process. Airlocks allow gases to escape from the jar as fermentation occurs, and they don’t allow oxygen to come into the jar, thus reducing chances of spoilage. My airlock is Pickl-It brand. This and other brands can be found online).
Large bowl
Rolling pin or muddler
Cabbage – I used ½ a large green cabbage (red cabbage also makes a beautiful sauerkraut)
Sea salt
Other optional ingredients such as dill (I often use this) or other herbs, peppercorns, spices, sliced garlic, grated carrot, grated sweet potato, or you can make more of a kimchi style ferment by adding ingredients such as sliced chilli, grated fresh turmeric and/or ginger. The possibilities are endless!
Method:
Slice your cabbage thinly (and any other veggies/herbs you are using) and then add to a large bowl. Sprinkle well with sea salt (for a large half head of cabbage, I used about 3 tbsp of sea salt). Toss the salt through the cabbage.
At this point, I cover the bowl and allow the cabbage to sit there for a few hours and for the water to be gradually drawn out of the cabbage. Every half hour or so, I will give the cabbage a nice firm massage and squish with my muddler. Then repeat this process every half hour or so. You will see the cabbage looking like it is wilting as the salt draws more and more water out of the cabbage. This water that gets drawn out is your brine, and is very important, so do not get rid of it!
After a few hours when the cabbage has wilted down nicely and I can see that a lot of water has come out of the cabbage, I pop the bowl contents (cabbage and liquid from the bowl) into my fermenting jar.
Use a muddler or rolling pin to squish the cabbage down really tightly in the jar to remove any air bubbles, ensuring the liquid in the jar comes up to the top of or above the cabbage (note – using this liquid from the cabbage as our brine means you do not need to add any additional water to the jar).
My fermenting jar came with a glass weight, so I pop this on top to further help to weigh down the cabbage under the brine.
Close the jar and set up your airlock (mine requires a little water to be added to the airlock itself).
Put the jar into a dark, cool place (for me, this is the back of my pantry). Allow to ferment for 7 days or so.
After 7 days, open up the jar and taste your sauerkraut. If you feel it needs more fermenting, close up the jar and ferment another couple of days and then taste again. During the colder months, I find the process can take around 12 days or so.
Once you’re happy with the flavour, remove the airlock and replace with a standard lid. Store your sauerkraut in the fridge.
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Magnolia Naturopathy is owned and operated by Brisbane naturopath and herbalist Iwa Brown. At Magnolia Naturopathy, we offer online telehealth naturopathy consultations to assist our clients all over Australia to reach their health goals. Contact us here to find out more, or book your online telehealth naturopathy appointment here.
