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Sauerkraut Resources March 10, 2012

For new ideas on sauerkraut and recent sauerkraut-related news, check out these posts:

• Sauerkraut Workers Protest Their Canning – Courthouse News Service
  (CN) – In a federal class action, 66 Mexican citizens with visas to work in the United States claim the world's largest sauerkraut factory fired them when faced with the prospect that it might have to pay them higher wages.
• Federal Lawsuit Claims Wisconsin GLK Sauerkraut Processor …
  GLK sauerkraut processor fired Mexican guest workers to avoid paying higher wages set by U.S. Department of Labor. By H. Nelson Goodson February 29, 2012. Greenbay – On Wednesday, a federal class action lawsuit was …
• Thrift at Home: Sunday Dinner and Dark Days 14: Sauerkraut and …
  We needed the carrots for the color, or else the plate would have been very brown. Not the color we hunger for in late winter! Saturday:thaw sauerkraut and sausage in fridge. Sunday morning:slice carrots into coins – place in …
• Sauerkraut (German Choucroute) ~ Travel Bytez
  Sauerkraut, or German Choucroute, is a typical German/French dish that was imported from China and adapted to suit the local palate. Made from sliced fermented cabbage, Sauerkraut has a distinctive sour flavour and is …
• Frozen Sauerkraut « Lone Sentry Blog
  Frozen Sauerkraut. By Lone_Sentry_Admin, on March 9th, 2012. A strange WWII sauerkraut photograph from U.S. Military Intelligence publication German Mountain Troops, December 1944. Frozen Sauerkraut. Original caption: “Mountain …
• Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe | Dimes2Vines
  Being on the GAPS diet, I have been making quite a bit of homemade sauerkraut. The following recipe is easy to make and tastes great!

Sauerkraut Covers Autobahn in Strange Accident

In the recent news of the weird, record-breaking freezing temperatures across Europe caused an unusual event in Germany, the sauerkraut capital of the world. It may even give your pause about the contents of your own sauerkraut crock.

Traffic was backed up on the autobahn near Frankfurt in a traffic jam of about three miles long when a truck carrying sauerkraut collided with other vehicles and the kraut tumbled out of the truck covering the highway. The sauerkraut froze instantly and formed such a strong bond with the frozen asphalt that it apparently took emergency workers a whopping four hours to clean up the kraut.

What a sad waste of sauerkraut (and four hours).

Sauerkraut Resources February 25, 2012

For new ideas on sauerkraut, check out these posts. The first is for a method using a whole cabbage head, the second uses sauerkraut for cooking meat.

• Home Cooking In Montana: Romanian Homemade (Whole/Half …
  Romanian Sauerkraut(Varza Murata)… and a Peppery Sauerkraut Salad. Sometimes I feel the need to post recipes that aren't the "norm". Recipes that I make without relying on cookbooks or other means of online inspiration. (Which uses whole head cabbage.)
• Seasonal Ontario Food: Sauerkraut & Apple Stamppot
  Put the sauerkraut into a sufficient pot to hold it and the meat. Add the bay leaves, juniper berries and water or broth. I am assuming meat which is at least partially cooked in advance by the smoking process. It's also best to cut … (For ideas on cooking sauerkraut with meat.)
• Record-low temperatures cause sauerkraut disaster in Germany …
  Record-low temperatures cause sauerkraut disaster in Germany. Posted On February 24, 2012. Filed under Uncategorized Tags: brrr, climate, climate change, cold, cold 2012, cold deaths, cold record, cold winter, freeze, freezing, freezing … (Must read. LOL.)
• Beer and Sauerkraut | The Enabling Cook
  I'm loving this fermentation thing. I have beer ready to drink (almost) and sauerkraut ready to eat. (With a discussion of airlocks.)

Cabbage Antioxidants Make Good Sauerkraut

Cabbage is known as a powerful anti-cancer food because of its high content of glucosinolates. From the book Food and Cancer, the authors explain the common recommendation of eating diets loaded in vegetables:

Nutritionists recommend the Mediterranean diet because of the associated low risk of cancer development. The reasons for this seem clear: an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, preferential usage of plant oil, more fish than meat, lots of spices, and red wine; all of this is within the comprehensive nutrition recommendations.

And the role that sauerkraut crocks have played in diets that tend to be far more meat-heavy:

On the contrary, German, Polish, and Czech diets are rather heavy and rich in fat. Fortunately, these diets include large amounts of cabbage, which seems to be a favorite vegetable in all these nations. Cabbage, together with broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, belongs to the group known as cruciferous vegetables. Their strong anticarcinogenic activity is related to their high content of glucosinolates — compounds that have an ability to stimulate carcinogen-detoxifying enzymes. For- tunately, this anticarcinogenic property of cabbage is not restricted to fresh cabbage but persists in cooked or fermented (e.g., sauerkraut) forms of this vegetable.

Glucosinolates aside, cabbage also has a modest ORAC value, the “oxygen radical absorbancy capacity,” a measure of the ability of cabbage to fight cancer. The ORAC value for cabbage at right is based on 100 grams — about three cups of cabbage. The ORAC data at right was compiled by the USDA from research on food antioxidants. Te USDA data show that cabbage contains 529 micromoles/litre of Trolox equivalents per 100 grams, the total ORAC value of cabbage.

• The H-ORAC value for cabbage is 508.
• The L-ORAC value for cabbage is 21.
• The total phenolic content of cabbage is 202 mg GAE/100 g.

Sauerkraut can be an important part of an antioxidant-rich diet.

Sauerkraut Food Safety Concerns

With increasing numbers of food borne illness outbreaks, consumers may be concerned that they are getting more than they bargained for in their sauerkraut crock. The quote below is an excerpt from the book Fermented Foods and Beverages of the World on the safety of sauerkraut (p. 154-155).

Whole Head Cabbage A Worse Offender

Traditional sauerkraut is a natural fermentation, and in some cases whole heads of cabbage (instead of shredded cabbage) are used. Whole heads of cabbage fermentation is longer (several months) and represents a higher risk. Pathogens can be present on raw cabbage, because of cattle manure contamination or because of the low microbiological quality of cabbage and its ingredients. A large outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes occurred in Canada in 1983, because of the consumption of cabbage contaminated with sheep manure (Conner et al 1986).

The final pH of whole-head salads was lower than that of shredded cabbage. There was no significant effect of cabbage types, but more acid was produced in shredded cabbage fermentations because shredding releases carbohydrates and fermentation is faster. According to Niksic et al (2005), cabbage shredding releases cabbage cellular components that establish a buffering system with a slightly higher pH. Escherichia coli O157:H7 is known for its extreme resistance to low pH. There was a significant interaction between the type of cabbage (whole or shredded) and the sampling day. Whole-head sauerkraut has higher microbial populations over time, as compared to the shredded one. This can be explained because its outer leaves are not removed and these are dirtier than the rest (Niksic et al 2005).

The traditional whole-cabbage fermentation, if done properly, eliminates both the pathogens, although variations in salt content and fermentation time affect survival. Shredded cabbage contained a higher level of titratable acidity, which reduced the risk associated with survival of both pathogenic bacteria (Niksic et al 2005). Plant-derived molecules such as allyl-ITC (allyl isothiocyanate) possess antimicrobial activity, which is eliminated with heat Sinigrin is relatively innocuous, but its hydrolysis products (isothiocyanates, thioyanates, and nitriles) inhibited growth (Tolonen et al 2004). Biogenic amines form a group of natural biologically active compounds that occur in foods, where they are produced from decarboxylation reactions. An excessive intake of biogenic amines in foods may be desirable under some physiological conditions. Tyramine concentration was found to increase in sauerkraut during storage (Kalac et al 2000a). Histamine, tryptamine, spermidine, and spermine concentrations in sauerkraut are below 10 mg/kg (Kalac et al 2000b). Tyramine, putrescine, and cadaverine are in higher concentrations (450–780 mg/kg) but are suppressed by Lb plantarum and Microsil (an antimicrobial nanosilver com- pound) (Kalac et al 2000b).

Bottom Line Conclusion on Sauerkraut Safety

To reduce your risk of sickening yourself using your own sauerkraut crock, peel the outer leaves of the cabbage off and compost them. They are more likely to be contaminated.

If you do ferment a whole head of cabbage, be sure to remove those outer leaves as well and clean all of your equipment with added diligence because of the longer fermentation period.

References

Conner, D. E., R. E. Brackett, and L. R. Beuchat, 1986. Effect of temperature, sodium chloride and pH on growth of Listeria monocytogenes in cabbage juice. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 52: 59–63.

Kalac, P.J., M. Spicka, M. Krizec, and T. Pelika?nova? 2000a. Changes in biogenic amine concentrations during sauerkraut storage Food Chemistry 69: 309–314.

Kalac, P., J. Spicka, M. Krizec, and T. Pelika?nova? 2000b. The effects of lactic acid bacteria inoculants on biogenic amines formation in sauerkraut. Food Chemistry 70: 355–359.

Niksic, M., S.E. Niebuhr, J.S. Dickson, A.F. Menconca, J.J. Koziczkouski, and J. L. Ellingson 2005. Survival of Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 during sauerkraut fermentation. Journal of Food Protection 68(7): 1367–137.4

Tolonen, M., M. Taipale, B. Viander, J.-M. Pihlava, H. Coronen, and E.-L. Ryha?nen 2002. Plant-derived biomolecules in fermented cabbage. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 50: 6798–6803.

Sauerkraut in History

For as much as we associate sauerkraut with Europe, it may have had its beginnings in China. Chinese laborers building the Great Wall of China (more than 2000 years ago) ate shredded cabbage fermented in rice wine. It was the warrior Genghis Khan who substituted salt for the wine and carried is concoction to Eastern Europe, destined to become an important food for the region. Sauerkraut is now considered a national dish in several European countries.

Sauerkraut came to America on ships from Europe, as did most of the early settlers to the nation. Immigrants to America carried filled sauerkraut crocks with them on their ships, as sauerkraut was effective in fighting off scurvy — it was an important source of vitamin C in those days.

That sauerkraut came along with settlers into the new American settlements and was prized mainly by the German and Dutch populations in America. In the United States, sauerkraut has lived on largely through the Pennsylvania Dutch communities in Pennsylvania, particularly the Mennonite and Amish areas. You may still find traditional sauerkraut in restaurants in those small communities.

Sauerkraut now faces a renaissance in the United States as people become increasingly interested in using traditional methods to produce their food. Lactic acid fermentation may also bring added health benefits to food in the form of lactic acid bacteria, a key point not missed by diligent home cooks.

Vegetable Fermentation for Food Preservation

We all consume vegetables, at least we all should. People in all cultures across the globe consume vegetables.

However, vegetables are quite perishable. Even with the advent of refrigeration and modern canning techniques, there are populations on the globe without access to these resource and there are people seeking to ferment their foods in a more traditional way. Indeed, a majority of people living in underdeveloped and developing countries cannot afford canned or frozen foods, and are preserving foods by natural fermentation.

Lactic acid fermentation combined with salting, as with traditional sauerkraut, remains one of the most practical methods of preserving and often enhances the nutritional quality of fresh vegetables. The art of pickling vegetables or lactic fermentation has developed to preserve the vast amount of perishable, green and leafy vegetables without refrigeration, to be consumed some months down the road.

Cabbage is often preserved in the fall for sauerkraut all winter long, as is kimchi. Lemons are fermented in the winter to use as a condiment throughout the year. Cucumbers, of course, begin their journey to pickles in the late summer. Delicate wild plants such as nettle leaf and miner’s lettuce can be preserved as well.

Any vegetable can be fermented and traditional fermentation methods can be an important tool today for consumers seeking to preserve their vegetable bounty.

Sauerkraut Links February 21, 2012

There are as many methods of making sauerkraut as their are kitchens. For new ideas on sauerkraut, tweaks, and twists, check out these posts:

• Homemade Sauerkraut :: Cate Munroe, Cate's Nutrition Kitchen …
  Sauerkraut or sour cabbage is simply a chopped cabbage that has been pickled in brine. During this process of lacto-fermentation, microorganisms feed on the sugars already present within the cabbage, creating a brine that …
• My Food, Garden, Golf etc.: Home Cured Sauerkraut
  Since I have discovered this recipe in Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn book “Charcuterie” (must read for any serious cook) and made my first batch, I have not bought single jar or can of sauerkraut. The difference is …
• The Sauerkraut Project: Phase Two | The Rowdy Chowgirl
  It has been a month since I filled my giant stoneware sauerkraut crock with shredded cabbage and salt, weighted it down and filled it with water. The instructions said to wait a few days until I heard bubbling before moving the …
• My Food, Garden, Golf etc.: Sauerkraut, Root Vegetables and Ham …
  Add all the vegetables, 1 part of sauerkraut, ham and stock and bring to boil. Season with caraway seeds and pepper and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove cover, add remaining sauerkraut and simmer additional 15 …

As you explore the posts, notice that there are many crocks and other vessels that people use. Pay attention to unique ideas on weighting the sauerkraut and on creating an air-lock environment.

A Kraut Pounder

Pounding down your cabbage for your next batch of sauerkraut or kimchi is a great workout, but it just got a bit easier with an actual tool: a kraut pounder.

This hand-made pounder is made from hardwood maple, able to withstand the test of time and even become an heirloom in your kitchen (should your family share your love for fermentation). This is handmade in the Pacific Northwest and carried by a great online fermentation shop.

Check it out here.

A Sauerkraut Recipe

Sauerkraut is really a simple process and this two-part video series outlines it nicely.

An appropriate crock will make a big difference, particularly with properly fermented sauerkraut. The cabbage and onion pieces have a tendency to float to the top of the brine and can mold (in a rainbow of colors) and get awfully funky when they come in contact with air. The crocks on this website are designed specifically to avoid this problem, which makes your sauerkraut a no-fail proposition.

If you are still shopping for crocks, check out these options:

5 Liter (about 1.25 gallons): Check the price!

10 Liter (about 2.5 gallons): Get the price now!

20 Liter (about 5 gallons): Check current price!

30 Liter (nearly 8 gallons): Check the price!

Harsh Sauerkraut Crock (Well-Tested, Smaller Sizes)

The market leader in fermenting crocks is the Harsch and there is good reason. It has these great features:

• A gutter in the rim that creates an airlock, reducing the chance of surface mold. It allows gasses to escape but air cannot enter your sauerkraut from the outside. This is the key to quality ferments time after time.
• Lead-free glaze on the interior. It is stoneware fired at 1200
  degress C. The crock does not require special storage
  or use and is neutral for all fermenting vegetables.
• It comes with 2-piece stones that secure the lid and eliminate spoilage.
• Fine craftsmanship. The stoneware is high-quality and has a nice-looking profile in your kitchen.

With these fine features, your biggest issue will be size. The crock comes in many sizes to fit your needs. Most cooks will be satisfied with the smallest crock, the 1.25 gallon, 5-liter size which fits nicely on kitchen countertops, in pantries, and in store rooms.

Harsch Sauerkraut Crock

5 Liter (about 1.25 gallons): Check the price now!

10 Liter (about 2.5 gallons): Get the price!

20 Liter (about 5 gallons): Check current price!

30 Liter (nearly 8 gallons): Check the price!

Harsch Crock Reviews:

“It truly is the Mercedes Benz of stoneware fermentation pots…covered with a lead-free glazing…. The crock includes 2 stoneware weighing stones which replace the wooden board and cloth of other methods…the lid has a deep water groove which provides an airtight sealing that prevents undesired yeast from forming.”
Evalina, On Amazon

“the design of this one definitely has no flaws. It’s sturdy, heavy, and there is perfect isolation of the content from the environment, so if you follow the instructions you are almost guaranteed results. Because of better isolation, you need less salt. It even comes with two semi-circular stones to keep pressure on your pickles.”
Adrian, at Amazon

“After losing half of your sauerkraut batches to yeasty nastiness, you will appreciate the details that went into this crock’s design. It’s an investment in good eating.”
Amanda Rose, California

In the picture below, Three Stone Hearth in San Francisco ferments six large batches of food at one time. The picture below from the Flickr photo stream shows six large Harsch crocks fermenting away.