Why kraut and kimchi are just as hipster as micro-brewing
Eating seasonally today is undoubtedly a good idea and has become very fashionable. It is always exciting when strawberries and asparagus come into season, but what about the humble cabbage?
For our ancestors, eating seasonally was a necessity. Living with the seasons didn’t mean noticing when your bag of apples comes from Kent instead of Kenya. It meant putting down a store of produce in the summer to last through the winter months.
If sauerkraut is stored properly it can last up to two years; the cabbage must be submerged under the level of the brine and refrigerated for long keeping. Sauerkraut is a wild ferment. Lactic acid bacteria are present in the vegetable, which means you don’t have to add a culture to get it going (as with sourdough).
Captain cabbage
Captain James Cook knew the importance of fermented foods. He prevented his crew from getting scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) by stocking his vessel with sauerkraut.
We are 8% less likely to catch a winter cold virus by eating fermented food
With this in mind, it feels somewhat hypocritical going to the supermarket for an organic cabbage and a pot of sea salt to make my ferment. Cabbage can be bought all year round so why not just eat it steamed or in coleslaw?
Why should I eat Kraut and Kimchi?
- It contains pro-biotic bacteria which aid digestion
- It makes vitamin B in vegetables more accessible for our bodies to digest
- Cabbage is rich in vitamin C
- Sauerkraut contains glucosinolates – proven to have anti-cancer activity
- It has a lovely flavour
While we’ve lost the imperative to store fermented food for winter and long voyages by sea, the benefits of eating fermented food remains the same.
According to a recent survey, we are 8% less likely to catch a winter cold virus by eating fermented food. The connection between healthy gut and healthy immune system is clear.
Like the kimchi, when making kraut the cabbage needs salting – both for flavour and to slow down the lactic acid bacteria. While the cabbage is brined for kimchi, it is dry salted for sauerkraut. I added two heaped teaspoons of sea salt to finely chopped cabbage, then mixed it in with my hands. After bruising the vegetables until their liquid could be wrung out, I packed the kraut – and all the liquid – into a clean kilner jar.
This is a very simple sauerkraut, just cabbage and salt. While this is makes for a tasty kraut, I like adding juniper berries, fresh herbs, caraway seeds and all sorts of other vegetables to the mix for variation.
Bakes and Blogs 