sauerkraut - Preparation, Serving, Geographical spread, Health, Similar foods, Bibliography
A popular German food, produced by layering alternately shredded white cabbage and salt in a wooden box. Air is expelled by placing a weight on top. The cabbage salt layers are left for 34 weeks to ferment.
| 4.3 g | |
| - Sugars 1.8 g | |
| - Dietary fibre 2.5 g | |
| Fat | 0.1 g |
|---|---|
| Protein | 0.9 g |
| Water | 92 g |
| Vitamin B6 0.13 mg | 10% |
| Vitamin C 15 mg | 25% |
| Iron 1.5 mg | 12% |
| Sodium 661 mg | 44% |
|
Percentages are relative to US RDI values for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database |
Sauerkraut is finely sliced white cabbage fermented by various lactic acid bacteria including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. Sauerkraut is a typical dish of German and Polish cuisine.
Preparation
Container
The correct choice of container is critical to successful preparation of sauerkraut.
Commercial-scale sauerkraut production typically employs large airtight plastic barrels fitted with one-way valves for gas escape.
Fermentation
Sauerkraut is made by a process of pickling called lacto-fermentation that is analogous to how traditional (not heat-treated) cucumber pickles are made.
No special culture of lactic acid bacteria is needed because these bacteria are already present on raw cabbage. Yeasts are also present, which cause soft sauerkraut of poor flavor when the fermentation temperature is too high.
For preparation at home, the USDA recommends a greater amount of salt than is traditional, making the sauerkraut unpalatably salty unless rinsed before eating. USDA also recommends pasteurizing sauerkraut for storage, though this is not necessary if the raw sauerkraut has been properly made and stored. To be safe, do not eat any sauerkraut that has a slimy or excessively soft texture, or a discoloration or off-flavor, any of which can indicate spoilage.
Variations
Variations include sauerkraut prepared from whole cabbages or leaves instead of shredded strips. Red cabbage can be used to make a red sauerkraut.
Recipe
Use clean salt without additives (fluorine, iodine, anti-caking agents, etc.), add about 2.5% the weight of cabbage as salt.
The cabbage should be finely chopped, sprinkled with salt and packed down.
Serving
Sauerkraut is a common and traditional ingredient in German cuisine, Alsatian French cuisine, Romanian cuisine, Polish cuisine and the other Slavic cuisines of Central, Eastern Europe, as well as in Manchuria.
Sauerkraut can be eaten raw and unadorned;
Cooked sauerkraut preparations include Central and Eastern European soups and stews, such as bigos, shchi or kapusniak (sauerkraut soup);
In Alsace (a region of France that was part of Germany until 1678 and again from 1870 until 1919), the traditional sauerkraut dish is choucroute garnie (garnished sauerkraut): a one-dish meal of sauerkraut, sausages, pieces of meat such as ham knuckle, and perhaps potatoes, all cooked together in goose fat.
Common ingredients in cooked sauerkraut dishes (besides those already mentioned) are bacon, caraway, and apples.
Kraut juice is a regional beverage in the USA that consists of the liquid in which sauerkraut is cured.
In Northeast China, there is a similar dish in traditional Manchurian cuisine known as suan cai (酸菜), which is usually used to make pork stews or dumplings.
In North America, sauerkraut is a key ingredient in the Reuben sandwich.
Geographical spread
Sauerkraut is similar to many ancient Northeastern Asian dishes, including Korean kimchi and other fermented vegetables.
It has long been associated with German Cuisine although Eastern Europeans consume a large amount of sauerkraut and it has long been a staple of the diet in Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and Poland (raw as kiszona kapusta or in a dish as bigos). The popularity of the dish in Alsace has spread sauerkraut (choucroute in French) to other regions of France. Sauerkraut's popularity in Europe and America continues today, though in somewhat reduced measure due to the convenience of modern alternative preserving methods.
In the USA there is an annual sauerkraut festival held in Phelps, NY.
The area of Europe where Sauerkraut is probably the most typical regional dish is around Leinfelden-Echterdingen.
Health
Raw sauerkraut is an extremely healthy food. However, the low pH and overabundance of lactobacilli can easily upset the stomach of people who are not used to eating raw sauerkraut. Sauerkraut provided a vital source for these nutrients during the winter, especially before frozen foods and importation of foods from southern countries became generally available in northern and central Europe. It is now known that the preservation of sauerkraut in an anaerobic environment (under the brine) keeps the vitamin C in it from being oxidized.
Sauerkraut is also a source of biogenic amines such as tyramine, which in sensitive people can cause adverse reactions .
Similar foods
There are many other vegetables that are preserved by a similar process.
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