My wife returned home from trip to our local farmers market and she had a treat for me in the shopping bag.
"What is it?," I said.
"Fresh sauerkraut," she exclaimed. "It's made by lacto-fermenting cabbage and it's supposed to be very healthy for you. The man selling it at the market told me that it aids digestion. People lined up at his stall and paid $1 a shot just to drink the juice."
In all candor, my first reaction to this "treat" was not entirely positive.
First, I tend to be suspicious of faddish health foods, and lacto-fermentation certainly sounded like the kind of thing that should be placed in the "Way too California" file along with Birkenstock sandals, mung bean sprouts and wheat grass juice.
Second, my digestion is fine, thank you very much.
And finally, $1 a shot for sauerkraut juice seems outrageous when you consider that Absolut Vodka can be purchased from any liquor store for less.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike sauerkraut. It's just that we don't cook German style foods very often. So the only time sauerkraut finds its way into my mouth is when there's also a hot dog in the general vicinity.
My "treat" sat in the refrigerator for several days until guilt and fear of spoilage finally caused me to dip a fork into it.
Oh my goodness.... The clouds parted and sunlight filled the room. Wagner himself appeared in the flesh, sang an aria from Tannhauser and then lectured me on what a sham my whole sauerkraut-eating-life had been.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised by how amazingly good fresh sauerkraut tastes. In fact, it bears no resemblance to the sickly white shreds that are pasteurized into submission, bottled and then sold at the grocery store as sauerkraut. Blah!
A quick search of the Internet revealed that sauerkraut is made using just three simple ingredients: water, salt and cabbage.
Well I have plenty of fresh cabbage in my garden -- more than I can use , so I began thinking about making sauerkraut as a way to both preserve my cabbage and extend its use. And fresh sauerkraut is yummy enough to be a side dish for a variety of foods, not just a hot dog topping.
My internet search also revealed that the same lacto-fermentation process used to make sauerkraut, can be used to preserve carrots, beets, cucumbers, onions and other vegetables. In fact, lacto-fermentation predates pickling as a way to preserve foods.
Now that got me thinking. Before I knew it, I was on my way to making my own sauerkraut.
In my next post, I will describe how my wife and I made our first batch and how you can as well.
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