I recently blogged about all the amazing info I found useful on milk kefir.  Now here is the same for sauerkraut and cultured vegetables in general. Cultured Food Life and Cultures for Health are the experts! So follow the links through to their sites.

Sauerkraut (kraut) is lacto-fermented cabbage.  Not cabbage which is pickled in vinegar. It is packed with nutrients and probiotics, which are essential for gut health. You can lacto-ferment all sorts of vegetables.  Visit Cultures for Health for loads of cultured vegetable recipes.

When I first made sauerkraut, I was not sold.  It stank like the worst cabbage fart I have ever smelled, and I put too much salt in.  But after a few days, the fart smell went away, and we were left with afresh tasting salty sauerkraut! I know, I’m really selling it aren’t I!?

I used normal green cabbage following the recipe from Cultures for Health – 1 medium cabbage – 1-3 tbs salt, and I tweaked by adding a dash of caraway seed.

Second batch was much better!  Cabbage, salt and caraway seed.  That was it. Now we are both obsessed and eat it a few times a week.  Delicious with scrambled egg and spinach.

Wellness Mama has a great blog post on the Health Benefits of Fermented Foods.

Here is a great video from Donna Schwenk of Cultured Food Life on how to make cultured vegetables.