Why Sauerkraut?!

I remember seeing this giant pot filled with sauerkraut in my grandma’s kitchen. She would make sure to have her sauerkraut all year round, and use it to make soups, pirozhki, or eat it as it is. Квашеная капуста (Rus. “kvashenaya kapusta”) was a proud participant of each family meal, and even kids enjoyed that sour crunch as they sat at the table. 

Sauerkraut is by far the cheapest and healthiest fermented food in the world. All you need to make your own sauerkraut is raw cabbage and salt (I like adding some grated carrot for extra flavor and color). The main probiotic bacteria found in sauerkraut is LAB (lactic acid bacteria) which has some amazing health benefits such as control of serum cholesterol levels, control of intestinal infections and certain types of cancer.  Not a bad disease prevention strategy for $2-3 dollars! 

As there’s growing demand for healthy food, you will literally find a thousand of recipes on YouTube or Google if you just type in “how to make sauerkraut”. I get super annoyed when scrolling forever and looking through all the ads just to learn that you need 2-2,5% weight of salt to weight of cabbage. Shred the cabbage, add salt, massage till the juice is produced, move the mix to a Mason Jar, cover up with cabbage leaves, put something heavy on top (to press the sauerkraut so that more juice is produced), put the lid on and place the jar in a dark kitchen cabinet. DONE! Easy peasy! Enjoy it in 1-2 weeks. We started eating ours in 5 days after the fermentation began, so it really depends on how sour and fermented you want it to be. 

“But, why sauerkraut?”, you ask. Even though the word “sauerkraut” is of German origin (lit. “sour cabbage), the dish itself most likely originated in China about 2,000 years ago. There’s a claim that laborers were preserving and eating their suan cai while building the Great Wall of China. It’s quite possible that Genghis Khan brought sauerkraut to Europe, as the Roman army was using it for the prevention of intestinal infections among its troops. Some historic evidence suggests that sauerkraut juice was used as a natural healing method for many common ailments. There are people on the Internet now who claim that they healed their Crohn’s disease, IBS, IC, and other gut-related issues with sauerkraut and miso soup (another fermented dish). 

If 70-80% of immune cells are found in the gut, and most of the diseases (including cancer) occur when our immune system is weakened and unable to fight off the pathogens, wouldn’t it make sense then to eat foods that support and nourish your gut microbiome?

There’s 0 fiber in animal products. Let me say that again. There’s 0 fiber in animal products. Fiber is what your gut thrives on. All vegetables, fruits, berries, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds have fiber in them. Surprise – they also have protein that everybody seems to be concerned about these days. (Read “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell if you believe that you need to consume animal protein to have a balanced diet.) 

To sum up this week’s blog post, fermented veggies such as sauerkraut provide you not only with fiber, and other valuable nutrients, but also probiotics or good bacteria that will boost your immune system.