Red Cabbage Sauerkraut With Apple & Ginger
This vibrant, ruby-coloured Red Cabbage Sauerkraut isn’t just a tangy condiment; it’s a powerhouse of gut-healthy probiotics and an incredibly simple way to add a burst of flavor and nutrition to your meals. If you’ve been curious about fermentation but felt intimidated by the process, this easy kraut recipe is the perfect place to start.
In This Article
Nutritional Benefits
Sauerkraut offers an array of health benefits as a nutrient-rich fermented food. It contains a high volume of good bacteria, including pre- and probiotics, which are known to support gut health, aid digestion, and boost immunity (1). Sauerkraut is also an anti-inflammatory food, as well as being a valuable source of vitamin K, the antioxidant vitamins E and C, fibre, and a good source of minerals (1, 2).
However, it’s important to opt for unpasteurised sauerkraut varieties to maximise probiotic benefits. This is where making your own is best. Many supermarket sauerkrauts are heat treated to make them shelf stable. This process can kill off that probiotic bacteria (3) we look for in fermented foods. A great reason to make your own at home.
Ingredients – What You’ll Need To Make This Recipe
Homemade sauerkraut uses a handful of simple ingredients. The cabbage and salt form the base of the recipe while everything else is easily substituted if preferred. This recipe makes a wonderful addition to many meals but remember to always enjoy it raw. Cooking with sauerkraut will significantly reduce the volume of probiotic/live bacteria present in addition to destroying much of the vitamin C (4).
- Red / purple cabbage – If you can’t find red using green/white cabbage is also fine.
- Red apples – used to add sweetness so any sweet apple will work well in this recipe.
- Fennel fronds – adds a little hint of anise to the kraut.
- Fennel seeds – helps to strengthen the fennel flavour in the kraut, but fennel is also a wonderful stomach settler. Great for gassy guts too (5), which can be a good addition if cabbage has that effect on you.
- Fresh Ginger – Just a little goes a long way. This adds pungency to balance the sweetness.
- Sea salt – This is a good choice for fermenting as it doesn’t contain iodine, which can inhibit fermentation.
Play around with the spices used to give each new batch it’s own flavour. Caraway seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, or even a little chilli are all delicious.
How To Make This Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
While the fermentation process does take a little time, getting the sauerkraut made and into jars or a crock is relatively quick task. To ensure a smooth and successful fermentation every time, it’s helpful to have your tools and ingredients ready before you begin. And it’s crucial to ensure you have clean hands and clean tools at all times. This will stop any chance of your sauerkraut going mouldy as it ferments.
- Remove the outer leaves from the head of red cabbage and set them aside. Cut cabbage into quarters, wash, and remove the cores.
- Weigh the cabbage with the apples and measure out the salt accordingly. More info on how to calculate your salt needs if you have more veg than suggested in this recipe can be found in the recipe card below.
- Using a sharp knife or mandolin, finely slice the cabbage and place in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle some salt over the cabbage after each quarter has been sliced, and massage it through briefly.
- Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to sit on the bench for up to an hour. This helps draw the water out of the cabbage, which creates the brine for your crock or jars.
- Remove the cover, grate in the apple then add chopped fennel fronds, fennel seeds, and grated ginger.
- Massage everything together until well combined and plenty of liquid is in the bottom of the bowl.
- Pack the sauerkraut into large, wide-mouthed, clean glass jars or a fermentation crock.
- If packing into a crock, place the fermentation weight it comes with on top, wipe the rim clean, put the lid on and fill the moat with water.
- If packing the sauerkraut into jars leave an inch (2.5cm) head room at the top of the jar. If you have any glass weights add one of these on top then put the lid on. If you don’t, one of the outer cabbage leaves discarded earlier can be used.
- Sit the crock or jars on the bench out of your way and out of direct sunlight and leave to ferment for 5-10 days.
There are lots of delicious ways to enjoy this red sauerkraut brimming with healthy gut bacteria. Add it to nourish bowls, put a spoonful on sandwiches or wraps, top your tacos or homemade hot dogs with it, use it as a side dish, or put it on your avocado toast!
Substitutions And Variations
If you can’t find any fennel fronds or they’re out of season, just add ½ to 1 teaspoon more of the fennel seeds.
Not a fennel fan? Leave it out – but this does taste best with a spice of some sort added. Try juniper berries, caraway seeds, or celery seeds as a replacement.
This was created as a red cabbage recipe though green/white cabbage are completely fine to use if it’s not available.
Tips For Success With This Recipe
If you’re fermenting in jars sit them inside a bowl when they’re set aside to ferment. If you don’t, you may find a very active ferment bubbles up and over the rim of the jar… then all down your kitchen cupboards and the floor… ask me how I know. Also remember to ‘burp’ the jars daily to avoid a big gassy build-up that might cause the jars to crack or explode. To do this, slowly unscrew or pop the lid then close it again. Do this a couple of times a day as the ferment because more lively.
Knowing how to determine the volume of salt you need for your recipe is important. In general, 1.5 – 2% of the entire vegetable weight is used. So for example – I’ve used 2.85kg/6 pounds here with the combination of cabbage and apples. As such, the amount of salt I need is 43g/1.5 oz, which is 1.5% of 2.85kg. I rounded it up a touch to 45g/1.6oz to make it an even 3 Tablespoons. This calculation makes it really easy to scale the recipe up or down depending on your needs.
Storing
Store the sauerkraut in the fridge once fermentation is complete. It will keep for many months once chilled. If you made it in a crock, be sure to decant to jars before storing.
FAQ
Yes, given it’s both a prebiotic and a probiotic food. However, making your own versus buying one is best. Many supermarket varieties undergo heat treatment for shelf stability. This heating process destroys beneficial bacteria, which doesn’t occur when fermenting your own.
Yes! We can hear a lot about botulism and the need for caution when preserving food. However, that’s less of a concern with fermenting fruit and vegetables. C. Botulinum is a bigger concern in fermented meat and fish and low acid canned/preserved vegetables (6).
No, but they must be spotlessly clean, as should your hands and tools. If not, you may find that your sauerkraut spoils as it ferments due to harmful bacteria being present. You’ll know this is happening if you see coloured moulds appear (grey, blue, pink, or black). Discard the whole batch if any kind of mould appears.
More Fermentation Recipes
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Red Cabbage Sauerkraut With Apple & Ginger
Equipment
- 1 Crock or several large jars (capacity needed is 3 litre / 3 quarts total)
Ingredients
- 5.5 lb red cabbage (2.5kg – this was 2 cabbages for me)
- 2 large sweet apples, washed, cut into quarters and cored just before grating (about 12.5oz/350g)
- A few fennel fronds, chopped (see note 1)
- 1 inch piece of ginger, grated (2.5cm)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 3 Tbsp sea salt (see recipe note below) (1.6oz/45g)
Instructions
- Remove a few of the outer cabbage leaves that may look a little haggard. Keep these, as they'll come in handy if you're using jars to ferment in. They won't be needed if you're using a crock with weights.
- Cut the cabbages into quarters, wash, remove the cores and weigh together with the apples. If you have somewhere between 5.5-6.5lb (2.5-3kg) the 1.6oz/45g salt suggested here is fine (see note 2 if you have more or less).
- Thinly slice the cabbage either by hand or with a mandolin, and place in a very large bowl.
- Sprinkle some salt over the cabbage after each quarter has been sliced, and massage it through briefly. Make sure all the salt is used by the time you're done adding cabbage.
- Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to sit on the bench for up to an hour (see note 3). This helps draw the water out of the cabbage, which creates the brine for your crock or jars.
- Remove the cover from the bowl, then cut the apple into quarters, cut out the cores and grate into the bowl. Now add the chopped fennel fronds, fennel seeds, and grated ginger.
- Massage everything together, squeezing the veg slightly as you do, until plenty of liquid is in the bottom of the bowl. This should only take a minute or two.
- Pack the sauerkraut into a crock or large, wide-mouthed jars, followed by any liquid left in the bowl. Wipe the rim with a clean cloth. If using a crock place the weights inside. Put the lid on, then fill the moat with water.
- If packing the sauerkraut into jars leave an inch (2.5cm) head room. Fold one of the discarded outer cabbage leaves and put it on top of the kraut, wipe the rims of the jars then put the lid on. The added leaf on top ensures the sauerkraut stays submerged under liquid while fermenting. Sit the jars in bowls in case the liquid bubbles over in the coming days.
- Leave your crock or jars to ferment on the bench for 5-10 days. If you've used jars – just remember to slowly release and then close the lid a couple of times a day to 'burp' them. This will stop the jars cracking or exploding if you have an extra lively ferment.
- Taste your sauerkraut at day 5 and if you like it, it's ready. If you'd like it to be a little more sour leave it for a few more days.
- Once fermented decant to jars if you used a crock, store in the fridge and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Gabby Campbell
Gabby is a degree qualified Naturopath/Nutritionist (BHSc Nat) with a love of all whole foods. She started her Naturopathic career in clinical practice before making the move to recipe development and online education – a result of wanting to combat the misinformation that abounds on the internet about food and health. Whole Natural Kitchen aims to transform the way you think about healthy eating by helping you embrace an abundance of nutritious foods while leaving the health fads behind. MORE ABOUT GABBY