Making Fermented Food, Sauerkraut

To ferment food, add a starter culture, which are natural microorganisms such as yeast, good bacteria or mold derived from the ingredients themselves or the environment. Then the food is stored airtight. During storage, the starter cultures multiply. Carbohydrates are converted to lactic acid with preservative properties. The pH drops, and it creates an acidic environment in which unhealthy germs that would spoil the food can not thrive. The result is durable, and in texture, taste and nutritional value changed food.

Fermentation of Cabbage to make Sauerkraut

To make sauerkraut, cut the fresh white cabbage into fine strips. On the cabbage are already natural lactic acid bacteria, which also live in our intestines. The white cabbage is mixed with plenty of salt and crushed with a cabbage stirrer so that the cell juice escapes. The salt causes, on the one hand, the release of the cabbage and on the other hand preservation until the onset of lactic acid fermentation.

The cell sap, together with the salt, forms the so-called brine. The cabbage must be tamped and pressed until it is completely covered by the brine. This creates an oxygen-free environment around the herb, which makes lactic acid fermentation possible in the first place. The lactic acid bacteria begin to convert under anaerobic conditions (without oxygen) to the sugars contained in white cabbage to lactic acid. Through this reaction, the bacteria create an acidic environment in which only they can thrive, and harmful putrefactive bacteria have no place.

Depending on the temperature, the fermentation period is between three and six weeks – the warmer, the faster the fermentation progresses and the longer you ferment the herb, the more intense the taste becomes.

Probiotics in Sauerkraut

On the one hand, raw, fermented sauerkraut still contains many vitamins and minerals, and on the other hand, the valuable lactic acid bacteria, which were able to reproduce nicely during fermentation. These lactic acid bacteria are also part of our intestinal flora, so fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut is a great probiotic and can help us build our intestinal flora.