Fermented cabbage – that’s what sauerkraut is. Eaten and enjoyed across countries in Eastern Europe from Germany to Poland and Russia for centuries and now gaining popularity in British homes. With its tangy taste and crunch, you can spoon it through bagged salads, sprinkle it on soups, serve alongside stews in winter, or decant into a small bowl as a healthy snack or starter.

But what exactly are the health benefits and why could it be particularly helpful to eat sauerkraut during winter?

1. Cabbage is naturally high in vitamin C. Great. Even better is that fermenting cabbage accelerates the vitamin C content so there is more than when you just eat the regular raw one. It’s cabbage on steroids. It’s interesting that until the 1950s many people didn’t have fridges so had to ferment vegetables to preserve them to eat in winter when fresh ones were scarce. Sauerkraut which is super high in vitamin C would have prevented people getting scurvy (which can lead to your teeth falling out and connective tissues in the body falling apart). The high vitamin C content could play a role in supporting your immune system and therefore help protect you from colds in winter.

2. When cabbage ferments it produces an array of beneficial probiotic bacteria – as many as 30 different ones. Your gut bacteria known as the microbiome, LOVE variety. So when you eat it, you parachute lots of these good bugs into your gut. This could help keep your digestive system healthy, and may even improve your mood and cognition as the bacteria and the substances they produce are thought to send messages along the telephone wire which is your vagus nerve to your brain.

Cautions:

1. Don’t go mad with mountains of sauerkraut on the first week. If you haven’t had fermented live foods in a long time, it may take a few weeks for the bacteria in your gut to accept the colonising bacteria, so start with a teaspoon a day and build up to a dollop. Think about the Romans coming to colonise London. There is usually push back when newcomers arrive and establish a new order.

2. If you enjoy the taste of sauerkraut and are buying it for health benefits, make sure to choose the ones that are sold in the fridge section NOT in jars of vinegar at ambient temperatures on supermarket shelves. Those in the fridge are full of live probiotic bacteria which cold confer a health benefit on you, rather than being a dead food.

How I best like my sauerkraut:

1. Melted Gruyere cheese on sourdough toast with a dollop of crispy sauerkraut spooned on top.

2. A couple of tablespoons thrown into a salad bowl with a mixed leaf salad and drizzled in extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

3. A spoonful on top of a hot vegetable soup to garnish and give the first mouthful a little tangy crunch.

How sauerkraut is made:

It’s easy to make: chop up a cheap cabbage, sprinkle on some sea salt, bash it with the end of a rolling pin to release the cabbage’s juices and place in sealed Kilner jar, with the juices covering the chopped vegetables for about four weeks. Every few days, you can open the jar to burp it and release some of the pressure as the vegetable fizzes away fermenting. Put your ear to the cabbage and it sounds like a party. It’s also available in health food stores and some supermarkets, but make sure you choose the stuff that's sold in the fridge for more potential health benefits.


To learn more see these reviews of fermented foods:

Tamang et al. (2016). Review: Diversity of Microorganisms in Global Fermented Foods and Beverages. Frontiers in Microbiology. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00377
Marco et al. (2017). Health benefits of fermented of fermented foods: microbiota and beyond. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 44:94–102
Dimidi et al. (2019). Fermented foods: definitions, and characteristics, impact on the gut microbiota and effects on gastrointestinal health and disease. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu11081806