Purple Kraut Recipe

The MOST popular ferment from 2016 - 2020 of them all was definitely the Purple Kraut. Yes, it is made of red cabbage, but it has loads of purple pigments that offers so much nourishment & nutrition!

Polyphenols (starts with a ‘P’ much like purple ) are loaded in many plants with dark pigments, dark green like rosemary, oregano & thyme. Dark purples & burgundy as in red wine, açai, beets & red/purple cabbage!

Fermentation enhances all the nutrients in any of the plants used to ferment, that’s called alchemy, kinda magical huh? One study shows that 1 cup of raw red cabbage offers 60 mg of Vitamin C, 1 cup of fermented red cabbage aka purple kraut offers 600 mg of Vitamin C. And that is only 1 out of the 10,000+ nutrients of that 1 purple plant.

I also add caraway seed to the Purple Kraut; from an ancient recipe in the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Recipe:

Makes Approx. 1 Litre

• 1 small to medium sized red cabbage, cored and shredded into uniform pieces.

• 1 tablespoon unrefined sea salt (I use pink Himalayan salt)

• 1/2 tablespoon caraway seeds and juniper berries.

  Total spice blend to equal 1/2 Tbsp.

• 1 to 4 Tablespoons of whey, kefir water, wild brine starter culture* (Lends for a faster ferment and more diversity from the starter)

Preparation: Place every ingredient in a bowl, crock or pot and pound with a wooden pounder, meat tenderizer, or mortar to release juices for about 10 minutes (Some people massage the veggies with their hands)

Alternatively, I let the ingredients sit for several hours after mixing it a bit; this allows the salt and the whey to do most of the wilting, which helps release the juices to benefit for less pounding.

Place in a quart-sized glass jar and press down firmly with the pounder until juices come up to the top of the cabbage. The top of the vegetables should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar to allow for expansion and C02 expression.

Close lid tightly and keep at room temperature to FERMENT in a dark pantry or covered with a towel for about 3-5 days depending on the temperature of your storage. It will take longer in the winter with colder storage and also a longer time with more salt being added to the recipe. If it tastes too salty after 3 days, keep it on the shelf and taste it until it is the flavour that you prefer, the longer it sits the more sour tasting it should become.

It is strongly recommended to ‘burp’ the jars every day; just open the lid to let the air out, the water may be fizzy and this is a good sign! Be aware of it ‘fizzing over’; hold it over a sink when opening, for this reason; this phase normally only lasts 3 days.

Place the jars in the fridge or cold room storage once you enjoy the salty sour flavour and crunchy texture, to slow the fermentation process down. I generally ferment at room temperature for 10 days. Ferments will last in the cold storage for 1-2 years. Be sure to keep all the cabbage bits under the brine, and they're fine ;)

Any time during cold storage, you can remove your ferment to ‘sour’ longer for a stronger taste, on the counter. It is fine to open the jar throughout the process to sample it and to be sure it’s to your taste. It is not common practice to heat seal the jars for this reason. Keeping the brine above the bits is the way to "seal" it.

Remember this is a lactic acid ferment; it has stronger anti-pathogenic properties than acetic acid, which is vinegar!! It is very difficult to mess this up! It will look like a moldy spore growing mess and smell like garbage if it doesn’t take off properly or goes off, just like rotting food sitting in water.

Home Use: Traditionally sauerkraut is eaten with rich meats, starchy foods such as pirogies and bacon. It also has an affinity to hotdogs and hamburgers, from which the BBQing effect renders the meat carcinogenic; ferments will offer antioxidants, enzymes & probiotics for digestive health and repair.

1 Tbsp. of wild fermented sauerkraut is approximately 300 million ius. of beneficial bacterial culture. Start consuming powerfully probiotic sauerkrauts slowly. 1 Tbsp. with every meal is a good start. Listen to your body while you increase for supreme health benefits.

Ferment on!

Elaine, your herbal mama

Q: "Does cooked cabbage feed beneficial bacteria inside the body? I like to eat dishes with cooked cabbage it’s really delicious, Also whenever I eat sweets I drink kombucha right after, I heard that by eating the sugar they replicate but I don’t know if they can process all the sugar I ate before drinking the kombucha."

My A: "Cooked cabbage offers prebiotic benefit- this feeds the probiotic/ beneficial bacteria. Cooked cabbage also contains Vitamin U- for Ulcers. There are reparative nutrients in cabbage alone, even before fermenting it!

Kombucha and all the different ferment families will eat the sugar from food in your gut before it gets to the blood stream. How much they process will depend on how simple the sugar is and serving size. Listen to your gut and body for all the wisdom you need for balanced health. "

Ferment Facts: Sauerkraut has a famous reputation from its long history of use (6000 years ago, China) and from world voyagers, such as Captain Cook. He loaded his ship with 60 barrels of sauerkraut for 27 months at sea and they stayed perfectly preserved despite changes of temperature and the rocking of the ship; the entire ship crew was free from scurvy (vitamin C deficiency).