Minutus

Dear Venkat, Julian, Hans, Joy,

Hans had written:
Indeed, Sourkraut essentially is thinly cut cabbage, stored in airtight
containers (originally wooden barrels) so that it undergoes a lactic
acid fermentation for its preservation, much the same as fodder is
prepared (in countries of cold climate) for cattle during winter. It is,
therefor, the only kind of silage for human nutrition (at least as I
know of).
------

To this I want to add:
Nearly perfect descirption - only one necessary item was omitted: salt
is added continuously when pickling the thinly sliced cabbage, it is
necessary to keep everything strictly clean (and salt isn't added to the
silage of cattle ....

Then, by the help of the fermentation, the cabbage gets slightly to
modified sour (lactic acid), but even more important: a relative high
amount of Vit C (ascorbic acid) is preserved: 20 mg/100g. So this was
often an important source for vitamin C during the winter months, when
no fresh vegetables were available (and as far as I know, this source of
Vit C was also used on ships during the long voyages, before the healing
and prophylactic properties of lemon juice against scurvy was detected).

Sauerkraut can be cooked in various ways, not necessarily this means the
'heavy, fatty food' - indeed, it's often used for 'slimming diets' as
100 g only have an energy of 70kJ (17kcal), but only when used raw.

In the rubrics where we have agg. from Sauerkraut we find:
- diarrhea: Bry, Petr
- stomach disordered: Bry
- Generalities: 14 remedies, Bry and Petr in 3rd grade (in the TPB: Bry,
Petr, Puls in the 4th grade).

Just for the info. My old English-German-English dictionary from the
1830s gives the following translation:
"Sauerkraut: salted or pickled cabbage; sour-croute"

Best,

Gaby

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gaby Rottler
Germany
rottler@curantur.de

http://www.curantur.de
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi,
We Japanese-Americans make many fresh pickles as well as the long-term storage types. I have been using the mushrooms that I used to make kefir to speed up the fermentation. Without much salt, the sweet acid of fresh pickles come out within a day without cutting up heavy leaves like cabbage. Put a light weight on the veggies after lightly salt with picking salt. Overnight, instant sauerkraut. Then the kefir mushrooms can be put back in organic milk and they get their vigor back. I make heavy sour dough bread the same way. Good for your clients who need strong cheap probiotics. Sorry, a little off topic.
Blessings,
Ellen Madono

The few recipes I've seen for sauerkraut have included (salt and) liquid and
a source of fermenting bacteria such as whey. Can it also be made with
nothing but cabbage and salt?
Shannon

on 5/31/04 12:14 PM, Gaby Rottler at rottler@curantur.de wrote:

Hi Shannon,

I don't know about whey, but in my experience, unless the veggies are quickly covered with salty liquid (or a substitute such as miso or a thick dough-like bran and salt mixture) even in the winter they risk spoiling. So always, you want the water to exit the veggies and cover them as soon as possible. The warmer the environment, the faster this must occur. Kefir mushrooms (and probably whey??) speed up that process by providing enzymes. A weight on the veggies pushes them into their own water. Without such special enzymes, typically we make the same pickle but it takes more time and more salt. Possibly something that the veggies provides contributes to the fermentation process.

Blessings,
Ellen Madono