If you’ve only eaten store-bought, canned sauerkraut, I almost feel sorry for you - in more than one way!  Fresh sauerkraut has a crunchier texture, a delightfully tangy flavor and a great potential for interesting recipes.  And making the sauerkraut with friends of the Choir is as enjoyable as consuming it later.

When our forefathers immigrated to the New World they brought along the technique for fermenting cabbage. Many of their recipes included ingredients such as apples, turnips, juniper berries, wine and garlic. The choir makes the Sauerkraut according to a recipe from the Bodensee area (our Krautmeister Fritz Ruf was the ultimate authority when it came to adding spices and other, finer points of processing the kraut).  In fact, traditional sauerkraut is very similar to the Korean dish kimchi, a food that’s also made with fermented cabbage but that contains additional vegetables, such as radishes and cucumbers, and is seasoned with ginger and other spices.

There’s nothing wrong with the classic, just-plain-cabbage variety of sauerkraut usually eaten on a hot dog or pork chop. But homemade sauerkraut made with additional vegetables, herbs and spices is more than a condiment; it’s a delicious side dish all on its own — and a surprisingly healthy one!