Sauerkraut hailed as healthy choice

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This article was published 09/01/2002 (8764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IF this new year prods good intentions such as looking after your health, give sauerkraut a try.

“Great taste is one thing, but once you discover that eating sauerkraut has tremendous health benefits, you begin to realize that you have a winner on your hands,” says Samuel Hofer, who has done a great deal of research into this ancient food.

Although sauerkraut — German for “sour cabbage” — is thought of as a German invention, labourers building the Great Wall of China more than 2,000 years ago ate it as standard fare.

Chinese sauerkraut, made from shredded cabbage fermented in rice wine, eventually found its way to Europe, where Germans and Alsations adopted it as a favourite. Sauerkraut is made by combining shredded cabbage, salt and sometimes spices, and allowing the mixture to ferment.

As a child growing up in a Hutterite community in Moose Jaw, Hofer says he remembers the barrels of home-made sauerkraut fermenting in the basement of the sect’s community kitchen.

And although Hofer, 39, left the community 18 years ago at age 21 to move to Saskatoon, he continues to write about his cultural roots and has published a number of books on the subject.

His most recent, A Passion for Sauerkraut: The Humble Vegetable for Good Health ($21.95), not only gives instructions on how to make your own sauerkraut, but also includes details on its health benefits, as well as recipes for its use.

From a nutritional point of view, sauerkraut is astounding, he adds.

“By definition, sauerkraut is acidic cabbage, the result of natural fermentation by bacteria indigenous to cabbage in the presence of two to three per cent salt,” he explains.

“The fermentation yields lactic acid that, along with other minor products of fermentation, gives sauerkraut its characteristic flavour and texture.”

Hofer regards sauerkraut as being a food that balances “your inner ecosystem.”

“It contains lactic acid, which can greatly aid in the recovery and maintenance of digestion,” he says.

As well, sauerkraut eaten daily, especially the unpasteurized variety, adds nutrients to the diet.

To order Hofer’s book via the Internet, go to www.hoferpublishers.com, or write to Hofer Publishers, Box 9784, Saskatoon, Sask. S7K 7G5.

— Canadian Press