There are other ways to improve your gut health and populate it with good bacteria through eating and drinking fermented foods such as kombucha (fermented tea), pickled cucumbers, fermented cabbage (sauerkraut) and many others. Fermentation (sometimes called β€˜culturing’ or β€˜cultivating’ because it involves culturing of microorganisms) is a food preparation technique that involves bacteria and yeasts partially break down food. This process increases the nutritional content, digestibility and adds more nutritional value to the food via creating helpful microbe derived enzymes and lots of other stuff which is good for us. What these microorganisms are doing is essentially using cabbage (in our case) as a food source for themselves and as a result creating exceptionally yummy foods us. It’s a win win situation without a doubt!

Here I would like to share the recipe of the best sauerkraut I have ever had – fermented cabbage using kombucha tea. To remind you, kombucha – is a fermented tea filled with loads of good bacteria called probiotics. You can check out my recipe on how to make kombucha.

Equipment:

  • Glass Container (2-3L)
  • Glass Jar (1.5-2 L )
  • Plate
  • Cheese Cloth
  • Quart Measuring cup
  • Cutting board
  • Knife

Ingredients:

  • 1 Finely Shredded Head of White Cabbage
  • 1 Big Carrot Grated
  • 1.5 tbsp HimalayanΒ Sea Salt
  • 1 tbsp Organic Cane Sugar
  • 500 ml 30 Day Green Tea Kombucha Tea
  • 350 ml Unfluoridated, Unchlorinated Water
  • 2-3 Bay Leaves
  • 3-5 Perpercorns

Sauekraut Fermentation

  1. Place shredded cabbage, carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns in a large glass container.
  2. Massage the cabbage with carrots and mix them at the same time.
  3. Mix sugar and salt in 350 ml of water in a glass jar. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolves.
  4. PourΒ the water mixture over the cabbage with carrots.
  5. Add 500 ml of 30 day fermented kombucha tea.
  6. Place the plate over the cabbage and place the heavy weight on top of it (1.5 L glass jar filled with water in my case)img_1308-edit
  7. Cover the β€˜system’ with a cheese cloth or any other tight-woven but breathable towel.
  8. Let the cabbage sit undisturbed at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, for 2 days. Uncover the cabbage everyday and mix thoroughly while massaging gently. Then set the β€˜system’ back.
  9. Transfer the cabbage into a clean glass jar once it is ready to store in the refrigerator.img_1315
  10. Enjoy!img_1311-edit

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