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 βculturingβ or βcultivatingβ 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. Itβs a win win situation without a doubt!
Here I would like to share the recipe of the best sauerkraut I have ever had β fermented cabbage using kombucha tea. To remind you, kombucha β 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
- Place shredded cabbage, carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns in a large glass container.
- Massage the cabbage with carrots and mix them at the same time.
- Mix sugar and salt in 350 ml of water in a glass jar. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolves.
- PourΒ the water mixture over the cabbage with carrots.
- Add 500 ml of 30 day fermented kombucha tea.
- 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)
- Cover the βsystemβ with a cheese cloth or any other tight-woven but breathable towel.
- 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 βsystemβ back.
- Transfer the cabbage into a clean glass jar once it is ready to store in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy!
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Thank you for the recipe! Can Hawaiian sea salt be subbed for Himalayan or regular sea salt?
Thank you for your question. Absolutely! You can choose any salt you like.
can i use kombucha that has only been fermenting for 2 weeks? and then just let the cabbage sit longer?
I am pretty sure you can. I think it will be acidic enough. Just taste it everyday. I think 2-3 days might be enough.
What about a regular way to make sauerkraut ? Just salt and carrot? Without kombucha? Would it be considered as fermented cabbage?
Hello Alyona, thank you for your question! Yes, of course, you can do that as well. It would certainly be considered as an old fashioned traditional fermented cabbage. But they will taste differently and they will have different probiotic bacteria in it.
I don’t have any homemade kombucha right now. Can I use one from the store? Will it work?
Dear Olga, that’s a very good question! Thank you! Yes, of course, you can use store bought kombucha. I would just make sure it is a good quality kombucha and it does not contain any flavors. From my experience some brands or batches even within the same brand do not give good results. So your own home made kombucha is always the best.
Thank you for the answer, Karina. I haven’t seen unflavored kombucha in the stores. Can you please recommend some good brands which might work from your experience?
where do you live? Until recently I recommended GT original kombucha, but during my last home experiment it did not yield any Scooby suggesting that there were no microorganisms in the bottle. And this is what we need for our fermentation. That’s why we are adding kombucha to the sauerkraut. So if it is empty then there is no point in adding it. You can also check out my other recipe where I do not add kombucha. https://mygutmatters.com/fermented-white-and-red-cabbage-old-fashioned-way/
I live in Tampa, Fl. Will try GT original, maybe I will be lucky with it. Thank you for your advice.
Hello Alyona, thank you for your question! Yes, you can use just salt to ferment cabbage the old fashioned way. I will be posting more traditional recipes soon.
Can you use a kombucha scoby to cover the kraut and thus avoid potential mold?
Hello Ellie, totally! That’s a wonderful idea. I would still cover it with some sort of lid though or at least cheer cloth.
FYI: This is a potentially dangerous idea. Luckily, I could tell pretty quickly something was off with the scoby, then I learned that the bacteria profiles of kombucha and kraut are different, so they cannot thrive together.
This makes sense. My kraut never did well when I put it on the same bookshelf as the kombucha, and that’s because each creates its own microbiome. Things got better when I moved the kraut to another room.
(I also suspected, even as I asked this question 2 years ago, that if this was even an option, someone would have perfected it centuries ago.)
Dear Ellie, Thank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate it. From a microbiologist perspective (since this is who I am), there is absolutely nothing dangerous about that. The microorganisms from kombucha are as safe as the ones originated in traditional sauerkraut. For your own information different types of kombuchas grown in different conditions, with different teas etc will also have different microbial composition but that doesn’t make them dangerous or less beneficial. The same is valid for all fermented foods across the board. Nevertheless, they are all safe to consume. And actually the more different microorganisms we consume with fermented foods the better it is for our microbiome. Again, microbiome is my specialty. Even thought different fermented foods have different compositions they may share the same microorganisms like Lactobacillus fermentum, for example, which is often present in pretty much all fermented foods. Therefore as soon as we add kombucha to our sauerkraut it helps to speed up the fermentation and bring a different flavor at the same. Believe me I have been doing this recipe and many of my followers have tried it and been doing it for several years and absolutely love it.
Oh and I have kefir, kraut and kombucha on the same countertop in my kitchen and they are all thriving. There must be something different in your household that can effect the fermentation process. There are too many variables that affect fermentation.
Does it have to be green tea Kombucha? I have some 40+ days dark tea, wondering if I can use this?
Hi Melissa! Thank you for your question! No, you can use black tea as well for fermentation. Actually this kombucha scoby prefers black tea to green tea. So it might even grow better in black tea. But what do you mean by 40+ days tea? Did you brew it 40 days ago? Or is is 40 day old fermented kombucha tea? I would advice to use a freshly brewed tea only for kombucha fermentation. But you can use 40+ days kombucha for fermenting the cabbage. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi Karina, I was wondering if it is possible to make fermented cabage with less amount of salt. My husband is on low sodium diet, heart failure. Thanks
Hi Natalia, You can try to reduce the sat concentration and see if it works. Salt is used for preservation here, to avoid the growth of unwanted bacteria. However I know that some people ferment cabbage without salt completely. I haven’t done personally done it. I hope it helps.
Natalia,
Salt is used as a preservative and to keep the natural crunch of the cabbage. The saltier the more crunchy when fully fermented. The standard for fully fermented kraut is never less than 2% (nor more than 3%) salt by total weight UNLESS YOU KNOW FOR SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING and HOW SOON IT WILL BE EATEN! Cabbage does not need any added liquid if it is very fresh and then salted and pressed, the cabbage juices will be drawn out by the salt and cover the cababge. If you add liquid of any kind use 2% salt in it as well.
I expect adding Kambucha you may be able to forego the salt in that amount of liquid as it is already fermented and as the low ph will aid in preservation but your kraut my get “softer”.
For those of you interested in fermenting and or baking, purchase a scale that can be used to weigh
and as a “baker’s scale”. It makes measuring (weighing) a lot easier. Tare the scale with your bowl, add the cabbage . Hit percent (the scale will respond with 100%) and add carrot to no more than 125% (too much sugar otherwise) and and hit percent again. The scale will respond with 100%. Then add salt slowly until 102% is reached. If you are adding spices you can use the same method….If you are adding .3% caraway then just add until 102.3% is reached.
Breads are just as easy….add flour (100%), add liquid until 170%, salt 172%, yeast 173% is the most basic recipe for bread. Have fun!
Hi Natalia, thank you so much for the recipe, since my Kombucha was not 30, I understand I need to leave “cooking” longer, but how do I know if it is ready? Thanks
Hello Myrna! Thank you for your comment! As long as it is not sweet but active it should be fine to use. You can even use a two week kombucha. It will be a pretty strong acidic kombucha at this point especially during the summer time. I hope this helps. regards, Karina.
Hi Karina, can I use original kombucha tea from the store?
Hi Marina, thank you for your message. Yes of course you use the original one from the store.
Hi Karina! Have you tried doing this fermentation with other vegetables? I have 27 day old kombucha and wanted to ferment carrots. Would that work?
Hello, Tasha! Thank you for your message! Any kind of brine will work and speed up the fermentation. Kombucha will be perfect for fermenting any kind of vegetable too.
Hey, I was just thinking about the oossibility of using my booch in kraut, a quick google and here you are! Thanks, made it up this morning and excited to see how it turns out.
Is it such a short fermentation time because of the booch? Will it still have enough tang?! Finally, when done are you putting the while thing in the fridge, liquid and all, or draining it off first? Wonder if the liquid would still be good to drink…
Thank you for you message! I am glad I could make your day! The fermentation is shorter because you ass “starter” culture right away. This speeds up the process and you can ferment it less time.
When you are done transfer everything (the cabbage plus the brine) into refrigerator. You want your cabbage to always be covered with the brine as much as possible even in the refrigerator. The brine will have all the metabolites that have antibacterial properties so it will help the sauerkraut to stay fresh for a long time.
The liquid (brine π ) is definitely can be consumed. They sell it at Whole Foods for insane amount of money. Just start slowly with tiny amounts.