Where Did Sauerkraut Come From?

Sauerkraut is principally a German food--the word simply means "rotten cabbage." Despite its German heritage, the sour, salty stuff is a staple in many other European and Asian cuisines. A version of sauerkraut stuffs pastries in Russia (piroshki), accompanies Alsatian sausages in France (choucroute garnie), and accompanies almost everything else in Korea (kimchi). In the United States, of course, it's most commonly associated with hot dogs.

Instructions

1. Pickling foods--or fermenting them using lactic acid--is an ancient practice. Pickling cabbage was probably discovered by the Chinese in third-century BC. The Chinese used rice wine to pickle cabbage and then fed it to laborers who were building the Great Wall.

2. Sauerkraut made its European debut in the 13th century. Mongols brought pickled cabbage into Europe, and it quickly spread throughout the continent.

3. In the 16th century, people living in what is today Germany began fermenting shredded cabbage in its own juice with salt. The resulting product was probably akin to what we eat today.

4. Because it's chock full of vitamin C and does not spoil easily, sauerkraut was an ideal food for British and Dutch explorers to take on long sea voyages.

5. In the 18th century, German immigrants brought sauerkraut to the United States, where it became a wildly popular condiment for frankfurters.

Resources

• A guide to making your own sauerkraut by Mary E. Mennes