Sauerkraut - So Much More Than Just a National Dish!

Published in Detodo/La Optimista, Ibiza’s good news only newspaper.

Like all raw, fermented foods, sauerkraut is positively bursting with healthboosting probiotics and vitamins. It is produced simply by leaving cabbage to sit in water for several weeks until it has fermented. Naturally occurring bacteria thrives on the surface of the cabbage, and prompts a chemical change; increasing its B vitamin content dramatically. If this all sounds like a bit of a culinary faff – packaged sauerkraut is also readily available to buy in the shops.

This superfood which, because fermented, enjoys a long shelf life, was a godsend to ancient sailors, who would take barrel loads of the stuff with them on long voyages. It served to stave off scurvy - the debilitating and only too common disease of that era caused by a vitamin C deficiency. As it turns out, shipboard records show that this condition was almost entirely absent on ships that carried sauerkraut. It is also rumoured that, should an infant swallow a foreign object, sauerkraut will masterfully surround the offending item, easing its journey out the other side…