Home-made antidote: a beverage from sauerkraut

Antidote refreshing drink. The power of Mrs Cabbage

Overture

If anyone has made a sauerkraut at home – you know for sure, some salty tasty liquid is formed on a bottom of sauerkraut during fermentation. It is so tasty and delicious for me, but unfortunately, available just in few gulps. In addition to its tastiness, I have noticed, it works well for my digestion and regaining well-feeling after some undesirable food (like cakes, sweets with sugar or cooked bizarre mixtures at restaurants). I was always wondering, how are commercial litre bottles of this sauerkraut drink available?, until decided to make it by my own:) Here is my personal, few times improved formula and precisely calculated amounts of the ingredients needed!

Preparation

Ingredients (for 5 litre fermentation gallon)

• White cabbage, 1.7 kg
• Carrot, 1 pcs
• Purified (filtered) water, 3.0 litre
• Caraway seeds (optional), 1 Tbsp
• Sugar (white, cane or demerara), 2 Tbsp
• Salt (crystalline sea salt, rock salt or pickling salt), 2 Tbsp

How to make it?

• Remove outer, weak or damaged cabbage leaves if necessary
• Wash and cut a cabbage into pieces, a cabbage head (hard white part) could be used too
• Blender cabbage pieces with water, portion by portion and pour into 5-liter fermentation gallon
• Peel a carrot and grate it by using a standard 4-side grater on a side with bigger holes (not smallest), add into a gallon too
• Further, add into a gallon caraway seeds, sugar and salt and mix well with a long wooden spoon
• Let it stay in a warm place (I use a windowsill where heater is installed underneath) for 36 hours, fermentation bubbles should appear in few hours after putting a gallon in a warm place
• After fermentation is completed (for “antidote” preparation it is shorter if compared to sauerkraut), filter the mixture through cheese clot or other appropriate material
• Squeeze the pulp of mixture portion by portion to get most of the liquid out. It is ready!

Appropriate fermentation equipment:

Important notes

• An amount of mixture in a fermentation gallon (5 liter) should not be higher than 3 liters
• Yield: 4.7 liter of the “antidote” drink
• Store some of “antidote” in a glass or ceramic bottle on a counter (actually salt preserves it fresh for 1-2 weeks) and other portion in a refrigerator
• Use crystalline sea salt, rock salt or pickling salt only. Avoid finely milled table salt or iodized salt, because it could contain chemical additives or discolor the fermented (or pickled) food
• Lactic acid bacteria is involved in a fermentation process
• Sauerkraut is an important dietary ingredient in Central Europe that results from the lactic acid fermentation of shredded and brined white cabbage (1)
• Regarding health-promoting properties, fermented cabbage has a high antioxidant potential as it is rich in antioxidants such as vitamin C and ascorbigen, has anti-inflammatory properties and is effective in the attenuation of oxidative stress (1)
• Metal dishes and spoons need to be avoided for cabbage fermentation. Ceramic or glass equipment is a right choice
• Do not drink on empty stomach
• Best to drink a glass of “antidote” an hour after overeating junky food or just an hour after a dinner

References:

(1) White cabbage fermentation improves ascorbigen content, antioxidant and nitric oxide production inhibitory activity in LPS-induced macrophages by C.Martinez-Villaluenga et al, 2012

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