Learn how to make sauerkraut and a story relating to why it is important to eat fermented foods to support your digestive health. https://curingvision.com/how-to-make-sauerkraut/

How to Make Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is a fermented food that contains many strains of beneficial bacteria. If you are ready to start making sauerkraut and just want the recipe, collect glass jars, cabbage, a kitchen scale, sea salt, large cutting board, knife and skip to the bottom of this post. If you are interested in reading my story of learning through a first-hand experience about the importance of fermented foods, continue reading from this point.

How I Found My Way to Ferments.

The digestive benefits of raw fermented foods are numerous, making it much more than a sour addition to certain meals. For myself, I avoided eating fermented foods for several years while following the principles of various dietary suggestions, and quite honestly, because I didn’t understand the importance of eating fermented foods. The importance is a knowing that has collectively been lost in certain social communities of the world with easy access to refrigeration. Fermentation has been a way to preserve food, but with the advancements in equipment for the study of microbiology, we now understand that food preservation could be considered a side benefit. [1]

I would like to share my experience with discovering fermented foods in the hope that it may help answer some puzzling questions about your own digestive health. As a child I experienced intense constipation that never seemed to be problematic to me because constipation was all I had ever known. Occasionally, I would have bouts of diarrhea, but for the most part I was relieved when the constipation would set in because to me a bowel movement was an embarrassing part of life. It wasn’t until my early twenties, that my perception of food ingredient quality increased and observing how various foods impact our health. Until that point, food was something that satisfied hunger, cravings, calmed nervous thought patterns, and changed the weight number on a scale. Now, I was beginning to experience an awareness that constipation is not normal.

In searching for answers to solve the uncomfortable constipation, I explored many different combinations of foods and herbs for relief over a several year time span. One particular dietary experiment, a 28-day juice fast, acutely increased my awareness that the digestive discomfort I experienced daily was quite possibly a more serious matter than I had previously given it credit. I hadn’t specifically decided to juice fast for digestive relief, I was more curious if the juice fast would correct autoimmune disease symptoms that I was experiencing. The idea of going to the bathroom daily did also seem exciting because I was no longer embarrassed and quite tired of the constipation struggle. The juice fast decision was something that I felt God leading me to experience. Fasting is mentioned in scripture many times, and even though I would still be consuming juice, it was a fast from all foods that I had been comfortable with.

To me, the juice fasting process seemed attractive because it is believed to act as a tool for allowing your digestion a moment of rest and healing by only drinking freshly pressed vegetable and fruit juices. The supporting idea behind the practice of juice fasting is the belief that by manually removing the fiber from the plants with a juicing machine (not a blender) this will reduce the burden of digesting the fiber yourself. By removing the fiber, with a juicer, it is assumed that your body will quickly absorb the nutrients of the vegetables and fruit allowing it to heal quickly. Consequentially, experiencing improved digestive health on the other side of your juice fast.

Juice Fasting Helped, but Not How I Expected.

This dietary experiment did help, but not in the way that I had expected, it taught me that fiber is extremely important and that the bacteria to digest these fibers are likely missing from my own microbiome which was leading me to feel discomfort when eating food. [2] The 28-day juice fast that was meant for healing, in actuality left my digestive system even more fragile than it was before.

When gradually easing into eating solid foods I was only able to tolerate a very limited amount of salad greens without bloating. Which now in hind-sight makes sense. I had been juicing these foods during the fast, so the bacteria that helps to digest them was likely still being fed and continuing to populate my digestive tract. Most all foods that I ate, post-juice fast, had a feeling of remaining stagnant in my digestive system causing bloating and terrible discomfort. This ending result of the juice fast had surprised me because during it I felt an increase in energy and health, but in truth, towards the ending of the fast I was developing an intuitive feeling that a long-term juice fast may come with consequences to my digestive system.

This seemingly unfortunate discovery allowed me to reflect upon my previous years of digestive health for understanding of why I was loosing the ability to comfortably digest foods over time. You know the feeling of eating something and wishing you had worn your comfy pants to allow for the expansion that always ensues after a meal? Well that was me, and had been me for more years that I can probably count. Bloating after eating had been so common that I just expected this to be my experience while eating, and almost went unnoticed. The bloating was so often that I wasn’t fully aware it was a negative issue. In my younger years, I did notice that my belly would stick out more after a meal compared to my friends. But I also ate larger portions of food than they did and thought it was a response to volume. Moving into young adulthood the bloating increased, but I liked to minimize its significance again because I had also entered my childbearing years. There were lots of changes to my waistline at that time! Once the digestive discomfort peaked after the juice fast, I was able to quickly accept that I could no longer ignore how my digestive system responded to eating. A new symptom beyond bloating had developed, there was now a burning sensation in the area of my small intestines. Eating food had become outright painful.

A Quick Step-Back for Reflection.

How had I gotten to this point? It didn’t seem to matter that I was eating all of the right foods, doing all of the best suggestions for improved health and management of autoimmune disease symptoms. I was eating whole foods, cooking all of my meals at home, taking supplements, thinking positively, I was also on my fourth diet plan suggestion for better health. If it was suggested to reduce autoimmune symptoms and improve health, you can safely bet that I had tried it. Yet, I was still bloated to the point that I was mistaken for being pregnant several times! I couldn’t understand why I was working so hard to do the correct thing to only be left with no positive results. It was as if my digestive system had forgotten how to digest foods all-together. Everything that I ate hurt, even when following a food combining chart, nothing made a positive difference.

I visited my family doctor for solutions to this digestive frustration. He told me that my condition could be diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome but his only offering of help would be a referral to a gastroenterologist professional. I had previously watched several family members visit the same type of doctor without finding the results they had searched for, so it wasn’t a path that I too wanted to follow. My family doctor also knew that I will exhaust all natural options to correct a health condition first, before medication. With this understanding, we held off on the referral to a gastroenterologist until I had taken time to find a resolution for myself. I initially thought this process would take only a few months and I’d move on, but nearly ten years later, I’m still learning about the fascinating aspects of the human digestive system and microbiome!

Prayer is Now Leading the Way.

By this point, after trying a handful of specialized diets without finding the results I was seeking, it was becoming apparent that I was seeking something beyond the perfect food combination. There is another layer to food that I had been missing. I was not willing to assign myself to a life of restrictive dieting that omits fresh mango or a homemade chocolate chip cookie because it caused me to uncomfortably bloat. It was now apparent that I needed bacteria to help me break down the foods that I was eating.

How I came to this realization was not of my own knowledge, it was through prayer. The key phrase that would surface while praying for answers to my digestive woes and why I felt drawn to probiotic bacteria was, my history of antibiotic use.

Outline of my History of Antibiotic Use.

Guided by prayerful thoughts, I began to reflect on my health history associated with antibiotic use. All through my childhood and teen years, it was the culture of my family that if you are ill, it is important to go to the doctor right away. This resulted in me taking more rounds of antibiotics than I will ever be able to count. To illustrate just how often it was, at the age of about five (practically a baby!), I personally trained for the skill of pill swallowing to avoid suffering the awful flavor of liquid antibiotics.

I started with chewing ice down to small pieces, then swallowing these smaller pieces whole. I reasoned that the ice would be an easy starting point because it would slide down if I struggled. Once I had felt I had mastered swallowing pieces of ice, I then moved on to the irregular shape of my daily Flintstone vitamin. I knew they were larger than a typical pill shape, so I felt confident that continuing training with these would guarantee success. Thankfully I never choked and this practice helped me to graduate from the awful flavor of the pink and orange liquid antibiotics. The next time I was visiting my family doctor for the latest cold I had caught, I remember proudly telling my him that I could swallow a pill as he prepared to write the prescription.

At eight years old my family moved into a very mold damaged home, we didn’t know the risks of mold exposure. [3] I soon began a long battle with reoccurring strep throat infections. After several rounds of antibiotics and no positive relief from strep throat it was advised that I have a tonsillectomy performed. I feel thankful that my adenoids weren’t also removed.

In my teens and during a time of restrictive dieting while replacing calories with soda to curb hunger I developed a series of bladder infections that led to the discovery of another antibiotic allergy. I was now labeled as allergic to penicillin and sulfa drugs.

In my twenties, I didn’t take as many antibiotics but I did fall into the myth that birth control is harmless and took it for several years before stopping. Research on the impact of birth control to the microbiome and gut health is limited, however there is strong association between birth control and the increase of fungal candida albicans negatively affecting oral and digestive health. [4]

The highest amount of antibiotic rounds that I have received came in one year’s time of 2010. I was initially prescribed antibiotics for an unexplained infection at the site of my tooth implant for #11 tooth, two antibiotics were used for this to clear the infection. Then approximately six months later I received an artillery of antibioitics for infection associated with a cesarean section. To clear this infection I received oral antibiotics, followed by I.V. antibiotics when the oral didn’t improve my condition. Followed by more oral antibiotics off and on for a month to the point of eventually becoming diagnosed as septic resulting in surgery to remove the infected tissue and given a PICC line for more antibiotics as a follow-up to the surgery. When the nurse placed the PICC line she assured me that this new antibiotic would be strong enough to even kill the roaches on the floor. After having battled infection for two months and not knowing the microbiome repercussions that lay ahead of me, it was relieving to hear that statement.

Moving forward four years, all of these memories rushed through my mind as I prayed to God for guidance. He used these experiences to expose an understanding of why my digestion was so poor, and why antibiotics shouldn’t be used with casually. He made it clear to me that I was missing important bacteria, and that I needed to eat fermented foods to replace what was lost.

Enter Lacto-fermented Foods.

I had previously read that fermentation was a natural way to create probiotics and now knowing that I desperately needed more good bacteria, I decided I would give lacto-fermented foods a try.

I first began with making a batch of sauerkraut – that failed. I made another batch of sauerkraut – it failed too. Both times mold contaminated them too much. Feeling defeated, I declared that I give up. But knowing that I’m honestly too stubborn to give up that quickly I began reading books on the subject of fermentation and looking for solutions in literature. Reflecting back of this time, I was following Jesus’ suggestion recorded in the Book of Matthew to, “ask, seek, and knock.”

In the search for a specific recipe for sauerkraut, I decided that precisely measuring the ingredients by weight would be key to success. The kitchen scale indeed allowed me to accurately determine how much sea salt to use. When making fermented vegetables, you use much more salt than you would use with flavoring a meal, so I needed the scale to help me gain an understanding of how much salt would be needed since I had no point of taste reference.

You can use either green cabbage, purple cabbage, or both for making sauerkraut. By using a blend of green and red cabbage your sauerkraut will become a vibrant pink. Purple, red, and blue fruits and vegetables get their color from anthocyanins, which help reduce inflammation and support brain health. [5] Interestingly, fermentation increases the bio-availability of anthocyanins which otherwise have a relatively low dietary absorption rate. [6] This is another reason to consider learning more about vegetable fermentation as it applies to increasing the health benefits of the nutrients in the foods we eat.

Suggested Books to Read.

My journey to improving digestive health has been long and meandering, but it has certainly been fulfilling. I would say, where I am today, after over a decade of experimentation and following God’s guidance I am exactly where He wants me. Would I like to have that 6-pack I thought I’d have two weeks into my first diet journey? Nope, because I wouldn’t have learned the intricacies of bacteria, enzymes, and how to overcome gut dysbiosis if it had been that easy.

If you are ready to read more on these topics, these are my best suggestions as of year 2025 with what is available. I started this at a time when most of us in North America didn’t know what fermentation was and we certainly didn’t collectively believe that autoimmune disease symptoms were reversible. As we continue to learn more, the scientific collaboration with spiritual guiding is incredibly exciting to witness.

On the topic of fermentation, “The Farmhouse Culture Guide to Fermenting:…” by K. Lukas. On the topic of how to rebuild your microbiome, “Super Gut” by Dr. W. Davis. And on the topic of the risks involved with pharmaceutical antibiotics, “Missing Microbes,” by Dr. M. Blaser. I also collect research documents and pin them on Pinterest for others to read when interested.

Suggested Tools with Links to Purchase.

Kitchen Scale

Sea Salt

Large Cutting Board

Cutting Knife

Glass Jars

Fresh Cabbage

 

The Recipe.

STEP 1.

Begin with removing any leaves or parts of the cabbage that show visible signs of spoilage. Next use a kitchen scale to weigh the cabbage in grams and record this weight. Then (and I almost always forget this step so if you do it’s fine) remove a few whole leaves to use a covers of the cabbage once it is in the jars. Finally for step one, begin chopping the cabbage into small pieces. The way you chop up the cabbage is to your preference, I use a large butcher’s knife and cutting board. The chopped pieces of cabbage are added to a big bowl as I go.

STEP 2.

I have repeated fermentation success salting my cabbage at a 1.8% sea salt rate. To calculate how much sea salt is needed for fermenting the cabbage you will need to do a little math. Multiply the weight you measured in step one by .018 and this is how much salt in grams you will add to the cabbage. For example if your cabbage weighs 1500g, multiply this by .018 (1.8%) which yields 27g of sea salt needed.

STEP 3.

The next step is when you get to exercise the strength of your hands. With all of the ingredients in your bowl, squeeze, massage, and wring together the salt and cabbage until the juices of the cabbage begin releasing from the leaves. The more you squeeze and release the liquid, the better. This begins the digestion process for the bacteria in the cabbage and will help it to ferment well.

STEP 4.

Put the cabbage and sea salt blend into clean glass jars, filling to about 80% full. As you fill them, press the cabbage down tightly, this also pushes the liquid to the top. Make sure you have enough liquid to completely cover the cabbage. If there is not enough liquid to cover, you can top it off with a bit of salted water. I use a ratio of 2 teaspoons per 1 cup of filtered water. Avoid using unfiltered city tap water, the treatment chemicals will kill the bacteria in your ferment. Resist the temptation to fill the jars more than 80% because this will reduce the likelihood that your jars will leak. You’ll be amazed to see the liquid level rise as it ferments!

STEP 5.

The whole leaves that were saved from the beginning are now used to finish off the sauerkraut by plugging the top of the jar. Fold up the leaf to fit inside of the jar covering the chopped sauerkraut, pressing down to ensure all of the chopped sauerkraut is below the liquid line. The whole leaf plug protects the sauerkraut from being exposed to air and molding. If you have forgotten to save a leaf for this step, no worries, just make sure your cabbage is completely submerged. Seal each jar with an air tight lid.

STEP 6.

Write on masking tape the date and place this on the jar to keep track of how long your cabbage has fermented. The longer the wait, the more sour and bacteria abundant the sauerkraut becomes. [7] Depending upon the temperature of the room the jars are in, fermentation time may take only one week. The colder the place they are stored, the longer the fermentation process will take. Avoid storing the jars in a space exposed to direct sunlight.

STEP 7.

Place the jars into a plastic or other liquid safe bin for storage. This bin is to catch any liquid that may leak out of the top of the jar as the cabbage ferments. The best way to avoid leaky jars is to burp them as fermentation increases, typically by the third day the lids will need to be opened. Simply loosen the lid to release the pressure inside the jar. Once depressurized, re-tighten the lid. You will need to monitor your jars, depending upon your climate and may need to “burp” the jars once or twice more.

When to Eat?

Your sauerkraut is ready to eat approximately after a week of fermenting. It may take longer if you started in winter. Remember that this is a food storage technique, so the longer it ferments, this is fine. It is not like leaving a salad out on the kitchen counter which would definitely not be fine after a week. Lacto-fermentation increases the bioavailability of the nutrients of the vegetable and it allows you to store foods longer without refrigeration. The longer your sauerkraut ferments in the jar, the more sour it will become. Hopefully you are eating this delicious probiotic food within a month, but if you do not, keep the jar stored in a cool dark space. Once you open a jar, for simplicity, I move it to the refrigerator because it helps me to remember to add it as a garnish to various dishes. For another crunchy snack option, you can dehydrate the sauerkraut on a low heat. This results in a crunch and taste that is similar to salt-n-vinegar chips! (Of course minus the fact that it’s not fried potato, but the flavor profile is very similar.)

 

Conclusion & Tips.

I know that it may seem like a lot of steps to making sauerkraut when you are first beginning, but it really is a simple process. I realized after having a few successful ferments that the most likely reason my initial attempts failed was due to not enough salt.

Not having the appropriate ratio of salt to vegetables was corrected by purchasing a kitchen scale. Each time you make a new batch of sauerkraut or other ferment, after adding the correct amount of salt, sample the mixture to learn the ratio by taste. At some point, if you wish, you may stop weighing and just measure by taste.

Another tip, once you have established a well fermented sauerkraut, save a portion of the liquid to start your next batch by adding it at mixing Step 3. Or to ensure your fermentation efforts are off to a great start from the beginning you may purchase a fermentation starter packet. I also like to add an opened capsule of lactobacillus plantarum, a common bacteria strain found in fermented vegetables, to ensure there will be ample amounts of this bacteria available in the finished sauerkraut.

Another tip that helped me to become successful at fermenting was watching a variety of videos on YouTube.

There are plenty of glass jars that you can use, which you choose is of your desire, it really doesn’t matter. A fermenting jar with airlock release, glass canning jars, even an empty pickle jar you saved. The main point to remember when using any glass jar is to clean the jar thoroughly. Some suggest heat sterilizing the jar in the oven before using it. The only time that I have done a heat sterilization was when I rescued some long forgotten glass jars that had all sorts of microorganisms living on them. I thoroughly hand washed these jars and then baked them in the oven at 190F for twenty minutes. Typically, in most situations, a simple hand-wash with hot soapy water is sufficient.

Happy Fermenting!

I’m wishing you happy fermentation batches and lots of pleasantly digested meals. Share your creations by tagging them #curingvisionferment on social media.

Resources for research supporting statements made within this blog post:

[1] Sauerkraut – an overview

[2] Interaction between dietary fiber and bifidobacteria in promoting intestinal health

[3] Thinking bigger: How early-life environmental exposures shape the gut microbiome and influence the development of asthma and allergic disease

[4] Frequency of Candidiasis and Colonization of Candida albicans in Relation to Oral Contraception 

[5] Protective effects of anthocyanins on neurodegenerative diseases

[6]The impact of red cabbage fermentation on bioavailability of anthocyanins and antioxidant capacity of human plasma.  

[7] Microbial Community Analysis of Sauerkraut Fermentation Reveals a Stable and Rapidly Established Community

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