Sauerkraut dates back centuries

How many cabbage are there in 1,000 pounds?

I’m not sure, but following a family tradition, a friend buys two or three times that amount every winter to make sauerkraut. In his basement. A one-man operation.

He does the cutting, trimming and brining with little assistance, just as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather did before him.

When he prepares the cabbage, he ignores all the old lore associated with making sauerkraut. His grandfather believed, for example, that for the best results, sauerkraut should be made on a full moon. So just to be on the safe side, he puts a picture of a full moon in his workroom when he’s preparing the kraut. Or so he says.

Another bit of lore claims that a waxing moon is best. He ignores this as well and prepares the sauerkraut whenever time permits. Not once – and he stresses not once – has he checked to see if another piece of old sauerkraut lore is true: that the brine in a barrel of sauerkraut rises and falls with the rise and fall of the tide.

Then there’s the old gardening book which advises that cabbage set aside for sauerkraut should first be stored in a cool cellar with a dirt floor. My friend is skeptical about this. But he does wonder if another old bit of folklore has some merit – that covering fermenting cabbage with grape leaves speeds up the process.

There’s also a tradition of making sauerkraut guided by astrological signs. According to that lore, which the friend says he also ignores, sauerkraut should never be made under a waning moon, which would make the finished product limp and soggy.

However, he believes other lore that he’s heard about sauerkraut.

That it originated in Germany, for example. Which is false. That it was one of the few foods made on the farm that would keep all winter and ensure that families would survive. Which is true. And that in recent times, sauerkraut has been touted as a superfood with many health benefits. Also true, for the most part.

As mentioned, sauerkraut-making has been in my friend’s family for generations. Earlier on, in his grandfather’s time, it was a major commercial operation. Every weekend, says my friend, his grandfather would load his truck with sauerkraut and drive to Lunenburg, selling it beside the road.

“He usually came home with an empty vehicle.”

While looked upon as German, sauerkraut originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. The Celts (read Irish and Scots) and Romans introduced fermented cabbage to Europe and from there it went to North America where Canadians

and Americans consume more than 400 million pounds a year.