Sauerkraut juice (raw?, organic?)

Sauerkraut juice is a vegetable juice ( raw ) that is made from naturally fermented white cabbage ( sauerkraut ). In organic quality, it is a good source of vitamin K and acts as a natural probiotic.

Using sauerkraut juice in the kitchen:

What does sauerkraut juice taste like? Sauerkraut juice tastes salty and spicy and has a mildly sour note. How do you drink sauerkraut juice? You mainly drink small amounts of the juice neat. If the pure taste of sauerkraut juice is too boring for you, you can also spice it up with a little agave syrup , ginger , curry powder or other spices. Of course, it can also be mixed with other juices (e.g. sea buckthorn juice, apple juice , carrot juice ) or made into smoothies (e.g. with apples and bananas ). It can also be used as an ingredient in a creamy dessert shake, e.g. with pineapple , vegan milk substitute and perhaps a little vegan whipped cream.

Its uses in the kitchen are not 'just' limited to consumption as a drink, but it can also be used to prepare fine raw salad dressings, dips and vegan sauces. It can also be used to make your own mustard, vegan cream cheese and tzatziki . Cooked or baked, it tastes great together with water as a base for hearty vegetable soups (e.g. onions , carrots , savoy cabbage , potatoes , white beans ) or incorporated into bread dough.

If you want to ferment white cabbage yourself, you can add some sauerkraut juice to the chopped white cabbage along with salt to boost the fermentation.

Recipe for vegan cream cheese made from macadamia nuts and sauerkraut juice:

Ingredients (for 6 people): 200 ml raw sauerkraut juice (organic or homemade), 350 g macadamia nuts , 2 tbsp yeast flakes , dried flowers.

Preparation: Put the macadamia nuts in a bowl, cover with tap water and leave to soak overnight. Sieve and drain the next day. Finely puree the nuts and sauerkraut juice with a hand blender. Pour the mixture into a sieve lined with a kitchen towel, twist the towel over the mixture and weigh it down (e.g. with a bowl full of water). Press at room temperature for two days and leave to drain. Then mix the mixture remaining in the cloth with yeast flakes, press into dessert rings or other shapes and place in the fridge overnight. Press the vegan cream cheese loaves out of the molds and garnish by rolling them in dried flowers.

Vegan recipes with sauerkraut juice can be found under the note: " Recipes that have the most of this ingredient ".

Shopping - where to buy?

Sauerkraut juice is available in many supermarkets (e.g. Migros , Spar , Aldi , Lidl , Rewe , Edeka , Hofer ), mostly raw and organic. In other supermarkets (e.g. Coop , Denner , Volg ) you will only find the juice sporadically or never. Organic supermarkets (e.g. Alnatura , Denn's Biomarkt ), health food stores and also pharmacies and drugstores often have the healthy drink on offer - and even there it is mostly organically grown and produced.

Making your own sauerkraut juice:

Making sauerkraut juice basically requires the same steps as making sauerkraut. Therefore, you can also find out about the production steps and explanations of the processes for the ingredient ' sauerkraut '.

Prerequisite: To make just under a liter of sauerkraut juice yourself, you need about 250-300 g of sauerkraut and 750 milliliters of tap water as well as a container suitable for fermentation processes. If you plan to ferment more foods using lactic acid fermentation in the future, we recommend buying so-called "fermentation pots." These traditional stone pots are specially designed for fermentation processes, are odorless and easy to clean. They are also suitable for preserving other vegetables such as cucumbers , beetroot and zucchini .

Procedure: Wash the white cabbage and remove any impure or damaged pieces. Finely chop the cabbage and knead well with your hands. Press the pieces tightly into a suitable container and place a weight on top so that the cabbage remains in the pressed state. Add water and make sure that the food to be preserved is always covered. Do not seal the container completely airtight, just so that any gases that are produced can escape, but fermentation still takes place. Fermentation should take place in a warm place for 3-4 days. You can then extract the juice by sieving. To get fresh sauerkraut juice after 24 hours, add about a deciliter of the previous fresh juice to the freshly pressed sauerkraut.

Another simple way to get sauerkraut juice is to simply press the juice from purchased, raw sauerkraut (organic).

Storage:

Freshly squeezed sauerkraut juice will keep for at least 1-2 days in the fridge - but it should be used as fresh as possible. If you buy juice, pay attention to the information on the packaging.

Sauerkraut juice: ingredients - nutritional values - calories:

Sauerkraut juice is extremely low in fat and calories - only 15 kcal and 0.2 g fat are contained in 100 g of the juice. The salt content, however, is relatively high at 747 mg/100g - slightly more is contained in the unpasteurized, raw sauerkraut itself (902 mg/100g). ¹

In addition to the rather high content of table salt and thus sodium , sauerkraut juice contains a significant amount of vitamin K. The content of 26 µg/100g (35% of the daily requirement) can be compared with that of celery (29 µg/100g) and miso (29 µg/100g). Significantly more vitamin K can be found in chard (830 µg/100g). ¹

There are 264 mg of potassium in 100 g of sauerkraut juice - that makes up 13% of the daily requirement. Coconut milk (263 mg/100g) and pak choi (252 mg/100g) contain a similar amount of potassium. At 1,025 mg/100g, raw pistachios contain almost four times as much potassium. ¹

Sauerkraut juice also contains vitamin C (8.2 mg/100g; 10% of the daily requirement). Carrot juice (8.5 mg/100g) and radicchio (8 mg/100g) contain a similar amount. Yellow bell peppers contain particularly high levels of vitamin C at 184 mg/100g. ¹

The complete ingredients of sauerkraut juice, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Health aspects - effects:

What does sauerkraut juice do? Cold sauerkraut drink has a refreshing and invigorating effect. In addition to plenty of vitamin C, it also contains a lot of lactic acid and live lactic acid bacteria, which have a positive effect on digestion and the intestines. ² When should you drink sauerkraut juice? How much sauerkraut juice per day? You can take the natural probiotic, which promotes and stimulates digestion, in an amount of 1-2 deciliters daily before a main meal. This prevents constipation, flatulence and digestive problems. Should you take sauerkraut juice if you are constipated? Sauerkraut juice can also be used to treat acute constipation.

Sauerkraut juice is a good source of the bioactive degradation products of glucosinolates (mustard oil glycosides) such as ascorbigen and isothiocyanates. Both substances have anti-cancer properties. In addition, ascorbigen, which breaks down into vitamin C, which is also anti-carcinogenic, when heated, has an anti-aging effect. ³ Another study confirmed the chemopreventive effect of sauerkraut juice. ⁴

Sauerkraut juice can also be found in some instructions for cleansing cures, weight loss cures and detoxification cures. But caution is advised. Don't just follow a cure blindly, but do your research thoroughly before you start.

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects:

Does sauerkraut juice have side effects? Sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice tend to have high sodium levels due to the manufacturing process. Too much intake can have negative consequences for health, e.g. increased blood pressure and thus indirectly cardiovascular diseases. However, an oversupply of sodium is unlikely through oral intake alone, but is the result of a lack of water or water loss due to poor nutrition or illness. ⁵ Nevertheless, "low-salt" products should be preferred if possible.

Does sauerkraut juice cause diarrhea? The digestive juice acts as a gentle laxative, i.e. it is a juice against constipation, but in large quantities it can cause diarrhea. Therefore, people who are prone to diarrhea should resort to smaller amounts.

Some studies have pointed out the negative effects of ascorbigen. The substance can therefore not only inhibit the development of cancer, but in some cases also promote it - depending on which carcinogen and indole derivative is present. However, the negative effects of ascorbigen could not be confirmed in human studies, and further research is needed to ensure the safety of ascorbigen for humans. ³

Folk medicine - natural medicine:

Does sauerkraut juice help against constipation? Sauerkraut drink is considered a tried and tested home remedy against constipation and other digestive problems.

Occurrence - Origin:

Sauerkraut juice is probably as old as sauerkraut . It is not entirely certain where the exact origin of sauerkraut lies. However, it is assumed that it was first produced in China. It is said that the workers who were involved in the construction of the Great Wall of China in the 3rd century BC ate rice and sauerkraut. The sour cabbage eventually travelled to Europe with migrating Mongolian tribes, where Hippocrates in ancient Greece praised it as a healthy and healing food. At the end of the 19th century, sauerkraut began to be produced industrially. ⁶

General information:

Sauerkraut juice belongs to the group of foods fermented by lactic acid fermentation. The preservation method of lactic acid fermentation is one of the oldest in the world.

Alternative names:

Sauerkraut juice (sauerkraut juice, sauerkraut juice) is sometimes called sauerkraut drink. In English it is called sauerkraut juice, kraut juice or pickled cabbage juice.

Keywords for use:

Another possible application of sauerkraut juice is in the cosmetics sector. Homemade sauerkraut juice face masks and toners have a natural anti-inflammatory effect and can therefore treat skin irritations and redness. The masks are also said to help against pimples, age spots and expression lines. ⁷

Literature - Sources: