My Mother's Sauerkraut/Surkål

What? There's some left?


My parents used to visit us almost every summer, and my mother always brought a supply of sauerkraut, to make sure we had enough to go with our Christmas lunch and for other special occasion dinners. This was the shop bought kind, vacuumed packed, but still delicious. But what to do when they couldn’t come one summer?

At the time we had a general store and thought we'd hit the jackpot when we found jars of sauerkraut on sale at the Cash and Carry. It lived up to its name. It was sour, but alas, otherwise almost tasteless. It was probably proper sauerkraut though, made the traditional way, using just cabbage and salt, and the fermentation method. I wanted my Norwegian Surkål!

I'd kept my mother updated on my search for the elusive accompaniment to the perfect cooked dinner, when she came across an old recipe which she had slightly adapted. I still have the Christmas card she sent, with the recipe attached.

Mother's Sauerkraut

1kg white cabbage (or red)
1-2 apples (on the sharp side)
6 pinches salt
3 tsps sugar
3 tsps caraway seeds
200 ml (7 fl oz) water
1 ½ tbsp white vinegar (the pickling kind)

Use a thick-bottomed, large saucepan.

Remove stalk and finely shred cabbage. Peel, core, then chop apples. Put a third of the cabbage into pan, then add a third of apples, salt, sugar and caraway seeds, repeating twice more. Mix vinegar with water and pour over. Bring to the boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Keep the lid on and just shake pan gently now and then. Don't stir until the end of the cooking time.
Add more sugar if needed, but sparingly.

Tip: Grate an apple into the sauerkraut before serving, to make it extra nice.


Did you know... that sauerkraut is an aphrodisiac? Apparently it has been scientifically proven!