The Capsule Pantry: What to Do with Sauerkraut to Make You Fall in Love with Fermented Cabbage

If you think you don't like sauerkraut, hear me out

The Capsule Pantry in one sentence: Reduce your food waste by “thinking like a chef” with highly flexible recipes based on a capsule pantry of just 50 ingredients.

Hands up who hates Sauerkraut?

I’m imagining a few of you waving at me right now…

I get it. If the only way you’ve ever eaten sauerkraut is straight from the jar alongside a hunk of meat, then yeah, you might hate it. If you’re of Central European descent, you’ll know what sort of dish I mean.

But there is so, so much more to it than a love-it-or-hate-it side dish.

I freaking love sauerkraut but I admit, I love funky flavors. I also love how awesome sauerkraut is for your belly - its probiotics are off the charts.

I want you to love sauerkraut too and I have just the recipes to help you on your way. In almost all of them, the sauerkraut is cooked which takes some of those funky flavors out.

In fact, I love sauerkraut so much - and the flexibility of it - I’ve just added it to the Capsule Pantry ingredient list.

Let’s go to funky town.

Should you make your own sauerkraut?

Although my homemade kimchi - sauerkraut’s spicy Korean cousin - has always turned out great, I’ve never had such luck with making sauerkraut from scratch so I buy it ready-made. If you can, buy a whole head. You can shred it when you need to but also keep it whole for recipes like Sarma cabbage rolls - see below.

If you want to try your hand at making sauerkraut, let me know how you get on and which recipe you used!

Key: Bold = Capsule Pantry ingredients

Recipe no. 1 - Sarma rolls