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This Red Beet and Cabbage Sauerkraut recipe is a nice twist on traditional sauerkraut. Grated beets add a beautiful ruby-red color which is balanced and mellowed by the crunchy, mild sweetness of cabbage with hints of garlic and caraway. This versatile sauerkraut will add a probiotic-rich pop of flavor to any dish. Toss it on a salad, pile it on top of avocado toast, or slather it on a burger.
I wanted to report back on how our first batch of this recipe turned out. In a word: “dee-lish!”
—Bethann
Enjoy, the vibrant red beets, with their
Earthy notes.
And,
Numerous health benefits.
Making this beetroot sauerkraut recipe absolutely delicious.
I also like to call this recipe Passion Pink Sauerkraut.
Health Benefits of Beets
Beets are an amazing source of minerals and unique health-boosting nutrients. These grungy-looking roots are sweet, impart a beautiful ruby-red color to your sauerkraut and pack tons of flavor underneath their rugged exterior.
They are a wonderful tonic for the liver, working to purify the blood. The plant pigment that gives beets their rich, purple-crimson color is betacyanin; a powerful agent thought to suppress the development of some types of cancer. I can’t say enough about my love for beets.
And, I’ll bet you didn’t know this.
Studies show that beetroot juice boosts your stamina. A 2009 study shows that the nitrate contained in beetroot juice leads to an increase in oxygen uptake, making exercise less tiring. Participants in this study drank 500 ml of the juice per day for six consecutive days before completing the tests.
Yes, a serving of beetroot sauerkraut alone will not get close to delivering 500 ml of beetroot juice, but it still is imparting a wide range of benefits.
Fermented beets on their own are also a great way to enjoy their many benefits.
If you enjoy beets in your sauerkraut, my Fermentation Made Easy! Mouthwatering Sauerkraut book contains two recipes rich in beets: Cardamom Beet Sauerkraut and Rosemary Beet Sauerkraut.
Just the color these sauerkrauts add to your plate, especially in the dead of winter, is enough to brighten any day.
Note: If this is your first time making sauerkraut, learn how to choose the best cabbage for sauerkraut, and use my tutorial:
Absolutely the Best Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe {In a Jar},
with its step-by-step photography, tips, and additional fermentation information first, then return to this recipe.
And, once you are comfortable making sauerkraut in a jar and want to make larger batches follow: The SureFire Sauerkraut Method… In a Crock: 7 Easy Steps.
Key Ingredients for Beet Sauerkraut
This sauerkraut, also rich in vitamin C, is made from beets, cabbage, garlic, and caraway seeds.
- Red beets: The use of red beetroot results in the best color and flavor for your finished sauerkraut. Golden beets tend to turn brown. Stripped beets can lose their color turning to a dull gray.
- Ideally, use fresh beets, purchased with their tops still on. Older beets can be tough, hard to grate, and lacking in flavor.
- Green cabbage is used in this recipe, though red cabbage (purple cabbage) works great.
- Minced garlic and caraway seeds beautifully meld with the earthy tones of the beets for a lip-smacking flavor.
- Substitutions? Feel free to use red cabbage (purple cabbage) in place of green or a fifty-fifty mix. If you want to use grated ginger instead of garlic, replace the caraway seeds with anise seeds for a lovely flavor combination. Or, check out my red cabbage sauerkraut recipe.
Major Success Tips for Beetroot Sauerkraut
It’s the ratio of beets to cabbage in this recipe that makes the fermentation process in this recipe succeed.
Beets have the highest sugar content of all vegetables. This is not a bad thing, but too large a quantity of shredded beets in your sauerkraut shifts your ferment towards yeast and alcohol.
Not what any of us wants. Use the right amount.
- Keep grated (shredded) under 25% of the total weight for the recipe. For an 800-gram batch (1 quart/1 liter) use 200 grams (7 ounces) of shredded beets.
- Peel your beets. This will remove the “dirt” taste and any toughness in the beets. If I’m making an extra-large batch of sauerkraut, I pull out my food processor. Otherwise, use your hand grater, and glove, if you don’t want a red hand for a day or two.
- Want to remove the red stain from your hands? If your hands become stained with beetroot, rub them with lemon juice and salt before then washing them with soap and water.
- Don’t like the garlic smell on your hands? Many swear by the stainless steel trick. Rub soapy hands on the faucet (and then dry it with a towel). Clean hands, shiny faucet. Me? I just wash my hands immediately with soap and water and it’s fine.
- Lots of brown foam during fermentation? Open your jar and use a spoon to remove what you can.
- Browning dull colors in your finished sauerkraut? With beet sauerkraut, you may notice—if conditions aren’t optimal, or beets are super old—the color might leach out, making the top inch or so of your sauerkraut turn a bit brown.
This is oxidation and it can occur during fermentation or when stored for too long in your refrigerator. Just scoop off the browned section and enjoy the goodness below. Ideally, eat sauerkraut containing beets within 5-6 months of fermentation. - Fermentation weight? The recipe calls for a small 4-ounce (125 ml) “Jelly” canning jar which is used as a weight to hold the fermenting sauerkraut below the brine to keep an anaerobic environment. For other ideas on what to use as a weight see: Fermentation Weights: Keep Your Ferment Below the Brine
Recipes that use Red Beet Sauerkraut
If you want to highlight the flavors of this mineral-rich, vitamin C-rich sauerkraut in a dish, check out these two recipes.
Delicious Sauerkraut Salads with Local Vancouver Island Ingredients
Fermented Beet and Orange Sauerkraut Salad Recipe [Beat the Winter Blues]
For more ideas, explore my ever-growing list of ways to enjoy your sauerkraut.
The Five Tools I Grab Every Time I Make Sauerkraut
Red Beet and Cabbage {Passion Pink} Sauerkraut
Red Beet and Cabbage Sauerkraut
EQUIPMENT
- Kitchen scale, ideally digital
- Cutting board and large knife
- Large mixing bowl
- Vegetable peeler, grater and measuring spoons
- 1-quart (L) wide-mouth canning jar or similar sized jar
- 4-ounce (125 ml) canning jar (jelly jar) (or other "weight")
- Wide-mouth plastic storage cap (or lid and rim that comes with jar)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium head fresh green cabbage, 2 ½–3 pounds (1 kg)
- 2-3 medium beets (200 grams)
- 2-3 garlic cloves (20 grams)
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 tablespoon (16 grams) iodine-free salt (fine-grain)
INSTRUCTIONS
- SET UP. Gather Supplies and Set Up ScaleUsing a digital scale to make your sauerkraut will ensure that you add the correct amount of salt for a safe fermentation environment. Set it to grams, the easiest measurement in which to make calculations.You don't want to include the weight of your bowl in your measurements, so either tare (zero) your scale or write down the weight of your bowl.
- CHOP. Prep Your Vegetables and CabbageYou will need 800 grams (1¾ pounds, 28 ounces) of vegetables and cabbage in your bowl.When making sauerkraut, you first prepare the flavoring ingredients—grated beets, minced garlic, carawy seeds—then add sliced cabbage. This allows you to add only as much sliced cabbage as necessary to hit 800 grams (1¾ pounds, 28 ounces) on the scale.Peel and grate 200 grams of beets, mince garlic, and place in your bowl along with the caraway seeds.Discard the limp outer leaves of the cabbage, setting aside one of the cleaner ones for use during the SUBMERGE step.Quarter, then slice cabbage crosswise into thin ribbons. I leave the core in because I find it helps to hold the layers of cabbage together making the slicing job easier.Add sliced cabbage to your bowl until the weight of your vegetables and cabbage is 800 grams (1¾ pounds, 28 ounces).
- SALT. Create Your BrineSalt pulls water out of the cabbage and vegetables to create brine where the good bacteria (mainly lactobacillus) can grow and proliferate and the bad bacteria die off.Sprinkle vegetables and cabbage with 1 tablespoon (16 grams) of salt and mix well.If you want the salt to do most of the work for you, you can leave your salted and well-mixed bowl of cabbage sit for 20-60 minutes. Then, massage the vegetables with strong hands until moist, creating the brine. You should be able to tilt the bowl to the side and see a good-sized puddle of brine, about 2–3 inches in diameter. This process can take anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes.
- PACK. Pack Mixture into JarNow that you have a puddle of brine, it's time to pack the cabbage mixture into your jar.Grab handfuls of the salty, juicy cabbage mixture and pack them into your quart-sized (liter) wide-mouth canning jar, periodically pressing the mixture down tightly with your fist or a large spoon so that the brine rises above the top of the mixture and no air pockets remain.Be sure to leave at least 1 inch of space between the top of the cabbage and the top of the jar. Because we weighed out just the right amount of cabbage to fit in your jar, this should happen automatically.Pour any brine left in your mixing bowl into the jar and scrape out any loose bits stuck to the sides of the bowl or to the side of your jar.Lastly, wipe down the outside of your jar and push down any loose bits stuck to the sides of the bowl or the side of your jar.
- SUBMERGE. Hold Ferment Below BrineNow make sure your fermenting mixture is in a safe anaerobic (no air) environment. This means that you need to keep the cabbage mixture submerged in the brine while it ferments. Floaties Trap. Take that cabbage leaf you saved during the SETUP step, tear it down to just fit in the jar, and place it over the surface of the packed cabbage.Forgot to save a cabbage leaf? No problem. You can fold a narrow piece of parchment paper to size or even cut an old plastic lid to size. Place the 4-ounce jelly jar—or whatever you are using as a weight—on top of the cabbage leaf, right side up with its lid removed.Lightly (to allow for CO2 gases to escape), screw on the white plastic storage lid.I like to label my jars using green or blue painter's tape and a permanent marker. I note the flavor of sauerkraut I made and the date I started fermenting.
- FERMENT. Ferment for 1 to 4 WeeksTime now for the friendly bacteria to do their work while you watch and wait. Can you wait 7 days to taste the tangy crunch? Place your jar of fermenting sauerkraut in a shallow bowl (to catch the brine that may leak out during the first week of fermentation), out of direct sunlight. Wait for 1 week before opening to sample.The jar on the left is Day 1; right, Day 5.For what to expect as your sauerkraut ferments, see SALTY Cabbage to SOUR Sauerkraut: Fermentation Signs to MonitorShould the brine level fall (very unlikely) and remain below the level of the sauerkraut during this first week,dilute 1 Tbsp of salt in 2 cups of filtered waterand pour some of this brine over the sauerkraut (removing the little jar first) until it just covers the mixture. Put the little jar back in, screw the lid on lightly and let the fermentation continue.Don’t worry if the brine disappears after the 7- to 10-day mark. By this time, enough lactic acid has been produced to create a safe environmentYou can ferment your sauerkraut for up to 4 weeks. The longer you ferment it, the greater the number and variety of beneficial bacteria that can be produced.
- STORE. Store in Refrigerator for Up to 1 YearAfter fermenting your sauerkraut, it's ready to go into the refrigerator and ready to be enjoyed.Rinse off the outside of the jar. You can take the little jar out, or whatever you used as a fermentation weight. Clean the rim if necessary (sometimes it can get sticky from the brine that overflows), and screw the lid back on tightly. Add to your label how long you fermented the contents.Enjoy a forkful or two of your sauerkraut with your meals. It will continue to ferment—aging like a fine wine—but at a much slower rate than before.If the flavors are too intense, leave the jar in your fridge for a month or two and then eat it. You will be amazed at how the flavors have changed.If successfully fermented (tastes and smells good), your sauerkraut can be kept preserved in your refrigerator for up to a year.
Notes and Tips
- When adding the grated beets to the scale, I keep an eye on the weight and try to keep it under 25% of the total weight for the recipe. For a 1-quart (liter) batch: 200 grams (7 ounces ). This should control the growth of yeasts.
- Peel beets first to get rid of the “dirt” taste.
- If your hands become stained with beetroot, rub them with lemon juice and salt before washing them with soap and water.
- If your sauerkraut loses its color and turns a bit brown, just scoop off the browned section and enjoy the goodness below.
- Try to eat sauerkraut containing beets within 5-6 months of fermentation.
The Book That Takes The Guesswork Out Of Making Sauerkraut
Struggling to make sauerkraut with good flavor and no mold? Discover my 7-step process to ferment delicious sauerkraut that you’re not afraid to eat.
Passion Pink Sauerkraut Recipe PDF
FREE PDF Download
Use the button below to get your own PDF copy of the Passion Pink Sauerkraut Recipe.
Click to Download the above PDF for My Passion Pink Sauerkraut Recipe with its useful set of tips and Gourmet Pairing Options on the backside. NO OPTI-IN required. And, please accept my apologies for the off-colors on the first page. I haven’t yet been able to prevent that during file conversion. 🙁
Last update on 2026-02-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Nutritionfacts.org published a number of (scientific data based) informative videos about beets I’m sure will interest you (for one, beets help the body use oxygen more efficiently–so much so that one could “dope” with them to “artificially” enhance athletic performance):
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nutritionfactsorg+beets
Thank YOU so very much for sharing these links. I had not come across them. This just pushes my Beet Blogs to the top of the pile.
I’ve always been fascinated with the mineral content of beets but never knew of how beet juice can oxygenate the blood. Now to find out what fermenting beet juice does to boost its benefits.
I just made this beet sauerkraut today. Thanks for the recipe!
Lovely! And, you’re welcome. Enjoy. It’s a favorite of mine.
So Rick, have you tasted it yet? Would love to hear a follow-up report. I just made my first jar of this one today. It’s *almost* as pretty as yours!
No, sorry. And I don’t think I will. I went on a business trip for a week and when I came back, the whole top layer had turned brown. 😕 I think maybe the cabbage leaf on top or the little jar was contaminated. And I worked so hard to keep everything sanitary.
Rick, The browning you have experienced is probably just from the beets losing their color. This can happen with some batches – that use beets – and will happen with all a several months after putting it in the fridge. I don’t think it is from contamination. Feel free to send a picture. You don’t need to be super sanitary with fermentation and sterilize like you need to do with hot water bath canning.
Here’s one…
It’s fine. Scoop of the browned top and enjoy the goodness below.
I scooped out the brown part and you’re right, the rest is delicious! I noticed that the cabbage leaf that I used on top to seal the “brew” from oxygen had soaked up some coloring from the beets! I’ll post a picture, it’s pretty cool.
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Beautiful artwork. Thanks for posting!
Oh dear. I’m such a dunce. I’ve started the recipe carefully weighing the veg and just realized that you don’t give weight in the salt nor do you give what kind of salt to use. I’ve added a teaspoon of Redmond fine sea salt. Just hoping you are online to answer the question of what kind of salt. I’ll set this aside for a while to see if you respond. Thanks.
I just realized I could research this out. I am considering this fine sea salt. It should be a 2% brine. Apparently for 28 oz of veg the brine should actually be 2% of that weight. That is a half ounce. I did the conversion and found it to be 2.88 tsp. So this recipe is using fine salt. Yes! It would be great for us fermenters to give either the salt you use or the weight of salt to use. This recipe looks great. I am looking forward to tasting it.
Redmond’s salt is great. My favorite is Himalayan Pink. 1 tablespoon. The sauerkraut creates its own brine with the salt you add.
You caught me testing out Kraut Source cap and making Raisin Chutney :-).
And 2.88 tsp – good work – will also work. It’s in the recipe, you just missed it. If you like to weigh your salt, work in grams – 800 for a quart jar and add 16 grams salt. More here: http://www.makesauerkraut.com/salt-by-weight/ Thanks for the tip though. I’ll update the recipes.
Easy trick for salt amount: multiply whatever weight the cabbage mix is by 0.02 (two percent). Eg If I have 1100 grams of cabbage: 1100 x 0.02 = 22 grams of salt.
I have the 0.02 written on the side of my main sauerkraut making bowl as a reminder and the bowls weight (so I can weigh it when full of cabbage without taring the scales).
SOOO true and such good tips. I didn’t catch on to how easy this was until I finally purchased a digital scale over a year ago. More here: http://www.makesauerkraut.com/salt-by-weight/
I wanted to report back on how our first batch of this recipe turned out. In a word – “dee-lish!” I made 1 qt. At 1 wk the garlic odor was pretty overpowering but if you could get past that, it wasn’t in the tasting, just the ‘nose”. Let it sit another week and it was less strong, flavor still good, even better. Especially when you got a bite with caraway. So we moved it to the fridge at that point. 2 weeks later we tried it again and the strong garlic odor was about gone. So is most of the ‘kraut, as it is so tasty! ha ha. So for our tastes I’ll probably reduce the garlic by a tad, and increase the caraway a bit. Getting more fresh cabbage next week and will add our own beets. Thanks for the recipe!
The beauty of fermentation. Once you have the basics down, tweak and create away to your liking. Thanks so much for sharing the week-by-week flavor development. You’re welcome for the recipe and the next batch – with your own beets – with be doubly dee-lish!
Hi again Holly,
It’s me Heidi from Sydney Australia! This is my second attempt, I used your exact measurements this time to a T! I had massive of brine this time I even took a little out?… does this look ok?… I am putting them in a cooler bag- you call it- esky to me, as it is unbelievabley hot here right now, but I couldn’t wait until Autumn 🍂 it is way too far away! Any tips please?
This time I will wait a full 2 weeks before I attempt to remove the weight and pickle pipe top to taste and put in fridge I think! I should then remove the cabbage leaf from the top too I guess?
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Looking Lovely!!! Beautiful color. Smart to take some brine out. You did fine. Make sure for the first 3 days, they have some “warmth” – 20C ish. The bacteria that establish a balanced and safe environment need a bit of warmth.
Then give them a cooler home. Let me know what temps you have them at after the first 3 days and then we’ll decide how long to ferment.
Dearest Holly,
Ok this is only Day 2 the house has been over 30degs, I have managed to keep the temp in this esky bag to around 26degs or 79 Fahrenheit (your speak!) it dropped to this last night, I am just worried the pipe pop lids are bulging one has had a little wee as you can see! Are they safe is the question? Worried they might explode as there is too much brine now, should I just leave them?…
Xx Heidi 😇
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WOW! You do have high temps. The pickle pipes are fine, even with a little “wee.” :-). Crack open that one that had the brine ooze out in case it got sealed closed by the brine – just give it a little squeeze. They are safe. At the temps you have, I would sample at day 5 and see if you have some tang. You will probably do a fairly short ferment at your temps. 7-10 days max. Let me know how the flavors are. In the Autumn, you can ferment for a longer time period.
Hi again Holly,
As you might be able to see my two jars have been leaking out quite a bit of brine from the pickle pipe lids! It has been 4 days now the temp in the coolly bag has been between 23 – 27degCelcius / 76-80 degs Fahrenheit I thought I would wait a full two weeks, what do you think?….
As you can see the pickle pipe lids are wanting to pop off!… lol 😂
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Hello Heidi, Warm and active. Have a sample on Day 5-7 and see how if it has some tang. If yes, call them done. If not, repack and try another week.
Thank you Holly, i didn’t think I would get a reply after your email saying you have been inundated with a deluge of snow! My hubby and I have been to Vancouver Island twice and absolutely loved it, we went to the Bouchart Gardens and the ancient forest 🌳 with the second tallest trees in the world 🌎 we loved it ❤
Ok Holly, I decided to taste them today day 8, they tasted good albeit a bit salty I thought, but my taste buds are a bit confused as I have been eating KimChi which is hot and I think salty? And copious qtys of milk Kefir every day too! I am bouncing with probiotics right now! Lol! No but I decided to clean the jars off, and take the weights and the cabbage leaf out of the jars and put on a plastic lid and put them in the fridge for a while, maybe ill test them again in a months time? These are the picys below, we have been having soaring temperatures here – 40dgs for 2 days, although I have been keeping them cooler I just got nervous to leave them out any longer! Hope they will be ok, not sure if they are supposed to be quite salty? I use Himalayan pink sea salt! 2 tablespoons in double the qtys of your recipe!
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Lovely color development! Thank you for the pictures. Your sauerkraut shouldn’t be overly salty. See how they taste with a clean palate. 🙂 If they are still too salty, let me now and we can strategize for future batches. Enjoy the goodness of all your hard work.
Todays subject: “Exploding Passion Pink Sauerkraut! Holly, I’m wondering if you can give me your expertise opinion as to what happened with a jar of my freshly made, Pink Passion Sauerkraut?
I processed beets, carrot and cabbage; along with all the other ingredients that this recipe calls for and placed both jars of sauerkraut in my kitchen pantry; just yesterday.
This morning, both the lids of my jars popped. This happened because I tightened the screw caps to firmly; not allowing the fermentation gases to escape.
One of the jars exploded so much it left a huge dent/crease in the jar lid!
I got the jar into the kitchen sink, placed a wet dish rag over it and released the rest of the pressure from in the jar.
When I took the screw cap off the jar the sauerkraut in the jar continued to push its way out of the jar. I cleaned up the mess of cabbage and repacked it back into the jar.
My question to you, Holly: What the heck happened and is this particular batch of sauerkraut, still good?
Thanks!
All is good. Thank goodness those jars did not actually explode. The power of microbes! You probably were a little high on the beets/carrots – and/or they were super nutritious – and the sugars in them made for an especially active ferment. Enjoy the fickle nature of fermentation.
I agree, beets are lil round power houses of nutrition.
I used three medium beets, plus, one carrot for my two quarts of
Kraut.
I will add some more water with a pinch of hymalain salt to my jars and keep the screw caps, LOOSE!
Thank you once again for your help, Holly.
Yes, Thank God my jars did not explode. Like I said earlier: the one jar had so much pressure in it that it creased the lid due to all the pressure!
I used three medium beets and one carrot. I was able to get 2 quarts out of the amount of cabbage I used. I have not purchased a scale as of yet to measure the correct amount of vegetables and so I’ve been guessing.
The electronic scale that you recommend on your website is my next investment; in order to weigh the proper amount of cabbage.
I did purchase a 12 inch Bamboo Cabbage Tamper from Amazon and it is amazing. Now I can really pack my cabbage and there is next to no space for air bubbles to form!
Thanks again Holly for all your help
I’ve never seen a lid crease before. WOW! What powerful ferments you’re creating. Enjoy the new scale when you’re able to purchase it. Smart taking it a bit at a time to gather all your fermentation tools. And, You’re Welcome! I’m happy to help. 🙂
Hi– Would using golden beets be any different than red? I think it would be quite pretty if they don’t turn brown!
Sadly, they won’t retain their color and their flavor is a bit more subtle. Red beets also can turn brown but months into storage and mainly in the section at the top of the jar that has a greater exposure to air.
I know this is an older post, but hopefully you’ll see this. I just had a quick question about peeling beers – when we are putting our beers up for the winter, we normally cook them before peeling and just slide the peels off. Will that work for kraut, or will that mess up the fermentation process?
Hello Sheri, You gut answer is right. Cooking them will kill off the beneficial bacteria and not result in a proper ferment. I tried doing so with my fermented beets post because I saw so many recipes calling for cooked beets. Did not work! I had a salty, molding mess.
Thanks!
Hi Holly,
I found a suggestion on the web and I wonder what you think of it. It’s a way to make low salt sauerkraut, and the idea is to not add salt at the beginning, as you do in the usual process, but instead use some of the liquid ferment juice from a previous batch of sauerkraut. The lactic acid from beneficial bacteria is really what preserves the vegetable, and salt is used at the beginning really only to stave off harmful bacteria until the lactic acid concentration increases high enough. In other words, you rely on the developed colonies of bacteria in the starter juice to start the fermentation quick enough to avoid spoiling. It’s true that this juice contains some salt, and that’s okay, because the total amount of salt in the batch will be much lower than the usual. What do you think?
I am not a fan of low-salt sauerkraut because all my readings indicate the importance of the proper salinity levels (1.5-2.5%) for the various bacteria to properly pass though the necessary stages and I think flavor and texture are altered – to the negative side.
I have no fear of mineral-rich salts and think of them as my mineral supplement. The bacteria found in a batch of finished sauerkraut are different that the bacteria that initiate fermentation. This article shows that nicely: http://www.meatsandsausages.com/fermenting-pickling/sauerkraut/fermentation
Though… I do try to keep an open mind and will probably experiment one day with a low-salt sauerkraut because so many ask for it. I wrote an article on why I don’t use starters, to include brine: http://www.makesauerkraut.com/starter-cultures-not-used/
If you try your suggestion, do let us know how it turns out.
Hi Holly,
Thanks for your amazing website! Such a font of information!! Although you have answered so many of the questions I had already, for example how much salt to use etc etc, I wonder if you could clear up one further issue for me? I intend to buy some mason jars with the pickling pipes airlock lids. As I understand it, the lids allow for the escape of fermentation gases, but prevent the ingress of air. If that is the case, what is the rationale behind keeping the fermenting vegetables under the surface of the brine, since the atmosphere above the brine level should very rapidly become anoxic and prevent any growth of mold or other baddies? I was hoping if I bought this kit, I could dispense with the whole cabbage leaf plus fermentation weight thing. Here’s hoping!!
It’s not just preventing air exposure. Submersion in brine is also necessary to set up the home for the bacteria to do their work. They do eat dry sauerkraut! Bacteria are like sponges; they soak up wet matter. I talk more about why you need a weight with an airlock in this post: https://www.makesauerkraut.com/fermentation-lids/
Hi, Holly. You are simply amazing. Thank you SO much!
You wrote: “Time for me to develop a fermented beetroot juice recipe… in due time.”
We’re all looking forward to this. Is it time?
Thank you for asking, but HELP! Not yet. My total focus in on finishing my eBook.
However, I’m finding a perfect match with Fermented Beets (prepared julienne, flavored with garlic). Eat the beets, sip the brine along the way. Delicious! I’ll add the fermented beetroot juice to my list, however. Will have to “borrow” my juicer that just got sold to a friend. 🙂
https://www.makesauerkraut.com/fermented-beets/
Just finished eating my first jar of passion pink kraut which I started March 3, 2018. This was probably the best kraut I ever made. Now I’m waiting for my beets to grow to make more. The flavor kept getting better and better each week. My fermentation skills have been greatly improved by reading and following your instructions. Weighing the veggies and calculating the correct amount of salt was the best advice; your pre-calculated charts right behind that. Thanks so much.
Hello Barbara and THANK YOU for your kind feedback. The best thing about weighing is consistent results and also being able to tweak future batches to your liking. I’m happy to hear that you’re hooked on the flavors. Keep on improving those skills. It’s a fun journey. 🙂
hey holly! first of all: thank you for all the recipes. last year i went for the one-jar-sauerkraut recipe, it was sour, tangy, and soooo crispy! homemade sauerkraut is truly the best. i read day after day about fermenting and read all your recipes, i found a second hand beautiful vintage crock on an online auction site and bought it. i made the original recipe of yours fitted into my size of crock and we were eating literally that wonderful sauerkraut through the whole winter. now, since autumn has become, it is high time to make another batch of your sauerkraut recipe. this time i voted for this passion pink kraut, but i am wondering to make another batch, but not sure to make the kimchi or the baseball style. maybe i am gonna sleep over and make the decision tomorrow! anyway, you’re the best!
Thank you for your beautiful note. Warms my heart. 🙂 My vote? Kimchi-Style Sauerkraut. Yummm!
So excited to find your website, via the UltimatePickleJar Dotcom site. I ordered the small 2 jar complete set from them to start. I also am printing out this entire page from your site because I need the info in my kitchen. LOL We love beets and this might be my first recipe to start, when my PicklePusher stuff arrives. More later…from Ramona, Calif
🙂 I’m happy you found your way here. Beets are so good fermented in many ways. Let me know when you’re ready to be directed to more fermented beets recipes or if you need any help once you get your PicklePushers.
Thats nice Holly, thank you. I haven’t gotten my stuff yet but it has been shipped. Soon I can start.
Hello Holly,
First of all, thanks for your website and all your very helpful information. I have just finished my second batch of the sure fire recipe (but I didn’t use any carrots).
I am looking at the Passion Pink recipe and wondered why it only calls for a tablespoon of salt instead of 2% of the weight of the vegetables. I suppose that 2% of 800g of veg which is 16g is the same or very close to a tablespoon. I looked through some of the comments but didn’t see any discussion about this point.
Anyhow, thanks again for the wonderful resource. I will also try the kimchi style recipe.
I’ve vacillated between making everyone learn the % rule or giving the tablespoon measurement. Yes, that tablespoon is close to the 16 grams. I have more on weighing salt in this post: https://www.makesauerkraut.com/salt-by-weight/
I’m making the Passion Pink kraut. I’ve already made the basic kraut. Why does the beet kraut only ferment for 7 days?
I tell people to first try it at 7 days. Ideally, it ferments for 3-4 weeks. Beets, with their high levels of sugar, will ferment faster.