In Russia, sauerkraut was traditionally harvested in the autumn-winter period. Crispy, aromatic sauerkraut today remains the queen of the festive and everyday table: simple, without additives, or pickled with carrots or beets, elegant, with thinly chopped onions and sunflower oil. And how many dishes can you make from sauerkraut! This is cabbage soup, and Ukrainian borscht, and Polish bigos, Czech stewed sauerkraut with smoked meats, pies, and pies, and dumplings, and dumplings, and salads, and much, much more.
The benefits and harms of sauerkraut
Why is sour cabbage so fond of people? In addition to its wonderful taste, sauerkraut has a number of useful properties, making it not only a welcome guest on the table, but also a doctor. Since ancient times, sauerkraut has been valued for its ability to strengthen the body's resistance to various viruses and colds, which is due to the high content of sauerkraut (vitamin C).
In addition, fermented cabbage contains large quantities of such important B6 and B9. Also, sauerkraut contains a rare one that promotes the regeneration of stomach tissues, that is, it has the property of preventing and healing stomach and duodenal ulcers.
Sauerkraut also contains micro-macroelements necessary for normal human activity: these are magnesium and iodine, phosphorus and zinc, iron and calcium, and others. It is a rich source of protein, and pyridoxine (vitamin B6) contained in this product promotes the breakdown of proteins, making cabbage an easily digestible product. In combination with vitamin B9 (folic acid), pyridoxine helps to normalize blood cholesterol levels. And together with the ability of sauerkraut to improve the functioning of the digestive system due to its high fiber content, purify the blood, normalize the activity of the pancreas, with an extremely low starch and glucose content, this makes sauerkraut a product that is not only not harmful, but also indicated for daily use by people. suffering from diabetes.
Also, sauerkraut is useful for another endocrine disorder - obesity. The fact is that white cabbage contains which is known for its property to prevent the formation of fatty deposits, blocking the breakdown of carbohydrates entering the body. But this substance, alas, cannot fight the already existing fatty deposits. In addition, hydroxymalonic acid is destroyed during heat treatment, so sauerkraut is best consumed raw to combat excess weight.
Despite the fact that sauerkraut is indisputably beneficial for health, use it in large quantities for people suffering from gastritis with high acidity and gastric and duodenal ulcers during periods of exacerbation, for pregnant and lactating women, as well as for patients who have undergone surgical intervention in the organs abdominal cavity, as excessive consumption of sauerkraut provokes intestinal fermentation, flatulence, heartburn and reflux.
How to cook sauerkraut
The easiest way of cooking - thinly sliced white cabbage is placed in a glass or enamel container, stacked quite tightly, and poured with cold water. Leave the container in a dark, warm place for 3-4 days. After that, the container with cabbage can be put into the refrigerator.
To speed up the fermentation process, table salt is used. They do it this way: finely chop white cabbage, sprinkle with a little salt and rub it with your hands. After that, it is placed in a glass or enamel dish, poured with cold water and left in a dark, warm place for 1-2 days. It should be remembered that cabbage, like many other products, is better not to add salt than to oversalt, since the benefits of such cabbage will be questionable.
What to cook from sauerkraut
This dish takes a long time to prepare and the longer it is cooked, the tastier it becomes. To prepare bigos in Polish, you need fresh and sauerkraut in proportions to taste, dried or fresh mushrooms, fresh and smoked meat of various origins, onions, carrots and tomato paste, as well as vegetable oil or lard. First, heat oil or lard in a cauldron or stewpan, stew fresh meat cut into small pieces, add smoked meat cut into small pieces, stew a little, add onion and carrots cut into strips, thinly sliced fresh cabbage, chopped mushrooms. You can add a little water in the process, if necessary. Simmer until soft, add sauerkraut and tomato paste, salt, spices, sugar to taste, mix thoroughly, add water if necessary, cover and simmer, remove the lid from time to time and stir, adding water if necessary. Simmer for 2 to 12 hours.
Such dumplings are a traditional dish of the Ural cuisine. To prepare dumplings, take a portion of the dough according to your favorite recipe, sauerkraut and mushrooms. Fry cabbage, mix with boiled or fried mushrooms, add salt and spices to taste. Dumplings are prepared in the usual way: sculpt and cook. You can fry raw dumplings, put in a pot, pour in a little broth and simmer in the oven.
We take a portion of yeast dough according to your favorite recipe, sauerkraut, you can half with fresh cabbage, optionally tomato paste, carrots, mushrooms. While the dough comes up, simmer fresh cabbage until soft (if desired, with coarse grated carrots and chopped mushrooms), add sauerkraut, if desired, tomato paste and simmer until tender. Divide the dough into two parts, one of which is slightly larger than the other. We roll out most of the dough into a layer, put it in a mold, on top of the filling, cover with the second part of the dough, rolled into a layer, pinch the edges with a pigtail. Or we sculpt pies. We bake at a temperature of 200 degrees for about half an hour.
For cooking this dish, we take sauerkraut in half with fresh, beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, boiled beans, salted bacon, tomato paste, vegetable oil and garlic. Heat oil in a cauldron, put onion and carrots cut into strips, fresh cabbage, diced potatoes, simmer until half cooked. Separately boil or bake the beetroot in the peel. Add sauerkraut to the cauldron and simmer until soft, adding a little water if necessary. Add the beans, fill the prepared foods with hot water, bring to a boil and boil for about 5 minutes. Peel the beets, rub on a coarse grater, add tomato paste, salt, spices, sugar to taste. Add this mixture to boiling vegetable soup. Add the lard pounded with garlic and remove from heat. Let the borscht brew for about 10 minutes, but you cannot cover with a lid while the dish is hot, as the borscht will certainly lose color.
