I love hearing that I’m not alone about the sauerkraut… most folk who like fermented foods love sauerkraut… I will never be a fan.

You’ll have to let me know what you think! (and how you enjoy eating it) I used wide-mouth quart jars.

I LOVE it!!

Purple-cabbage sauerkraut is outstanding. It’s sweeter than green-cabbage sauerkraut. Although the fragrance is the same. Even some kiddos like it.

My batch was an experiment. I wanted to see if it would work. Experiment success!

PS about the litmus tester idea. Most tutorials say to save one of the outside cabbage leaves as a cap to keep floaties to a minimum. You could use purple cabbage leaves in your ferment as pH indicators either on top of or in the brine. I think it would work really well for white cauliflower. Now I’m curious to see if purple cauliflower responds the same. I have a head of it I need to work with soon before it goes bad.

You should try purple cabbage for several reasons. Anthocyanins are way higher in purple cabbage. Yes, you have to add water but not a show stopper. Purple cabbage is a natural litmus tester. In alkaline conditions, it turns blue. In acidic conditions, it turns red.

So if your ferment turns blue, something is dreadfully wrong, throw it away. If it stays purple, no fermentation is occurring. If however it turns red, fermentation is well under way and may or may not be pleasing to your palette, but safe to eat. Personally I make a less spicy kimchi with the cabbage and I like it rather tangy. Even quite tangy, it still as less bite than vinegar. I find the lactic acid to have a mellower flavor.

oh my… I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you have me actually vaguely maybe considering trying this purple-cabbage sauerkraut. Vaguely. I’m definitely intrigued…

I ferment yucca flowers because their season is so short. We eat yuccas right off the plant, in salad, stir-fry, and soup. By fermenting they don’t become limp as they might in the canning process. The flavor changes a little with the fermenting process.

O.K. on to sauerkraut … give purple cabbage a try. Just shred and ferment. Purple cabbage doesn’t make it’s own juice as green cabbage does. The flavor is sweet rather than “sauer.”