Fennel Sauerkraut Recipe - How to Make Fennel Sauerkraut (2024)

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5 from 8 votes

By Hank Shaw

March 30, 2015 | Updated June 06, 2022

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Fennel Sauerkraut Recipe - How to Make Fennel Sauerkraut (2)

When life gives you fennel, you make fennel sauerkraut. Or at least I do. Here in NorCal, fennel is a perennial vegetable, giving you lovely, fat bulbs year after year after year. I had one patch that gave me bulbs for 8 years before I finally dug it up.

All you do is slice the bulbs off at the base. I typically get two cuttings a year: One in late summer, the next in early spring.

Well, this spring was a bumper crop. I cut maybe 25 gigantic fennel bulbs, completely inundating my kitchen with anise-y goodness… and earwigs, which view the gaps in each fennel bulb the way you would an aromatic apartment complex.

Cleaned and trimmed (I save the fronds and stalks for making broth and stock), I still had a ton of fennel. What to do?

Kraut. I honestly had never heard of fennel sauerkraut before, but the idea just came to me. I looked it up on the InterWebz and quickly discovered that fennel kraut is a thing. So I look at a bunch of recipes and finally decided to just use my own standard kraut recipe, subbing in 50 percent shaved fennel for the shredded cabbage.

Fennel Sauerkraut Recipe - How to Make Fennel Sauerkraut (3)

My kraut is more or less standard, but I add a healthy dose of seeds to it, almost all from the Apiaceae family, which happens to include fennel.

This is a Truth: Vegetables in the same botanical family tend to work well together in the kitchen, like carrots and parsley, onions and garlic, tomatoes and peppers. My kraut seed mix is caraway, celery seeds, fennel seed, wild carrot seed and one outside the Apiaceae clan: juniper berries. If you don’t happen to have any wild carrot seed lying around, which 99 percent of you won’t, just skip it.

Fennel Sauerkraut Recipe - How to Make Fennel Sauerkraut (4)

I like to ferment my kraut for three weeks, which is a nice balance of sour and salty, and the vegetables stay really crunchy. You can ferment less time or longer if you’d like. And remember, the kraut will continue to be alive in the fridge, changing and mellowing as time progresses.

Serve this kraut wherever you would any other kraut, although this version tastes a little brighter a lighter than most other kraut recipes. Try it with your favorite sausage, or as a bed for Northern Italian canederli dumplings (knödel), which are basically the same thing as Bavarian dumplings, only a bit lighter. There’s also a great recipe for sauerkraut fritters in Chef Jeremy Nolen’s book New German Cooking: Recipes for Classics Revisited.

I have a few other really nice fennel recipes, such aspickled fennel,salmon patties with a fennel-watercress salad, and chicken orpheasant salad with fennel.

5 from 8 votes

Fennel Sauerkraut

The crunchiness of this kraut really shines with the fennel, but if you don't have that much fennel lying around, you can certainly use this recipe to make a standard cabbage kraut with these seasonings. You can also use wild fennel, which doesn't set much of a bulb, but does have a sort of thick part at its base in spring that you can use if you slice it thinly.

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Course: Condiment

Cuisine: German

Servings: 24

Author: Hank Shaw

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 pounds fennel bulbs, sliced thin
  • 2 1/2 pounds shredded cabbage
  • 1.6 ounces kosher salt (45 grams)
  • 1 tablespoon crushed juniper berries
  • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
  • 2 teaspoons wild carrot seeds (optional)

Instructions

  • Mix the shredded fennel and cabbage well in a very large bowl. Put down a layer of the vegetables about an inch thick in a 3-gallon crock. Sprinkle with salt and some of the seeds. Repeat until you have everything in the crock. If you can, mix it one more time. Place a plate or somesuch on the kraut and weigh it down with a large jar of water. Put the crock in a cool, dark place.

  • The next day, check to see if the vegetables have given up enough brine to completely cover themselves. If not, make some brine and add it. You want the brine to be 2 percent by weight, so 19 grams (or 0.7 ounces) of salt per quart of water. Let the sauerkraut ferment at between 60°F and 73°F for at least a week, and up to a month.

  • To finish, remove the weight and plate and move the finished kraut to quart-sized canning jars. If there is not enough brine to completely submerge the fennel kraut in the jars, make more brine as you did in Step 2. Cover the jar with their lids and store in the refrigerator for basically ever. I've had batches of sauerkraut last 2 years in the fridge.

Nutrition

Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 766mg | Potassium: 282mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 110IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @huntgathercook or tag #hankshaw!

Categorized as:
Featured, German, Preservation Recipes, Recipe

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About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Fennel Sauerkraut Recipe - How to Make Fennel Sauerkraut (2024)

FAQs

Does fennel go in sauerkraut? ›

Mix the cabbage, apples, salt, and fennel seed together in a large bowl, massaging the cabbage to help the salt penetrate. Put the cabbage mixture in a tall nonreactive container like a glass jar or plastic pitcher and press down on the mixture until it releases enough liquid to cover itself.

Do you put fennel or caraway seed in sauerkraut? ›

You should always add caraway seeds to sauerkraut before fermentation so the seeds can release and impart more flavor throughout the sauerkraut as it ferments. You can adjust the amount of caraway seeds you add to the kraut depending on your flavor preference.

Can you lacto ferment fennel? ›

Fermented foods are very high in healthy probiotic bacteria and provide a huge range of benefits including; aiding digestion, improving overall gut health and gut flora and helping to boost immunity.

What seasoning is fennel used in? ›

Spices and herbs like fennel seeds offer flavor, aroma and potential health benefits. Whether you use fennel seeds for pickling vegetables, seasoning sausage or making a crust for fish or beef, you'll soon realize that these aromatic seeds can elevate the most basic recipes.

How do you add fennel to food? ›

Because of its assertive flavor, fennel likes to be paired with something fatty. Try it raw in a salad with avocado and tomatoes and a lemon vinaigrette. The sweetness of fennel increases as it cooks. Try it braised in heavy cream with garlic and thinly sliced yellow onions and potatoes.

Can I use fennel seeds instead of caraway seeds? ›

Fennel seeds are the closest alternative to caraway seeds and make an excellent substitution because they're both relatives of the carrot family, although they aren't the same plant. Even though these two spices don't have quite the same flavor, they have a similar essence, and light licorice notes.

Should I add vinegar to my sauerkraut? ›

No need to add any vinegar! Salt alone preserves sour cabbage very well. I add 1/4 cup of shredded carrot for colour. Sometimes, I add a laurel leaf and 1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds.

Which is better caraway or fennel? ›

Fennel Seeds: Ideal for sweet treats like cookies and pastries, imparting a subtle sweetness. Caraway Seeds: Best suited for savory baked goods like rye bread and savory muffins, adding depth to the flavor.

Is it cheaper to make your own sauerkraut? ›

Why make your own sauerkraut/kimchi? There are so many reasons! COST: making your own fermented veggies is WAY cheaper than buying them at the store! FLEXIBLE FLAVORS AND SALT LEVEL: making your own fermented veggies allows you to put whatever ingredients, flavors, level of salt or hot pepper that you want.

What is the best salt for making sauerkraut? ›

Try fine sea salt, or Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. The Spices - spices are used for flavour, and they can also help to slow mould growth. Caraway seeds are popular in traditional Polish sauerkraut making.

How long does homemade sauerkraut last? ›

If you are refrigerating your sauerkraut, it should stay fresh for about four to six months after opening. It's important to know when you're using it and sealing it after each use because if new bacteria come in contact with it, it can immediately become spoiled.

Can I add fennel seeds to sauerkraut? ›

All you need is 3 simple ingredients: cabbage, fennel seeds and salt. And then plenty of time to allow probiotics to do their work, producing a vibrantly complex and delicious food. Sauerkraut is one of the best natural sources of vitamin C, it has 20 times more vitamin C than fresh cabbage!

What does fermented fennel taste like? ›

It's delightfully crisp and tangy as any good ferment should be – keep tasting during the fermentation process and place in the fridge once it reaches the level of sourness that you like.

What vegetables Cannot be lacto-fermented? ›

“There's no vegetable you can't ferment,” he said, but added that leafy greens such as kale — because of their chlorophyll content — aren't to most people's liking. During an NPR interview, Katz explained that pickling and fermentation are not the same, although they are “overlapping” categories.

What does fennel taste good on? ›

Serve it alongside chicken, lamb or fish for an easy and delicious weeknight side dish! Roasted fennel is one of my favorite side dishes for fall and winter; it goes well with just about any roast—especially chicken and lamb, or with a simple soup like Stracciatella.

What cuisine is fennel used in? ›

Fennel, with its white bulb and green, feathery top, is a member of the carrot family. The vegetable is native to the Mediterranean and is eaten both raw and cooked in a variety of cuisines, most famously Italian food.

Does fennel taste like cabbage? ›

Fresh fennel resembles a cross between cabbage, celery and dill. The taste is assertively (though not unpleasantly) licorice and sweet.

What makes sauerkraut taste good? ›

Sprinkle in spices and aromatics

When we're talking about sauerkraut, the most traditional spices and aromatics come from anise-like caraway seeds, bay leaves, and the distinctive spicily earthy juniper berries. Those are all good options, and a lot of recipes call for them.

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