Caraway & Apple Sauerkraut

The classic Central-European spin on kraut: earthy caraway and a little grated apple round the sourness and add a faint sweetness the bacteria partly eat down. Texture and acidity track plain kraut exactly — the apple is a flavor accent, not a major fermentable load.

Ingredients

Salt is 2.0% of the cabbage + apple weight (dry-salt). The apple is counted with the cabbage because it weeps and ferments alongside it.

Ingredient	1 Jar (1 qt / 1 L)	1 Crock (2 L / ½ gal)
Green cabbage, cored and shredded 2-3 mm	750 g	1875 g
Tart apple, cored and coarsely grated	100 g	250 g
Non-iodized salt (fine sea or pickling)	17 g	43 g
Caraway seed	1 tsp (~6 g)	2½ tsp (~15 g)
Reserved whole outer leaves (for capping)	1-2	2-3

Yield: about 700 g finished kraut per jar; about 1.75 kg per crock.

Calculated values

Value	Target
Dry-salt % (salt ÷ cabbage + apple)	2.0%
Ferment temperature	18-22 °C / 64-72 °F
Time at that temperature	14-28 days
Finished pH	3.4-3.6
Cold storage / arrest	2-4 °C

Run any batch weight through the dry-salt calculator (enter cabbage + apple as the produce weight).

Readiness window

Identical to plain kraut: bubbling peaks in week one, slows by week two. Start tasting near day 10; expect the 3.4-3.6 band between 14 and 28 days, sooner in a warm room. The apple sugar is mostly consumed by day 7, so a finished batch is not sweet — just rounder than plain kraut.

Done when: pleasantly, cleanly sour with a warm caraway note, bubbling all but stopped, and a calibrated meter reads pH 3.4-3.6. Arrest at 2-4 °C.

Method

Shred, grate, weigh

Reserve 1-2 clean outer leaves. Shred the cabbage 2-3 mm; coarsely grate the cored apple. Weigh cabbage and apple together — this is your salt base.

Salt at 2% and add caraway

Multiply the combined weight by 0.02 (850 g → 17 g salt). Scatter salt and caraway through the cabbage and apple in a large bowl.

Massage until it weeps

Toss and squeeze 5-10 minutes until the cabbage goes limp and a brine pool forms. The apple shreds soften into the mix.

Pack under the brine

Press firmly into the vessel, working out air pockets, until the brine rises over the shred. Cap with a reserved leaf and a weight. Leave 3-4 cm headspace.

Ferment at 18-22 °C

Hold 14-28 days under a loose lid or airlock. Top up with 2% brine (20 g salt per litre water) if the cap drops below the kraut. Skim flat white kahm yeast if it appears.

Confirm pH and chill

At pH 3.4-3.6 and clean sourness, move to 2-4 °C cold storage.

Variations / mix-ins

Juniper: add 6-8 crushed juniper berries per jar for a Bavarian profile.
Onion: fold in 50 g thin-sliced onion per jar.
Fennel seed: swap caraway for fennel seed for a sweeter, anise-leaning kraut.