Making Sauerkraut - with Probi Mage Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v, Part 1

So, we had a travel pack of probiotics lying around. There's a Swedish company, Probi, that have made these capsules, marketed under the name Probi Mage.



The probiotic in question is a bacteria, Lacobacillus Plantarum 299v, Lp299v, that can pass the stomach acid and ensure you have a healthy digestive system.

So why not use these Lp299v as a starter for sauerkraut? Instead of paying $$$ to Probi, I can generate billions of these critters whilst making some nice food.

The recipe I based my work on was this one:

http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

My procedure was as follows:

Dismantle a huge head of cabbage (2,5 kg) julienne-style, add some 3 tablespoons of salt and 3 shredded carrots, a spoonful or two of caraway seeds, half a capsule of Probi Mage.



Put in container (I used one made from stainless).



Cover with a water filled plastic bag (food graded ditto) and wait. Let fermentation begin in room temperature.



Will be interesting to see if this is more palatable to the rest of the family than the kimchi I made two weeks ago.

The starter culture should really not be needed - the cabbage will more or less automatically start to ferment. But by using a starter culture, I can be reasonably sure that the fermentation goes on track.

Now to the thosand dollar question: why ferment cabbage? I have a strong hunch that we have basically eliminated too much bacteria in our foods. Everything is washed and sterilized. Combining this with low-fibre diets makes our bodies work sub-optimally. There are tons of reading on the internet about the benefits of probiotics. Some names you might want to google are:

Göran Molin, Siv Ahrné och Bengt Jeppsson

In the next installment of this cabbage/sauerkraut/probiotics story, I'll try to describe the results of the fermentation!

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