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Vegetables from Germany, Central and Eastern Europe

Sauerkraut juice (Sauerkrautsaft)Sauerkrautsaft

Sauerkraut juice is the cell juice that runs out of shredded, salted cabbage while it ferments into sauerkraut. In one Latvian maker's process cabbage with 1.7 % salt is pressed and fermented for 14 days, and the juice, about 30 % of the cabbage weight, is drained off at packing at about pH 3.7. Under German food guidelines a lactic-fermented vegetable juice may not be soured with vinegar or added acids.

Fully documentedVegetables14 days

Recipe

Sauerkraut juice (Sauerkrautsaft), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Bdubay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceOne Latvian maker's sauerkraut recipe, as percentages of the cabbage, from Jansone et al. 2022; the juice is the liquid this batch releases.
Cabbage, shreddedCabbages of different varieties[jansone2022]
Salt (NaCl)1.7 %[jansone2022]
Grated carrot1 %[jansone2022]
Caraway seeds0.2 %[jansone2022]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 14 days

Start
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What changes: Shredded cabbage is mixed with 1.7 % salt, grated carrot and caraway

Step 1 of 5
Shred the cabbage and mix with salt, carrot and caraway
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
1.7 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Sauerkraut juice is the cell juice that runs out of shredded, salted cabbage while it ferments into sauerkraut. In one Latvian maker's process cabbage with 1.7 % salt is pressed and fermented for 14 days, and the juice, about 30 % of the cabbage weight, is drained off at packing at about pH 3.7. Under German food guidelines a lactic-fermented vegetable juice may not be soured with vinegar or added acids. Made in 5 steps over 14 days. The longest step, press and ferment into sauerkraut, takes 14 days (Jansone L 2022). Salt is 1.7 % (Jansone L 2022).

Key numbers
Main step14 daysReported[jansone2022]Press and ferment into sauerkraut
Salt1.7 %Reported[jansone2022]Shred the cabbage and mix with salt, carrot and caraway
AciditypH 3.7Reported[jansone2022]The raw juice

What makes this one different

Unlike sauerkraut, the juice is the liquid, not the cabbage, and much of it is a by-product of packing. Under German guidelines it is a lactic-fermented vegetable juice that may be kept only by physical means and may not be soured with vinegar or added acids [leitsaetze].

Related ferments

Variants

  • Russian kapustny rassolThe brine of kvashenaya kapusta. The interstate standard GOST 34220-2017 for salted and fermented vegetables sets 1.2–2.0 % chlorides and 0.7–1.5 % titratable acid (as lactic acid) in the sauerkraut brine [gost34220].
  • Spray-dried sauerkraut juice powderJuice dried with a starch or maltodextrin carrier; the lab powder held about 12 % NaCl [jansone2022].

Safety

In a 2025 Polish survey of commercial sauerkraut, putrescine and cadaverine were the leading biogenic amines, and the amine index of 4 of 14 sauerkrauts passed the estimated upper toxicity limit [choinska2025]. That study tested the cabbage, not its juice. The juice is a by-product with a short shelf life [jansone2022]. Under the German guidelines, lactic-fermented vegetable juice may be kept only by physical means, not by added acids [leitsaetze].

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Austrian ministry's register of traditional foods says that the priest Sebastian Kneipp (1821–1897) gave his patients both sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice for sluggish bowels and constipation, and used the juice on cuts and burns [bmluk-sauerkraut].

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [jansone2022] Jansone L., Kruma Z., Straumite E. 2022, Evaluation of chemical and sensory characteristics of sauerkraut juice powder and its application in food, Foods 12(1):19, doi:10.3390/foods12010019 (section 2.1 and introduction)paper
  2. [leitsaetze] Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch, Leitsätze für Gemüsesaft und Gemüsenektar of 28 October 1981 (GMBl. 1982 Nr. 21; amended 1994 and 1997), sections I.A–C, read in the public excerpt on umwelt-online.despec
  3. [gost34220] GOST 34220-2017, Овощи соленые и квашеные. Общие технические условия (Salted and fermented vegetables, general specifications), Table 2 (text on meganorm.ru)spec
  4. [bmluk-sauerkraut] Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (BMLUK), Traditionelle Lebensmittel in Österreich, Sauerkraut (Geschichte), read 2026-10-31gov
  5. [choinska2025] Choińska R., Piasecka-Jóźwiak K., Świder O., Żak-Kułakowicz A., Włodarczyk K., Załuski J. 2025, Microbiota and quality indexes of commercial sauerkraut and fermented cucumbers, Environmental Microbiology Reports 17(6):e70250, doi:10.1111/1758-2229.70250paper
  6. [s1] German Wikipedia, Sauerkraut (Herstellung; Weitere Verwendung), read 2026-10-16wiki