Give Canned Sauerkraut A Boost Of Flavor With One Boozy Ingredient

The good bacteria in a batch of raw sauerkraut are awesome for improving gut health and boosting the immune system. However, making it yourself can be a hassle if you're not keen on shredding several cabbages and don't have the space nor time to wait for the vegetables to ferment. Canned sauerkraut is the perfect solution if you love the tangy, acidic flavor of pickled cabbage because it's ready-made and widely available, which means you'll always have the fixings to assemble a classic Reuben sandwich on the fly. Having said that, canned sauerkraut can lack the fresh flavor of a homemade kraut because of the way it's processed. Fortunately, you can boost the muted flavor of canned, drained, and rinsed sauerkraut by soaking it in a splash of dry white wine.

This simple trick does two things. Firstly, it restores a little of the fermented flavor of the cabbage that's lost via pasteurization. This food preservation process destroys the probiotics in the kraut and subdues its taste. Adding in a dry white wine that's naturally crisp, refreshing and acidic replaces that forfeited tang and lends it a complex, rounder flavor. Secondly, the wine makes up for some of the flavor-loss that occurs when the salty brine is drained away. Pasteurized kraut still has many nutritional perks even without all those beneficial probiotics, so don't be tempted to cast it aside. For example, it's still provides a great source of fiber and sulforaphane, a nutrient that calms inflammation in the body.

Begin by draining the brine from your jar of canned sauerkraut and rinsing it. Then pour enough dry white wine into the can to cover the surface of the kraut so it's fully submerged. Allow the cabbage to sit in the wine for a minimum of 30 minutes. However, it can be left overnight if desired. Be mindful that you should refrigerate your opened jar of sauerkraut, instead of keeping it on your kitchen counter, if you want it to soak for a lengthy period to slow unwanted bacterial growth.

To reduce the saltiness of your kraut, you can, as noted, rinse it in water first before topping it up with the wine. Don't want to soak the whole can? Simply re-house your desired amount into a smaller, clean container and cover with the wine. It will imbue its flavor into the pickled cabbage, lending it a fermented note and an aroma that's typically found in other popular fermented condiments, like kimchi.

Use your wine-rinsed sauerkraut as a side dish, a salty accompaniment to salted meats, or a tangy topping on a German sausage. You can even add it to soups and stews to increase their nutritional content and give them a refreshing note of acidity.