“Seriously, you actually make sauerkraut?”
I love that question. It’s usually from someone who is totally incredulous that I would make something they think is so unsavory. I smile, pause, and then I begin the short history lesson.
Did you know that lunch for a Chinese laborer working on the Great Wall of China consisted of shredded cabbage fermented in rice wine? That’s right. Sauerkraut was fortifying their bodies while they were fortifying their country.
Did you know that Capt. James Cook, who discovered the Sandwich Islands, now the Hawaiian Islands, brought barrels of “sour kroutt” on his many voyages to eliminate scurvy? Scurvy was caused by a deficiency in Vitamin C and caused panic amongst seafaring people.
This is amazing stuff. However, historical facts about sauerkraut don’t always convince people to change their opinions about something they consider odd and odious. That’s when I tell them we have nine super flavors of kraut, all of them full of probiotics, and are quite delicious.
It’s at this point that they want to know more and the history lessons are left for the next unsuspecting person.