Sauerkraut Juice: The Most Overlooked Part of the GAPS Diet

Consuming fermented brines has been one of the most important parts of the GAPS diet in facilitating my detoxification (they are dissolving pesticides in my body!), getting my stomach ready to eat (drinking this sauerkraut juice 15 minutes before a meal), and rebuilding my beneficial gut flora necessary for the rich, healthy life I intend on leading.

Becky Plotner says in her GAPS Stage-by-Stage with Recipes book that meat stock and fermented brines are the backbone of the GAPS diet. But most people on GAPS aren’t even drinking this Kraut Juice at all!! Which is crazy to me. Even though I used to be one of them. 😉

Now whenever I work 1:1 with a new person, this recipe is the first thing I tell them to make. Along with Beet Kvass, another holy, fermented brine. So lets get to it!

Takes ~ 10-15 minutes to prepare.  And about 2-4 weeks to ferment depending on where you live.

What you’ll need:

• 1 head of cabbage (or more)
• sea salt/ Himalayan salt
• filtered water
• Mason jars/ glass jars
• 1 food processor/ blender

Amount it makes: more than you would think! Varies depending on the size + amount of your cabbage.

Directions:

1. Cut cabbage into appropriate sized pieces to put in your food processor and blend until the pieces are small. 
2. Put into jars, fill 1/3 way full
3. Make your brine- mix 1Tbsp sea salt with 1 quart of water and stir/shake.  Pour this brine into your 1/3 full chopped cabbage jars and leave 1 inch (2.5 cm) of headspace to allow for the fermentation gases.  Repeat this process until all cabbage jars are full. 
4. Screw the lids on tight and don’t open them, burp them (needing to do this is a MYTH!), etc until you are checking to see if your sauerkraut juice is fermented, which you can tell by tasting it for its sour flavor.  The more oxygen that gets in during the fermentation process, the more likely it is to mold. 
5. Store in a dark place, or at the very least out of direct sunlight. 

When my Sauerkraut juice is finished, I strain it by pouring it through a sieve and then drink to my heart’s content. 🙂 

There is a little controversy around this next step (do your own research and make up your own mind), but I like to make an additional batch of brine and pour it over the fermented cabbage bits for a second round.  This 2nd time, it only takes about 3-4 days to ferment before it’s ready again. I’ve tried doing this a 3rd time, and the resulting product had lost a lot of it’s hutzpah by that round so I don’t recommend going further than fermenting the cabbage twice!

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