German for "sour cabbage." Made by combining cabbage, salt, and occasionally other spices and permitting the mixture to ferment. Though thought of as a German invention, this pickled food was eaten in China over 2,000 years ago.
Sauerkraut is finely sliced white cabbage fermented by various lactic acid bacteria including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has good keeping qualities and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid that forms when bacteria ferment the sugars in the fresh cabbage.