Wills Valley Sauerkraut

[rlibkind]

I'm a sauerkraut fan, so I picked up a jar of Wills Valley Farm's fermented red cabbage at the Reading Terminal Market's Fair Food Farmstand a couple of weeks ago.

Straight out of the jar, I did not care for it. But when cooked . . . WOW!

I came to this conclusion after gently braising some German-style hot dogs in the red cabbage kraut. First I gently sautéed a medium onion in canola oil (butter would work, too) until just barely starting to turn golden, then added the red cabbage, allowing it to cook covered for about 10-15 minutes at which point, since I had an old Asian pear, slightly shriveled, sitting in the crisper, I peeled it and grated the pulp into the cabbage. (An apple is the usual addition, but none were in the larder.) Then I added maybe a quarter cup of water (if I had an open bottle of white wine, I would have used that), a couple of the foot-long franks, covered again and simmered low for another 10-15 minutes. Delicious, especially when served with a German-style mustard.

Most of Wills Valley's products are unpasteurized and sold refrigerated in glass jars. Others are available canned, which means they've been cooked. Products include regular white sauerkraut, the red cabbage, gingered carrots, kim chee and red beets. The kraut, red cabbage and carrots can be found in the refrigerator case at the Fair Food Farmstand in the Reading Terminal Market.

Edited January 14, 2009 by rlibkind (log)