Meltdown Spicy Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is the simplest ferment — cabbage and salt. Meltdown cabbage at 1,000 SHU adds a barely-perceptible warmth to the tangy, funky finished kraut. It's the sauerkraut for people who put hot sauce on their sauerkraut anyway.
Prep
20 min
Cook
2 weeks
Total
2 weeks
Servings
24
Peak SHU
1K
Featured Organisms
Ingredients
- 1 head Meltdown cabbage (SS-BRA-01), shredded
- 1½ tbsp non-iodized salt
- 1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Shred cabbage and toss with salt in a large bowl.
- 2
Massage and squeeze for 10 minutes until brine pools at the bottom.
- 3
Pack tightly into a clean quart jar, pressing until brine covers the cabbage.
- 4
Weight down and cover loosely.
- 5
Ferment at room temperature for 2–4 weeks, tasting weekly.
- 6
When sour and tangy to your liking, seal and refrigerate.
Tips
- Chain Reaction cabbage (10K SHU) for a noticeable spicy kraut.
- The capsaicin adds a subtle background warmth that grows over the fermentation period.
Lactobacillus mesenteroides initiates cabbage fermentation, followed by L. plantarum. Neither species metabolizes capsaicin — it passes through fermentation unchanged. The lactic acid produced (pH ~3.5) preserves the kraut and the capsaicin indefinitely.