Come join the sauerkraut club

Earlier this year I created the sauerkraut club. In this episode of the Vegan Cooking and Nutrition show I talk about why I created the club and the wonderfulness of eating sauerkraut on a daily basis. 

I also talk about the health benefits of sauerkraut and why making your own sauerkraut is way better than buying it.

To do an online sauerkraut class with me it is only $40 and then after that you can join the club where you will get to join in any of the classes I run throughout the year.

At time of recording the club is only $80 per year but will soon be going up to $99 per year. The club meets every 3 to 4 weeks.

To book in to the club you can email me info@veets.com.au 

I also share a fried rice with sauerkraut recipe and the FCT is what type of jars to use to make sauerkraut. 

For more information on the vegan foundation cooking course https://www.veets.com.au/vegan-foundation-cooking-course

For more information on the vegan chef training https://www.veets.com.au/vegan-chef-training

For full show notes go to www.veets.com.au/25

Hope you enjoy this episode 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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Transcript

What is the sauerkraut club? 

Did you read Nancy Drew growing up? – I didn’t – and maybe there are more sophisticated reads for teens these days but I was addicted to the famous five and the secret seven.

Tell me what I would be reading today as a tween or teen.

Anyway, the thing I loved the most about these books was that they were a club and they had a secret code.

And at the ripe young age of 55, I now have a club. 

Yahoo -  I have always wanted to be part of a club – but I never had a regular routine to join a book club, and joining the gym really isn’t the same as joining a club.

However, now I have the sauerkraut club and while I joke about there being a secret code, there isn’t a code.  As the club is fully inclusive.

Anyone can join the club, and it is as cheap as cabbage to join. 

Firstly, you need to join a sauerkraut class online with me. They run monthly – the next one, as I record this, is on the 29th May. That class only costs $40 aussie dollars, including gst. The classes are recorded, so if you can’t attend live, you get to watch along.  

Then, if you like making sauerkraut with us all, (me, the club members and other people who have joined in to make sauerkraut ) you can join the club. Right now, in May 2025, the club only costs $80 per year.

It will go up to $99 on the 1st June 2025 . So if you are listening before the 30th May you are still in with a chance to join the May sauerkraut class and see if you would like to join the sauerkraut club too.  Any other time you are listening, the club and classes will be happening sometime soon, so just email me as we meet monthly.

History of the sauerkraut club 

Ok. What is the history of the sauerkraut club and why have a sauerkraut club? 

It’s a very new history.  In February 2025 this year (of recording), the beautiful area I live in and a lot of the east coast from Sunshine Coast down to Coffs, were threatened by a cyclone called Alfie.   

We were all prepared, and crazily enough, I had a fridge full of food. With power outages a definite consequence of Alfie’s strong winds, I thought, what the heck fire did I stock up on all this fresh produce for and then I had the ingenious idea, I am going to ferment whatever I can.

Ferment I did, and I offered a sauerkraut class the week after the cyclone. 6 people booked and 3 attended live.  It was so much fun to make sauerkraut with other people, so I suggested we make a sauerkraut club so we could come together. 

I teach all things sauerkraut and we ensure we have a constant supply of sauerkraut, because once you start including it in your diet, you really don’t want to stop making it. 

The three people that attended live jumped at the chance of a club and they are my first club members – woo hoo. Then on the 26th April, another class happened, and to date we have 14 club members.

We are meeting on the 29th of May to make sauerkraut together with others and then again on the 19th of June to make Rueben sandwiches or a Rueben salad – vegan of course, with our freshly opened sauerkraut.

The club is a whole lot of fun.

And sauerkraut is a whole lot of yum. 

Why eat sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is a fabulous fermented food – like I said, it’s a wonderful food for preserving, as it is not just cabbage, there is a whole array of veg you can ferment. 

Cabbage all colours and types – sugar loaf, green, white, wombok, savoy 

Zucchini 

Carrot 

Papaya 

Pineapple - yep that’s a newbie for me 

Seaweed 

Celery 

Beetroot

Fennel 

Cucumbers

Daikon 

Turnips 

So many more veg that I can’t even think right now 

Then there is Kimchi and also fermented veg in brine – and preserved lemons etc. 

In addition, in the club, we will meet online to make certain dishes, like on the 19th May we are doing a Rueben salad or sandwich together with home made mayo – yum.  

But now lets get back to the why.

Food preservation

Ok. First and foremost, sauerkraut is good for food preservation. So when you have excess because you are a grower, you can preserve it. Or if you bought a cabbage to make coleslaw and only used ¼ of it you can make sauerkraut with the rest. Or if you have bought too many carrots, you can ferment them, for example. 

Probiotic

We need prebiotic and probiotics for gut health.  The study that was done a few years ago showed that 6 serves of fermented foods a day will significantly increase the health of our gut. 

Why is this important ?

Our gut is our whole body’s regulator.  In the large intestine is a pocket called the cecum. This is referred to as the gut microbiome (short for micro-organisms). Up to 1000 species of bacteria reside there and each play a different role in improving our overall health, digestion, immune system, mental health and preventing diseases.

Feremented foods play host to a distinct population of microorganisms that help increase the necessary bacteria in the cecum.   It is much harder to get these beneficial microorganisms into your body if you are not eating fermented foods. 

You also need to eat certain foods that are called prebiotics, which are very fibrous and ferment in your cecum. 

Things like onion, garlic, chicory and dandelion , chickpeas, asparagus, Jerusalem artichoke, yams, yacon, to name a few.

It is important to feed your body well to ensure you have a whole lot of good bacteria in your cecum. 

Bone Health 

They talk about K2 which assists in regulating where calcium goes in our body. Vitamin K2 activates osteocalcin, which is a protein that binds to calcium to build bones, preventing us from having facture. 

You need 1 to 3 mg a day. In ½ cup sauerkraut, there is 2.75 mg 

So you are winning if you eat sauerkraut at breakfast and lunch.

Why learn from me and not just follow someone online?

You will have access to me to ask any questions as you are making it and make sure you are doing it correctly. 

You will get a video of how to burp the sauerkraut and a reveal video. 

You have access to ask me questions about your sauerkraut in between making it and when it is ready.

Recipe 

Sauerkraut in fried rice  

½ cup sauerkraut

2 cups cooked brown rice 

1 onion diced 

1 carrot diced 

1 red capsicum diced 

Corn kernels from 1 cob corn 

2 tsp ground ginger 

2 cloves garlic 

Chilli

Tamari 

Tofu firm 375g 

¼ cup nutritional yeast 

Big splash olive oil 

Big splash sesame oil

1 tsp black salt

1. Crumble the tofu. Marinate it with the nutritional yeast, olive oil and black salt and let sit for an hour, then fry in a wok. Remove from the wok.

2. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger and chilli (if using) for a few minutes, then add the vegetables and fry for 5 minutes, then add the rice, and sauerkraut, add tamari to taste and then add the tofu and sauerkraut and mix in. 

FCT 

To make sauerkraut it is best to use: 

1 litre jars – with a screw lid so you can easily burp the sauerkraut. Burping is releasing the gas. You need to do this without lifting the lid.

Hope you have a delicious week.

With gratitude Veet