- Season
- Sold all year. Producers ferment the new harvest of red cabbage from autumn onwards, and the first new-season batches usually reach shops in autumn and early winter.
- Price
- Low
- Nutrition per 100 g
- 32 kcal
- 1.1 g protein
- 0.1 g fat
- 5.2 g carbs
Sour Red Cabbage in Brine
Pantry staples
Sour Red Cabbage in Brine
Zelí červené kysané ve slaném nálevu is Czech red sauerkraut: shredded red cabbage fermented by lactic acid bacteria in a salt brine, with no vinegar, and sold in its own fermentation liquid. It is the red-cabbage version of the familiar Czech kysané zelí.
In practice
How to store
- On the counter
Not suitable for storing at room temperature once you buy it chilled. Sealed sterilised jars can go in a cool pantry until the date on the label. Chill them after opening.
- In the fridge
Keep sealed bags and tubs at the temperature on the label (often +3 to +15 °C), but ideally in the fridge. After opening, keep the cabbage under its brine in a closed container and eat it within the time the maker gives, typically about 5 days. Always use a clean fork.
- In the freezer
It can be frozen in portions with some brine for up to about 3 months. The shreds go softer, so use thawed cabbage for cooking, not for salads. Freezing stops fermentation, and some of the live bacteria may not survive it.
How to choose
Read the label first. "Kysané" with "ve slaném nálevu" means lacto-fermented cabbage in salt brine. Products described as sterilised or pickled red cabbage ("sterilované", or anything in a vinegar brine, "octový nálev") are a different product. Czech rules require heat-treated fermented vegetables to say "pasterované" (pasteurised) or "sterilované" (sterilised) on the label. The ingredients list shows which style you are buying. The simplest products contain only red cabbage, salt and caraway. Others add water, sugar, juniper or potassium sorbate (E202), a preservative permitted in fermented vegetables. The cabbage should be a bright, even red-purple and should feel firm, not slimy, with enough liquid to cover it. Bags and tubs should be sealed and kept chilled. Do not buy anything with mould on the surface or brine that looks thick or gelatinous, because Czech standards do not allow either.
What to swap in
Best swap
Czech white sauerkraut (kysané zelí) is the closest substitute in method and flavour, though the dish will lose its red colour.
In a pinch
Fresh red cabbage braised with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, salt, caraway and a little sugar. It will be sour, but it will not have the lactic, fermented taste.
Preparation
Taste it straight from the pack. If it is too sour or salty, rinse it briefly in cold water and squeeze it out, but this removes some flavour and colour. Keep some brine for cooking or for loosening a salad. To eat it raw, loosen the shreds with a fork and dress them with a little oil, onion, grated apple or carrot. To cook it Czech-style, simmer it gently with onion softened in fat, caraway and a little water or brine. Season to taste with sugar and, if you like, thicken it with a little flour or grated raw potato. Cook it until it is as soft as you like.
Don't toss it
Don't pour away the leftover red brine. Use it to sour soups and cabbage dishes, to loosen salad dressings, or to give onion or boiled-egg pickles a pink tint. Brine from unpasteurised cabbage can also give a new home batch of sauerkraut a head start.
In the kitchen
Cooking
In Czech kitchens the cabbage is eaten both raw and cooked. As a raw salad it gives a crunchy, sour contrast to fatty meats and potato dishes. Cooked, it is simmered or stewed with onion and caraway as a side dish for roast pork, duck or goose with dumplings. It works the same way as dušené kysané zelí, the stewed sauerkraut side dish, but has a red colour. You can also add it to soups, layer it into baked dishes with potatoes and smoked meat, or put it on sandwiches. Long cooking softens it and mellows the acidity. Adding apple or a little sugar balances the sourness.
Goes well with
- Caraway
- Juniper
- Onion
- Apple
- Roast Pork
- Roast Duck
- Roast Goose
- Sausages
- Bread Dumplings
- Potato Dumplings
- Lard
- Bay Leaf
- Allspice
- Smoked Meat
- Potatoes
What it is
Zelí červené kysané ve slaném nálevu is Czech red sauerkraut: shredded red cabbage fermented by lactic acid bacteria in a salt brine, with no vinegar, and sold in its own fermentation liquid. It is the red-cabbage version of the familiar Czech kysané zelí. Czech supermarkets and online grocers stock it in bags, jars and buckets from Czech sauerkraut makers. The usual ingredients are red cabbage, salt and caraway, and some products add water, a little sugar, juniper or a permitted preservative. Czech food law defines lactic-fermented (kysaná) vegetables as products preserved by lactic acid bacteria. It also sets minimum acidity standards for them, which is why this product is soured and not pickled. The words "ve slaném nálevu" on the label tell the shopper that the cabbage is packed in a salt brine.
How it tastes
It tastes clean and sour from lactic acid, with clear saltiness and the warm, slightly anise-like note of caraway. It is less sharp and less vinegary than pickled red cabbage. Red cabbage gives a slightly earthier, sweeter background than white sauerkraut, and the shreds stay firm and crunchy. The fermentation acid turns the colour from purple to a bright magenta-red. Versions with sugar or juniper taste a little rounder and more aromatic.
Common questions
Is kysané červené zelí the same as pickled red cabbage?
Does it contain live bacteria?
Can I eat it raw?
How long does it keep after opening?
Why is it so salty, and can I reduce that?
What does it go with?
Deep dive
3 min read
Varieties
Bagged red sauerkraut in brine (sáček)
is the standard chilled supermarket form, sold in packs of around 500 g from Czech sauerkraut makers. Typical ingredients are red cabbage, salt and caraway, sometimes with water and potassium sorbate.
Jarred and sterilised versions
are labelled "sterilované" or "pasterované". They are still fermented cabbage, but heat treatment makes them keep in the pantry and inactivates the live bacteria.
Farm-style and small-producer red sauerkraut
comes in tubs or buckets (kyblík) and may contain a small amount of sugar or extra spice such as juniper. Some is sold unpasteurised.
White kysané zelí
is the much more common Czech sauerkraut made from white cabbage. It is closely related but a separate product.
Different products, not this item
pickled red cabbage in a vinegar, salt and sugar brine, and ready-cooked sweet-sour braised red cabbage (dušené červené zelí), sold in jars as a side dish. Both are made with acid added from outside, not by fermentation.
History
Fermenting shredded cabbage with salt is an old preserving method across Central Europe. In Czech households white cabbage was traditionally fermented in crocks or barrels in autumn to keep it through the winter. Red cabbage is fermented the same way, and Czech producers now sell it alongside white sauerkraut. Little has been documented specifically about the history of red sauerkraut in Czechia.
Science
Salt draws juice out of the shredded cabbage to make a brine. In this low-oxygen, salty liquid, lactic acid bacteria naturally present on the cabbage convert its sugars mainly into lactic acid. As the acidity rises, spoilage organisms are suppressed. Czech food law sets standards for lactic-fermented vegetables: at least 0.8 % lactic acid, a pH of 4.1 or lower, no more than 0.6 % volatile acids and 1.5 % ethanol, and, for heat-treated sauerkraut, no more than 2.2 % salt.
Red cabbage gets its colour from anthocyanins. These pigments change colour with pH, so the purple-blue raw cabbage turns brighter red-magenta as fermentation acidifies it. Pasteurisation or sterilisation stops fermentation and inactivates the bacteria, so heat-treated products do not contain live cultures.
Sourcing and ethics
Most red sauerkraut sold in Czech shops is made by Czech producers, and the label shows the country of origin. Within EU rules, potassium sorbate and other sorbates or benzoates may be used in fermented vegetables up to 2000 mg/kg in total. If you want a product without additives, read the ingredients list. Cabbage stores and ferments well, so it is a locally grown winter vegetable available all year. Bags generally use less packaging material than glass, but glass is easier to recycle.