I enjoyed the short article "Beyond quinoa" in the Dec. 24 Gazette. I was a little disappointed in the short list of "familiar fermented foods" because sauerkraut and kimchi were missing. Both are based on fermented cabbage and are eaten by many people.
Today, sauerkraut is not a well-known food for many, but in pioneer (homesteading) days it was a staple for many families. My dad came to Canada from Britain where he was a market gardener. While growing up, sauerkraut was a winter standby for us and many of our neighbours. We had a special 10-gallon earthenware crock (from Medicine Hat Potteries) that was our sauerkraut crock. When Dad worked in lumber camps in the winter a favourite dinner for the workers was "sauerkraut and wieners."
Because Dad was a "cabbage specialist" we grew a large cabbage patch. One of the spring chores that I disliked was bending over for hours planting little cabbage plants from his "hot bed." We lived in "lumbering country" and one year Dad made a 45-gallon wooden barrel of sauerkraut for a camp that had German prisoners of war. A cousin's wife remembers, as a girl, going outside in the winter and chopping frozen sauerkraut from a barrel to have with their meal.
Sauerkraut has a long and honourable history. In the mid-1700s Captain James Cook made a long and successful exploration of the Pacific Ocean. He returned to England without losing a single seaman to scurvy; at that time a miracle. One of the preventions was feeding the sailors raw sauerkraut which retained its vitamin C.
I hope this letter will stir some "old memories" for some of your readers.
William D. (Dave) Thomas, St. Albert
