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Home » Preservation Recipes » Fennel Sauerkraut

Fennel Sauerkraut

By Hank Shaw on March 30, 2015, Updated June 6, 2022 - 11 Comments

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5 from 5 votes
fennel sauerkraut recipe
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Finished fennel sauerkraut recipe in a bowl
Photo by Hank Shaw

When life gives you fennel, you make fennel sauerkraut. Or at least I do. Here in NorCal, fennel is a perennial vegetable, giving you lovely, fat bulbs year after year after year. I had one patch that gave me bulbs for 8 years before I finally dug it up.

All you do is slice the bulbs off at the base. I typically get two cuttings a year: One in late summer, the next in early spring.

Well, this spring was a bumper crop. I cut maybe 25 gigantic fennel bulbs, completely inundating my kitchen with anise-y goodness… and earwigs, which view the gaps in each fennel bulb the way you would an aromatic apartment complex.

Cleaned and trimmed (I save the fronds and stalks for making broth and stock), I still had a ton of fennel. What to do?

Kraut. I honestly had never heard of fennel sauerkraut before, but the idea just came to me. I looked it up on the InterWebz and quickly discovered that fennel kraut is a thing. So I look at a bunch of recipes and finally decided to just use my own standard kraut recipe, subbing in 50 percent shaved fennel for the shredded cabbage.

Fennel bulbs, fresh from the garden
Photo by Hank Shaw

My kraut is more or less standard, but I add a healthy dose of seeds to it, almost all from the Apiaceae family, which happens to include fennel.

This is a Truth: Vegetables in the same botanical family tend to work well together in the kitchen, like carrots and parsley, onions and garlic, tomatoes and peppers. My kraut seed mix is caraway, celery seeds, fennel seed, wild carrot seed and one outside the Apiaceae clan: juniper berries. If you don’t happen to have any wild carrot seed lying around, which 99 percent of you won’t, just skip it.

I like to ferment my kraut for three weeks, which is a nice balance of sour and salty, and the vegetables stay really crunchy. You can ferment less time or longer if you’d like. And remember, the kraut will continue to be alive in the fridge, changing and mellowing as time progresses.

Serve this kraut wherever you would any other kraut, although this version tastes a little brighter a lighter than most other kraut recipes. Try it with your favorite sausage, or as a bed for Northern Italian canederli dumplings (knödel), which are basically the same thing as Bavarian dumplings, only a bit lighter. There’s also a great recipe for sauerkraut fritters in Chef Jeremy Nolen’s book New German Cooking: Recipes for Classics Revisited.

fennel sauerkraut recipe
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5 from 5 votes

Fennel Sauerkraut

The crunchiness of this kraut really shines with the fennel, but if you don't have that much fennel lying around, you can certainly use this recipe to make a standard cabbage kraut with these seasonings. You can also use wild fennel, which doesn't set much of a bulb, but does have a sort of thick part at its base in spring that you can use if you slice it thinly.
Prep Time25 mins
Total Time25 mins
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: German
Servings: 24
Calories: 30kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 pounds fennel bulbs, sliced thin
  • 2 1/2 pounds shredded cabbage
  • 1.6 ounces kosher salt (45 grams)
  • 1 tablespoon crushed juniper berries
  • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
  • 2 teaspoons wild carrot seeds (optional)

Instructions

  • Mix the shredded fennel and cabbage well in a very large bowl. Put down a layer of the vegetables about an inch thick in a 3-gallon crock. Sprinkle with salt and some of the seeds. Repeat until you have everything in the crock. If you can, mix it one more time. Place a plate or somesuch on the kraut and weigh it down with a large jar of water. Put the crock in a cool, dark place.
  • The next day, check to see if the vegetables have given up enough brine to completely cover themselves. If not, make some brine and add it. You want the brine to be 2 percent by weight, so 19 grams (or 0.7 ounces) of salt per quart of water. Let the sauerkraut ferment at between 60°F and 73°F for at least a week, and up to a month.
  • To finish, remove the weight and plate and move the finished kraut to quart-sized canning jars. If there is not enough brine to completely submerge the fennel kraut in the jars, make more brine as you did in Step 2. Cover the jar with their lids and store in the refrigerator for basically ever. I've had batches of sauerkraut last 2 years in the fridge.

Nutrition

Calories: 30kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 766mg | Potassium: 282mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 110IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 1mg
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Filed Under: Featured, German, Preservation Recipes, Recipe

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Erin GustafsonErin Gustafson says

    March 24, 2021 at 5:59 am

    Found your recipe looking for what to do with fennel we received in our weekly ugly fruit and vegetable box – fermenting now in Copenhagen. Cheers.

    Reply
  2. Avatar for AnnAnn says

    April 12, 2019 at 2:39 am

    Thank you for this recipe. I successfully make all sorts of “krauts” in heavy zip lock freezer bags. They are easy to burp, require much less work and equipment. When the “kraut” is to my taste, I refrigerate in glass jars.

    Reply
  3. Avatar for Sauerkraut BillySauerkraut Billy says

    August 10, 2017 at 2:48 pm

    Love that you’re in NorCal too! The Bay area is great for finding these ingredients a-plenty, especially organic. Love making kraut, although i’ve never tried it with fennel! Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to report back once i’ve made it!

    Reply
  4. Avatar for RhianonRhianon says

    March 22, 2017 at 1:35 pm

    This looks and sounds great! I love sauerkraut, although I’ve never had the best luck when I’ve made it. I may have to try your recipe though!

    Reply
  5. Avatar for AaronAaron says

    September 14, 2016 at 9:42 am

    I assume you’re using fresh, not dried juniper?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      September 14, 2016 at 3:50 pm

      Aaron: Dried.

      Reply
  6. Avatar for Amanda BevillAmanda Bevill says

    October 4, 2015 at 6:13 am

    Okay, I’m going for it- shit-ton of fennel, check. Wild Montana juniper berries, check. I’m with the 99% in having no wild carrot seed but I’m sure it’s gonne be great. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply
  7. Avatar for greggreg says

    April 2, 2015 at 8:01 am

    That sounds really good its funny how you can think of something these days and then find out its been done before, I think its still an original thought but you can confirm it has a chance of working before putting time into it. I am sure you would have followed through on this even if you hadn’t found out it had been done already. Preservation kitchen has a fennel bulb pickle recipe that is my favorite pickle if you still have more fennel to use up? Its perfect pickle for a charcuterie plate.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      April 2, 2015 at 9:14 am

      Greg: I know, right? I love Paul’s book (he’s a friend) and I do have some more fennel. Will check that recipe out.

      Reply
  8. Avatar for jamiejamie says

    March 30, 2015 at 11:50 am

    awesome. I had this same thought last spring. I’m glad you did the experimenting for me!

    Reply
  9. Avatar for tanngrisnir3tanngrisnir3 says

    March 30, 2015 at 6:13 am

    Clever take on an ancient staple.

    Nice!

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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