Did you know that you can add nutritious fruits, like açaí and blueberries, to sauerkraut? Well, you can! In this blog, I’ll teach you how to make my fermented blueberries sauerkraut with açaí.

Ingredients You’ll Need to make Sauerkraut with Blueberries and Açaí

Cabbage: I suggest purple cabbage for this recipe, but you can use green cabbage too. I think the purple cabbage looks so beautiful! A small head of cabbage will make about two jars of sauerkraut utilizing this recipe. Look for a cabbage that still has outer leaves at the store. Usually, if a cabbage still has its outer leaves, it’s more hydrated and fresh, making it more brine! I like to use the brine for all sorts of things, including fermentation projects like this one.
Blueberries and Açaí: Adding fruits to this recipe was exciting and successful! I’m having a good time experimenting with small amounts of fruit added to my sauerkraut fermentation projects. I used fresh, organic blueberries and frozen Açaí puree from Trader Joe’s for this recipe.
Caraway Seeds: Caraway seeds add a nice herbaceous flavor and crunch to sauerkraut.
Sea Salt: I like to use unrefined solar-evaporated sea salt, but any pure sea salt will do. If you like experimenting with fancy sea salt in fermentation recipes, I suggest trying French grey sea salt.
Water: I add water to all of my cabbage fermentation recipes. Water is still drawn out of the cabbage when salt is added. However, having water in this recipe accounts for seasonal changes in produce hydration levels. So, no matter where you are in the world, what your cabbage is like, or how long you have had a cabbage sitting in the fridge, you should succeed with this recipe.

Fermenting Blueberries

Blueberries contain quite a bit of sugar, so lacto-fermenting them can be hit or miss. Usually, fruits that contain more sugar encourage yeast fermentation instead of lacto-fermentation. However, you can easily lacto-ferment blueberries by incorporating them with cabbage.

If I’m not making cider or vinegar, I’ve found that it’s best to ferment blueberries by mixing them into sauerkraut. The cabbage microbiome is perfect for wild fermentation and the addition of fructan from the blueberries doesn’t change the sauerkraut fermentation process.

Supplies You Need to Make Sauerkraut with Blueberries

For the best sauerkraut flavor and texture, you should use weight measurements for your fermentation ingredients. That means you need a kitchen scale. Weighing your ingredients gives you consistent and superior fermentation results. This is the scale we use in our home kitchen.

Here is the equipment you will need to make it:

32-ounce Wide Mouth Mason Jar
Fermentation Weight
Standard Metal Mason Jar Lid (this can rust in the presence of salt)
OR Rust-Free Plastic Lid
or you can use a Weck Jar (without the gasket; only use the clips to secure the lid)
Sea Salt
Scale
Mixing Bowl

If you would like to read more about the best jars and lids for fermenting vegetables, click here.

Fermented Blueberries and Acai in Sauerkraut

This Fermented Blueberries Sauerkraut naturally takes time. I recommend fermenting your sauerkraut for at least 14 days before eating, with 21-28 days being the best fermentation time for optimal flavor and health benefits.

By checking the progress of microbial stages under the microscope, we have provided you with a handy timeline below! If you follow our recipe and directions, your timeline of sauerkraut fermentation should approximately match ours!

Note that temperature will influence how fast or slow sauerkraut ferments. This timeline is applicable between 70-80° F. If you keep your home colder, the process is slower. If your home is warmer, it will be faster.

Fermented Blueberries Sauerkraut Timeline

24 – 48 hours: All contents in the jar should be submerged beneath the brine. At this time, there are still Gram-negative bacteria and possible pathogens present.

48 hours – 5 days: After 48 hours, you should start to see lots of bubbles being produced. This is when the ferment enters stage two of vegetable fermentation. Leuconostoc bacteria begin to thrive, and Gram-negative organisms die off.

5 – 10 days: The bubbles in the fermented blueberries sauerkraut brine will decrease as the ferment leaves stage two and enters stage three. The ferment will become cloudy, the color will change, and a pleasant sour smell will develop. You should also recognize light apple and celery smells. Lactobacillus species begin to thrive at this time.

10 – 21 days: Next, Lactobacillus make up most or all of the microbial population. They produce copious amounts of lactic acid, making the fermented cabbage smell even more pleasantly sour. This is when the vegetable mixture becomes sauerkraut and is preserved.

21 – 28 days: This is when you want to smell and taste test. Wait for the kraut to smell and taste as you like, and refrigerate when you find the smell and taste most pleasant! We like ours best when we refrigerate at about 25 days.

More Sauerkraut Recipes to Try