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Vegetables from Germany, Austria

Sauerrüben (sour turnip)Sauerrüben

Sauerrüben is white autumn turnip (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa) chopped fine and left to sour in a barrel the way sauerkraut is made. In Tyrol, where it is called Rübenkraut, the turnips are chopped to about the size of rice grains, stamped into a wooden barrel, covered and lightly weighted, and the kraut is fully fermented after five to six weeks.

Fully documentedVegetables35 days – 42 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTyrolean farm practice has no fixed amounts, and the Tyrolean sources read do not mention salt. The amounts above are one home recipe for Sauerruben on a sausage-making site (1 kg turnips to 25 g salt), so they describe that recipe and not Tyrol.
White autumn turnips (Herbstrüben, Stoppelrüben)Harvested in October and kept in the cellar until the kraut is cut at the end of November[vogl2007]
White turnips, sliced or grated, unpeeled1 kgOne home recipe for Sauerruben; the skin carries the microbes that start the ferment[meatssausages]
Salt25 g (2.5 %)Mixed into the sliced turnips in the same home recipe[meatssausages]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 35 days – 42 days

Start
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What changes: Turnips soak overnight in the fountain trough and are washed by hand

Step 1 of 4
Soak the turnips overnight and wash them
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacillus plantarum
Pediococcus parvulus

In Tyrol the turnips are laid in the fountain trough overnight and washed by hand the next day [vogl2007]. Output: clean turnips.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Sauerrüben is white autumn turnip (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa) chopped fine and left to sour in a barrel the way sauerkraut is made. In Tyrol, where it is called Rübenkraut, the turnips are chopped to about the size of rice grains, stamped into a wooden barrel, covered and lightly weighted, and the kraut is fully fermented after five to six weeks. Made in 4 steps over 35 days – 42 days. The longest step, cover, weight lightly and ferment, takes 35–42 days (Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and…) and runs at 20 °C (Meats and Sausages (meatsandsausages.com) 2026). Salt is 2.5 % (Meats and Sausages (meatsandsausages.com) 2026). Lactic acid bacteria; a review lists Lactobacillus plantarum, L. hilgardii, L. coryniformis, L. maltaromicus, L. viridescens and Pediococcus parvulus for fermented turnip shreds (brovada and Sauerrüben), from a study of the Italian brovada does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step35–42 daysReported[bmluk-krautinger][vogl2007]Cover, weight lightly and ferment
Temperature20 °CReported[meatssausages]Cover, weight lightly and ferment
Salt2.5 %Reported[meatssausages]Stamp it into a wooden barrel

What makes this one different

Made like sauerkraut, but from turnip root instead of cabbage, and in Tyrol chopped to rice-grain size rather than shredded. The Italian brovada is also fermented turnip, but the turnips are layered with grape skins [ashaolu2020].

Related ferments

Safety

For kraut-style ferments in general, the US National Center for Home Food Preservation says kraut may not ferment below 60 °F, may turn soft above 75 °F, and needs scum removed if jars are used as weights [nchfp-kraut].

Hazards the sources name: Enterobacteriaceae, held back as the acid rises; starter cultures inhibited them earlier than natural fermentation in brined turnip slices (a nearby product).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Austrian ministry's register of traditional foods says fermented turnips (Rübenkraut) were an important winter food, and that the Roman writer Columella described keeping rapa by lactic fermentation. In the Wildschönau valley the fermented juice of the turnip is distilled into the Krautinger spirit, a right Maria Theresa gave to 51 farmers [bmluk-krautinger].

  1. [bmluk-krautinger] Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (BMLUK), Traditionelle Lebensmittel in Österreich, Wildschönauer Krautingerrübe, read 2026-10gov
  2. [vogl2007] Vogl-Lukasser B., Blauensteiner P. 2007, Tiroler Kulturpflanzen, ein gefährdetes Kulturgut (part 5), Von der Krautruabn (Herbstrübe, Brassica rapa ssp. rapa), Grünes Tirol, p. 181–182 (BOKU Vienna copy)other
  3. [ashaolu2020] Ashaolu T.J., Reale A. 2020, A holistic review on Euro-Asian lactic acid bacteria fermented cereals and vegetables, Microorganisms 8:1176paper
  4. [yamani1993] Yamani M.I. 1993, Fermentation of brined turnip roots using Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides starter cultures, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 9(2):176–179 (abstract via Europe PMC)paper
  5. [meatssausages] Meats and Sausages (meatsandsausages.com), Turnips, a recipe for fermented turnip known as Sauerruben (page read 2026-10-31)web
  6. [nchfp-kraut] National Center for Home Food Preservation (University of Georgia), Sauerkraut recipe, fermentation temperature notesgov