Editing Sauerkraut (section)

==Overview and history==
[[File:Kiszona kapusta.JPG|thumb|left|Polish ''kapusta kiszona'']]
[[Fermentation|Fermented]] foods have a long history in many cultures. The [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writers [[Cato the Elder|Cato]] (in his ''[[De agri cultura]]'') and [[Columella]] (in his ''[[Columella#De re Rustica|De re Rustica]]'') mentioned preserving cabbages and [[turnips]] with salt. According to Wilhelm Holzapfel et al, Plinius the Elder, writing in the first century A.D., is reputed to have been the first writer to describe the making of sauerkraut by preserving what the Romans called ''salt cabbage'' in earthen vessels.<ref name="Holzapfel2003">{{cite book |last1=Holzapfel |first1=Wilhelm |last2=Schillinger |first2=Ulrich |last3=Buckenhüskes |first3=Herbert |editor1-last=Farnworth |editor1-first=Edward R. |title=Handbook of Fermented Functional Foods |year=2003 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-203-00972-7 |page=343 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7LYHFGLJQNQC&pg=PA343 |chapter=Sauerkraut}}</ref> Popular folklore has imagined that sauerkraut was introduced to Europe by the [[Pax Mongolica#Trade network|trade networks formed across Eurasia]] by the [[Golden Horde]]. However, according to Mack and Surina (2005), there is no evidence to support this theory, nor any evidence that fermented cabbage arrived from an East Asian source, and there is evidence of sauerkraut production in Europe dating back to the early period of the [[Western Roman Empire]].<ref name="Return of the Mack">{{cite book |last1=Mack |first1=Glenn Randall |last2=Surina |first2=Asele |title=Food Culture in Russia and Central Asia |date=30 June 2005 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-313-32773-5 |pages=78–79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j7MTx_zcIR0C&pg=PA78 |language=en}}</ref>

Although "sauerkraut" is from a German word (''Sauerkraut''), the dish did not originate in Germany. Some claim fermenting cabbage ''[[suan cai]]'' was already practised in the days of the building of the [[Great Wall of China]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/14/archives/sauerkraut-it-all-began-in-china.html|title=Sauerkraut: It All Began in China|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 14, 1979|access-date=December 5, 2020|first= Harry|last=Pincus}}</ref> However, the Romans, as previously noted, pickled forms of cabbage, and were the more likely source of modern-day European sauerkraut.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gesundheitfermentations.com/fermented-foods-a-short-history|title=A "Short" History of Fermentation|website=Gesundheit Fermentations}}</ref> It then took root in [[Central European cuisine|Central]] and [[Eastern European cuisine|Eastern European]] cuisines, but also in other countries including the Netherlands, where it is known as ''zuurkool'', and France, where the name became ''choucroute''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gazette |first=The |url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/travel/story.html?id=944c7e71-11ec-419d-9fb1-50d0c9065e0d |title=Sauerkraut rises above its humble origins |publisher=Canada.com |date=2007-09-22 |access-date=2012-02-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826125523/http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/travel/story.html?id=944c7e71-11ec-419d-9fb1-50d0c9065e0d |archive-date=26 August 2012}}</ref> According to Mack and Surina (2005), the Slavic peoples of Europe likely discovered fermented cabbage on their own.{{sfn|Mack|Surina|2005|p=78}} The English name is borrowed from German where it means "sour cabbage".<ref name="etym" />

The names in Slavic and other [[Central and Eastern Europe]]an languages have similar meanings with the German word: "fermented cabbage" ({{langx|sq|lakër turshi}}, {{langx|az|kələm turşusu}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://1001dad.com/k%C9%99l%C9%99m-tursusu/|title=Kələm turşusu|date=11 November 2014|website=1001dad|language=az|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414221446/http://1001dad.com/k%C9%99l%C9%99m-tursusu/|archive-date=14 April 2016|url-status=live|access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref> {{langx|be|квашаная капуста}}, {{langx|cs|kysané zelí}}, {{langx|lt|rauginti kopūstai}}, {{langx|pl|kapusta kiszona/ kapusta kwaszona }}, {{langx|ru|квашеная капуста/кислая капуста|kvašenaja kapusta}}, {{langx|tr|lahana turşusu}}, {{langx|ro|varză murată}}, {{langx|fa|kalam torş}}, {{langx|bg|кисело зеле}}, {{langx|et|hapukapsas}}, {{langx|hu|savanyúkáposzta}}, {{langx|lv|skābēti kāposti}}, {{langx|mk|расол / кисела зелка}}, {{lang-sh-Cyrl-Latn|кисели купус / кисело зеље|kiseli kupus / kiselo zelje}}, {{langx|sk|kyslá kapusta}}, {{langx|sl|kislo zelje}}, {{langx|uk|квашена капуста}}, ''kvashena kapusta'').<ref name="EEF">{{cite web |last=Rolek |first=Barbara |date=2010-06-12 |title=Sauerkraut - Sauerkraut Is the Quintessential Eastern European Vegetable - all About Sauerkraut |url=http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/vegetables/a/sauerkraut.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116055455/http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/vegetables/a/sauerkraut.htm |archive-date=16 January 2017 |access-date=2012-02-09 |website=About Food |publisher=Easteuropeanfood.about.com}}</ref>

Before [[frozen food]]s, refrigeration, and cheap transport from warmer areas became readily available in [[Northern Europe|Northern]], [[Central Europe|Central]], and [[Eastern Europe]], sauerkraut – like other preserved foods – provided a source of nutrients during the winter. Captain [[James Cook]] always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him it prevented [[scurvy]].<ref name="O'Sullivan2008">{{cite book |last1=O'Sullivan |first1=Dan |title=In Search of Captain Cook: Exploring the Man Through His Own Words |year=2008 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85771-350-6 |page=115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7WKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA115}}</ref><ref name="Makepeace2018">{{cite web |last1=Makepeace |first1=Margaret |work=British Library Western Heritage Collection |title=Sauerkraut, sugar, and salt pork – the diet on board Cook's 'Resolution' |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2018/06/sauerkraut-sugar-and-salt-pork-the-diet-on-board-cooks-resolution.html |access-date=20 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520214000/https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2018/06/sauerkraut-sugar-and-salt-pork-the-diet-on-board-cooks-resolution.html |archive-date=20 May 2024 |date=12 June 2018 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

The word "''[[Kraut]]''", derived from this food, is a derogatory term for the German people.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. Second edition, 1989. "'''1.''' = SAUERKRAUT, SOURCROUT. Also attrib. and Comb. '''2.''' (Often with capital initial.) A German, esp. a German soldier. Also attrib. and Comb. Derogatory."</ref> During [[World War I]], due to concerns the American public would reject a product with a German name, American sauerkraut makers [[List of politically motivated renamings|relabeled their product]] as "liberty cabbage" for the duration of the war.<ref name="[[New York Times]] Article">{{cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/04/25/96864971.pdf | title=Sauerkraut may be 'Liberty Cabbage' | access-date=2011-01-16 | date=1918-04-25 | work=The New York Times}}</ref>