Desperate times

Ohio purveyor wants us to think of pickled cabbage as sexy

BBy Jane Snow
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Chris Smith is a desperate man. That’s the only explanation for the sauerkraut martini.

“It really makes a smooth martini,” said Smith, who has spent the last year thinking up new ways to sell his family’s sauerkraut.

Smith is in a bit of a hurry. Vats and vats of the pickled cabbage are fermenting at the Fremont Co. plant 45 miles east of Toledo, Ohio, waiting to be canned and bagged.

“You’re talking large tanks,” Smith said. “If you put somebody in one, they’d never get out.”

And unlike a century ago, when Smith’s grandfather started the business, customers aren’t exactly fighting over the stuff.

“After looking at our sales and looking at our product … we noticed that our sales were flat,” said Smith, 36, who decided the solution is to convince Americans that sauerkraut is sexy.

Fremont isn’t the only sauerkraut company in a pickle. Nationally, per capita consumption of sauerkraut has fallen from a high of 2.5 pounds per person annually in 1971 to 1.3 pounds in 2001, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.

The main reason is that traditional sauerkraut lovers are dying off. When the Fremont Co. was founded, the Midwest was fertile ground for sauerkraut sales. The Germans, Slavs, Poles, Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans who settled here ate sauerkraut regularly. Their descendants, though, are more likely to order a pizza.

The Fremont Co. once had plants throughout the Midwest. It is now down to one plant in Fremont. Even so, it remains one of the biggest sauerkraut producers in the country, with an annual output of about 16,000 tons, Smith said. The company makes SnowFloss and Frank’s Kraut, the most popular brands in the Midwest, and sells sauerkraut to food service operators.

But the company isn’t attracting the new generation of buyers it needs to flourish in the future. Hence the sexy sauerkraut plan.

The K’tini — a martini garnished with sauerkraut-stuffed olives — is the centerpiece of the plan. So far, the drink has been served at the chic Chicago bistro where it debuted at the PR company’s K’tini party, and to disc jockeys at a radio station in Sandusky, Ohio.

“Our next phase is just to hit the local markets with the parties and create a buzz around that,” Smith said.

In the meantime, while his father and uncle run the production end of the business, Smith has launched a Sauerkraut Club, an Internet store (yes, mail-order sauerkraut), an Internet recipe swap and an online sauerkraut chat room.

Maybe Smith should hold a recipe contest to whip up enthusiasm. An annual cook-off sponsored by Steinfeld’s Western Acres, an Oregon kraut manufacturer, has yielded such hip recipes as sauerkraut tacos, sauerkraut ice cream and the 2004 winner, sauerkraut lasagna.

On second thought, the recipes on the Fremont Co.’s Web site (www.sauerkraut.com) sound fine. Here are a few. Do Smith a favor and eat some sauerkraut.

Krauted chicken parmesan

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 teaspoon each dried oregano, sage, thyme and basil
1 cup dry crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
Oil
1 can (14 ounces) sauerkraut, drained
1 can (about 15 ounces) tomato sauce
1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Place chicken breasts between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap and gently pound with a blunt object until thickness of meat is even.

Combine herbs and bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, beat eggs. Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet. Dip chicken in eggs, then roll in bread crumbs. Fry in hot oil until brown on both sides.

Place chicken in a single layer in a baking pan. Cover with sauerkraut and tomato sauce. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Top with cheese and return to oven until melted. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Cream of Reuben soup

6 cups chicken broth
3/4 pound cooked corned beef, chopped
1 can (10 ounce) chopped sauerkraut, drained
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
3 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/3 cup water
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup whipping cream
Rye bread cubes, toasted

Combine first 10 ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

Combine cornstarch and water, stirring until smooth. Stir into soup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add cheese and cream, stirring until cheese melts. Top each serving with some toasted rye bread cubes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Kraut stack-ups

Kraut relish:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
2 cups sauerkraut, drained
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
1 jar (2 ounces) pimientos, drained and chopped

For each sandwich:
2 slices dark rye bread
Butter
2 slices ham
2 slices Swiss cheese
1 slice salami

For the relish: Heat sugar and vinegar in a saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cool. Combine in a bowl with remaining relish ingredients. Chill.

To assemble sandwich: Butter the bread. For each sandwich, top one slice of bread with two slices ham, 2 slices cheese and 1 slice salami. Spread about 1/4 cup of the relish over the salami. Top with other slice of buttered bread.

Chocolate sauerkraut cake

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sauerkraut, drained and chopped
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup water

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.

In a mixer bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with water, in three additions each. Add sauerkraut and mix thoroughly.

Pour into two greased and floured 8-inch-round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, or until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and top springs back when lightly touched. Cool, then fill and frost stacked layers with your favorite chocolate frosting.