Yanis Angsthelm and his brother Johan are the fourth generation of their family to work the farm in Krautergersheim (Bas-Rhin).
It was founded in 1945 by his grandparents, and the family began making sauerkraut in 1980.
At Choucrouterie Angsthelm & Fils, the two brothers still grow their own cabbages and make their own sauerkraut (choucroute in French) the traditional way.
Finely sliced cabbage is saltedLoic Chalmandrier
“We have 100 hectares of land, and the climate around here is ideal,” says Yanis. “Cabbages don’t like heatwaves. They need a lot of water, and grow best on deep, rich soil. We rotate our cabbages with other vegetable and cereal crops to rest the land. You can’t grow cabbages in the same field year in, year out.”
Making sauerkraut is relatively simple, he says. “Once the cabbages have had the mud and outer leaves removed, they are sliced very finely, and mixed with salt. Then we let it ferment.” The brothers have a team of 19 people all year round plus 10 seasonal workers. “It’s heavy work because our cabbages weigh up to 10kg.”
Since 2018, some of their production is organic, but the rest is ‘l’agriculture raisonnée’, meaning they use the fewest possible chemicals in the production process. The first choucroute of the season is less acidic than later in the season, and the brothers like to make very long, fine strands of cabbage, like angels’ hair. It takes around 2kg of raw cabbage to make 1kg of sauerkraut and they produce around 4,000 tonnes of it a year.
Choucroute with Riesling and duck fatChoucrouterie Angsthelm & Fils
Sauerkraut is very good for health – being fermented, it is easy to digest. It is filling, yet low in calories, rich in vitamins and minerals, and is a natural pro-biotic. It can be eaten either raw or cooked.
“Raw is very traditional,” but we like to change the flavours from time to time,” says Yanis. They cook choucroute with ingredients such as lard, bacon and Riesling, goose fat, marine algae, beer, sunflower oil, goose fat, bay leaves and nutmeg. They have a shop on the farm selling their products, which is open all year round, but they do not sell online.
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