Sauerkraut vs Kimchi

Both are fermented cabbage. Almost everything else is different.

Method. Sauerkraut is cabbage and salt, pressed under its own brine and left to ferment. Kimchi is usually brined first, then coated in a paste — gochugaru, garlic, ginger, and in most traditional versions fish sauce or salted shrimp — and fermented after that. One is subtraction, the other is composition.

Flavor. Sauerkraut is sour, salty and clean, with the cabbage front and centre. Kimchi is sour too, but layered with heat, umami and allium. Sauerkraut sits beside rich food without competing; kimchi is often the loudest thing on the plate, in a good way.

Vegan or not. Sauerkraut is plant-only by default. Most traditional kimchi is not, unless it is specifically made without seafood.

What you use them for. Sauerkraut goes with sausage, pork, eggs, rye bread, anything fatty. Kimchi goes into fried rice, stews, noodles, and onto a fried egg over rice.

You do not have to choose. But if you are after the plainer one — the one that makes a heavy plate lighter without redirecting it — that is what we make. Our Jalapeño is the closest thing here to kimchi's heat, without the fish sauce.