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Sauerrüben

Compote aux raves · Rape acidule · Swiss fermented turnips

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Swiss fermented white turnips, cut into strips, salted and fermented like sauerkraut; called compote aux raves in French-speaking Switzerland.

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Photograph of Sauerrüben.

What it is

Sauerrüben is the Swiss German name for fermented white turnips. The Dictionnaire suisse romand defines compote aux raves as turnip strips fermented in a preparation like sauerkraut and equates the French term with Sauerrüben. The Swiss heritage inventory also lists the Italian rape acidule; how widely that term is used is not established.

The word compote does not settle the method. The inventory distinguishes raw grated vegetables that were fermented from a coarser cooked preparation that was probably preserved with vinegar, and describes them as separate, historically coexisting methods; its vinegar explanation is qualified. The sources also differ on the cut, thick strands in one and thin strips in the other, and that difference is left as it is.

Sources for this section

Place, season and history

The inventory names Aargau as the main present-day production centre and records historical consumption there. A current producer, Dreyer AG, says its autumn turnips come from Aargau and in smaller part the Bernese Seeland, harvested from October to November; the inventory places traditional consumption from October through winter. These are regional and seasonal observations, not evidence that Aargau was the birthplace.

The inventory quotes Jérôme Bock's 1539 wording about salting turnips like Kumpost, the clearest cited reference to salted turnips. A 1565 quotation records turnips bought for conpotaz, which does not show whether they were fermented. The cited book and abbey account were not examined, so both are mediated attestations.

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Production and use

Dreyer describes its own production: turnips are cut into sticks, salted, tamped into a fermentation vat and sealed. It reports two to ten weeks for sauerkraut and Sauerrüben together and up to 18 months of storage for its pasteurised commercial products. These figures are one producer's, not a regional standard or a home schedule.

Dictionary examples show compote aux raves cooked with pork and served with boiled potatoes. A Swiss glossary describes the fermented turnips served raw or cooked, in salads, on tarts, beside choucroute or with meat. Räbebappe, mashed autumn turnip and potato, is a cooked dish and not another name for the ferment. The reviewed sources establish no household formula, turnip-specific microbial study, endpoint or validated storage control.

Sources for this section

History

A 1539 reference to salted turnips is quoted in the Swiss heritage inventory; a 1565 quotation records turnips bought for conpotaz, which alone does not show they were fermented.

Ingredients

Scaling: source batch only

White turnipsCut into sticks or strips.
Amount not stated
No household quantity is given.
Salt
Amount not stated
No salting rate is given.

Method

Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Unvalidated household method

The sources give one producer's commercial description and no household formula, endpoint or validated storage controls.

Hazard source

Use a separately validated vegetable-fermentation method for salt rate, endpoint and storage; the producer's 18-month figure applies to its pasteurised commercial products, and smell or taste does not establish safety.

Control source

No household salt rate, fermentation endpoint or storage guidance is established.

  1. Cut the turnips into sticks or strips. The heritage inventory says thick strands and the regional dictionary says thin strips.
  2. Salt the turnip sticks.
  3. Tamp them into a fermentation vat and seal it.
  4. Let them ferment. One producer reports two to ten weeks for sauerkraut and Sauerrüben together; no turnip-specific duration is given.
  5. Eat the fermented turnips raw or cooked.

Places

Aargau

Documented use · Region evidence

The heritage inventory names Aargau as the main present-day production centre and records historical consumption there; this does not make it the birthplace.

See Aargauon the mapLocation source 1 → · Location source 2 →

Bern, Vaud and Zurich

Documented use · Region evidence

The multilingual inventory entry includes these cantons; it does not prove identical names or methods in each.

See Bern, Vaud and Zurichon the mapLocation source 1 →

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