I am thinking of planting some winter cabbage ( I know, I'm planning early, but planning my spring garden gets me looking through catalogues and thinking about things I might grow later, too) to make purple sauerkraut like I've had in the Czech Republic. I'm pretty sure they make the same kind in Germany. It's made with apples and sometimes oranges and apple vinegar. I like it better than the white sauerkraut. Anyway, I've never made it before (I have a couple of different recipes) and am wondering if others are familiar with which varieties of cabbage are best for that kind of sauerkraut? Maybe something native to (or popular in) Germany or Eastern Europe? I did a little searching through catalogues I have and a couple of websites and found plenty of purple cabbage, but nothing that said it was native to Eastern Europe or specifically mentioned sauerkraut. I am in Northern CA, zone 9, Western zone 14. Most cabbage does well here, though I've never grown it.

Maybe this is more of a vegetable forum question, but when I did a search for sauerkraut, most of the posts were here, so I thought people who make and can sauerkraut might be most likely to know.