UK Kraut Market Moves From Gut Side Dish to Centre Plate

Fresh, live fermented foods are quietly breaking out of the health-food corner in the UK and sauerkraut is leading the charge. Once seen as a sour continental side dish, kraut is now being re-discovered as a flavour-forward, everyday food, buoyed by growing interest in gut health, fermentation literacy, and mounting consumer distrust of ultra-processed foods.

According to producer commentary, January 2026 delivered standout growth, with some UK brands reporting year-on-year sales doubling.

This shift isn’t happening in isolation. Industry estimates suggest the wider UK fermented foods market, spanning fermented beverages, vegetables, and condiments, is now worth somewhere between £45m and £80m at retail, with fermented vegetables still a relatively small but fast-growing slice. Sauerkraut sits within that emerging segment, benefiting from improved retail visibility, premium positioning, and a reframing away from “functional medicine” toward flavour and versatility.

Brands like The Cultured Collective argue the category is still early in its UK journey. Fresh ferments typically occupy limited chilled shelf space and were almost entirely absent from major supermarkets five years ago. The comparison point is kefir, a category that has already scaled into the tens of millions in annual sales. The suggestion is kraut is following a similar trajectory, just a few years behind.

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