Serious Eats: New York
New York Cabbage Farm In Danger, Could Hurt National Kraut Industry
Life isn't even good for cabbage these days. The Great Lakes Kraut Company in Shortsville, New York, is in danger, and will likely close by 2009, reports the New York Times.
According to the company's president, cabbage manufacturing could be gravitating to the Midwest because of the high manufacturing costs in upstate New York. Not only would this eliminate a slew of jobs, but hurt the country's cabbage—and ergo, kraut—market.
Fermented cabbage has been a PB&J-like match for hot dogs and Reuben sandwiches since the early 1900s when a young entrepreneur named Burton E. Babcock had a stroke of genius. He noticed that kraut demand went hand-in-hand with the nation's burgeoning immigrant population. Taking advantage of upstate New York's perfect cabbage-growing setting—cool weather and great soil conditions—he helped turn this region into a kraut capital (Phelps, New York, is still home to the kraut festival after 42 years). Alas, those glory days could soon be over. Which makes me want to cry briny tears.