With just a hint of saltiness, a satisfying crunch, and a tiny bit of traditional fermentation, you’re not likely to ever find a better sauerkraut than William Frederick’s Finest, produced right here in Fremont County.
When you think of sauerkraut images of German beer halls, or steaming plates of Polish sausage arranged on a bed of fermented cabbage come to mind. The origin of sauerkraut is a bit further east, dating back 2,000 years to China.
You can find quality sauerkraut on the shelf at Mr. D’s and it’s produced locally. William Frederick’s Finest is grown, processed and packaged just a few miles north of the supermarket that sells it.
Somewhere in the last 20 centuries, sauerkraut has migrated west and is now commonplace across the globe. The Mongols are thought to have brought sauerkraut to Europe when they laid waste to Russia and many Eastern European principalities in the 13th century.
Somewhere in the years since Genghis Khan’s hoards ravaged Europe in 1223, modern sauerkraut was born. Traditional Mongolian sauerkraut is made with rice wine. Cabbages were common in Europe since biblical times, but rice wasn’t.
In the absence of rice wine, Europeans began adding salt to shredded cabbage, storing it in ceramic crocks in the autumn and waiting a few weeks for it to ferment. That’s the sauerkraut we’re all familiar with and the recipe that Fred Groenke follows in his production of “William Fredericks Finest” on his small farm northwest of Lander.
“William Frederick was my grandfather,” Fred said. “Our family were Pomeranian imports.”
Pomerania is a region between Germany and Poland, a region where sauerkraut is a culinary treat. Modern sauerkraut is served at homes and in the finest restaurants on both sides of the Atlantic.
When Fred’s ancestors came to Michigan in 1858, it was a staple through the long winter months on the shores of the Great Lakes.
Fred grew up on the family farm in the Benton Harbor area.
“We had dairy cows, pigs and chickens,” Fred said. “It was a couple hundred acres, with apple trees for cider and a woodlot with maples we made our own syrup with.”
His father was the youngest of five boys, all who served in World War II. Rich, Bob, Jake, Tom and Carl Groenke all answered the call.
Fred joined the Marine Corps after graduating from high school. A good athlete, Fred, played baseball for the base team at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina.
He describes his service as a Vietnam era Marine, though he never went to Southeast Asia.
Fred worked on an extraction team with a Raider Company.
“In 1970, things were hot and heavy, but the Marines were pulling out of Vietnam,” Fred said. “I wanted to go but ended up as a communication specialist at 29 Palms working with an eight-inch artillery battalion.
He was transferred to Camp Pendelton for staging in 1971, but just missed deployment to Vietnam.
“I was assigned as a Lance Corporal to KP duty for 30 days,” Fred said. “When that was up, the next group went to Okinawa.”
He finished his career in the Corps on the USS Duluth, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of India and Pakistan as tension between the two countries escalated.
Back home in Michigan he found a job packing quarters of beef for $13 an hour. That was a great wage in the early 1970s.
“Mrs. Woodward, my high school counselor ran into me one day and said, “Freddie, you should go to college” Fred said.
He enrolled at Grand Valley State and graduated with a teaching degree in science and health.
In 1973, he married his wife of 51 years, Dawn, and they began a family, eventually having three boys, Scott, Joe and Mike.
His first teaching job came at Montrose High School where he taught earth science, health and physical education and coached football and basketball.
“I got pink slipped,” Fred said. “Detroit was shutting down.”
A colleague had played football at the University of Wyoming and suggested Fred come to the Cowboy State.
“I interviewed at Kaycee, Rock River and Lander,” Fred said. “I was offered a job at Rock River but I knew Dawn wouldn’t like living in such a small town. I interviewed at Lander with J.C. Sollars but didn’t get the job. He suggested I apply at Wyoming Indian, because they needed a football coach.”
Fred became the head coach of the Wyoming Indian Chiefs in 1981.
“We only won one game that year, over Wind River,” Fred said.
Fred was head coach for five seasons, amassing the best win/loss record of any football coach in Wyoming Indian history.
“I wasn’t sure how things were going,” Fred said.
He moved to St. Stephen’s where he taught science and was head basketball coach. He was 33-31 as head coach for the Eagles and took the team to a runner-up finish at the 1-A state tournament in 1992 with an 18-5 record.
After three years at St. Stephen’s Fred took his family back to Michigan where he earned an MA in Educational Administration from Ferris State.
He worked in Michigan for almost two decades before he and Dawn came back to Lander.
In 1985, the young couple had purchased 2 ¾ acres on Second Street outside Lander. In 2014, the “Farmer Fred” phase began for the Groenke’s when he moved back to the farm.
In 2013, The Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act became federal law. It was written to create economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers and to increase access to healthy food.
Fred began cold processing sauerkraut.
“I grew up in agriculture,” Fred said. “I started by raising lambs.”
After returning to Wyoming, Fred worked at Ft. Washakie starting the Native Science Field Center. He started projects with the Boys and Girls Club at Ft. Washakie and was instrumental in starting the community garden at Central Wyoming College.
“I got into the food movement,” Fred said. “I started going to Farmer’s Markets in Jackson and Lander. I’d take three coolers of vegetables to the market and come back with $75.”
He started a tradition of making sauerkraut for Veterans Day.
“Two guys came by the house on Veterans Day,” Fred said. “I asked them if they were here for the celebration, “No, they said” we’re here for the kraut.”
An idea sparked to life.
“I had a value-added product,” Fred said. “I could take a 75 cent a pound cabbage, turn it into sauerkraut and sell it for $2.25 a pound.”
Local production is one phase of the food movement, healthy eating is another.
“Health is always part of my agenda, good food and health are inseparable,” Fred said. “They’re like a sleeping pill all rolled into one. People that buy my product are usually wealthy and healthy.”
That’s why his best markets are in the relatively healthy and wealthy communities of Jackson and Lander. He has multiple retail outlets in both towns but can’t get a foothold in Riverton.
“I bitch about Wyoming a lot,” Fred said. “Trucks from Idaho, Utah, Montana and Colorado roll into town, fill their wallets and leave. We don’t have enough value-added product.”
The gardens at the Groenke Farm show evidence of a constant battle with local wildlife. Deer and rabbits love cabbage, and Fred battles them with high, woven wire fences.
“We grow five to seven tons of cabbage each year,” Fred said. “We plant three varieties that mature at 65, 75 and 85 days. This spaces out the harvest.”
The growing season this past year wasn’t the best, with too much heat and not enough natural moisture.
“This wasn’t a great cabbage year,” Fred said. “It was just too hot and dry. Cabbage needs constant moist soil. Alkaline soil works the best.”
Fred’s first year in 2014-15 began as a result of the Food Freedom Act.
“Without the Food Freedom Act I couldn’t have done it,” Fred said. “I don’t see a future for small growers around here. You need to subsidize our buyers so they buy in state. Maybe give them a discount.”
Fred’s product avoids a lot of state and federal regulations because he uses a cold processing method to make his sauerkraut.
“There is no cooking or heating,” Fred said. “The entire sauerkraut process is natural, just cabbage, salt, and water.”
Fred shreds up to 400 pounds of cabbage a day during peak production.
“You grind it, add water and a little salt, push it down and let it do it’s thing,” Fred said. “In a good year I’ll sell 200 to 300 pounds a week, with 150 to 200 pounds in Jackson.”
In Jackson, William Frederick’s Finest brings $3 a pound.
Fred has a production shed and a fermenting room. He starts by shredding the cabbage, then placing it in large crocks with two to three tablespoons of salt and fills it with water to submerge the cabbage. He uses plastic to hold the cabbage under water, but wood lids work the best, though they’re not certified, so plastic it is.
“I let it ferment for 10 to 12 days,” Fred said. “I shoot for 21 days. The longer it ferments the more flavor it has and it creates different textures.”
Large scale, commercial sauerkraut can last for years on a supermarket shelf or a warehouse due to the heavy use of preservatives.
“Our sauerkraut spoils, “Fred said. “That’s a good thing about our product. “
Fred’s operation is now 12-months a year, with cabbage purchased from local suppliers.
“Most of my product is sold in Lander,” Fred said. “I have a cooler to go to Jackson.”
Fred buys cabbage through Mr. D’s and the Middle Fork Restaurant.
“Depending on the time of the year it can come from Texas, California or Oregon,” Fred said. “It follows the sun cycle.”
Modern food production, distribution and market is fraught with chemicals, recalls and dangerous bacteria outbreaks.
“The only safe way ahead with our food system is the way back,” Fred said.
Soil, water and sunlight are all that is required to grow healthy crops, but the industrial production of food has changed the equation.
“The land and soil are almost depleted,” Fred said. “You can’t get out of a plant what you don’t put into it.”
At heart, Fred is an agricultural purist, looking for heritage plants, simple processes and healthy outcomes.
“We should go back to the simpler days,” Fred said. “Back to planting and farming naturally.”
Until that time arrives, the smart, health-conscious consumer must look for food carefully. The path is fraught with chemically laden, mass-produced food. But the conscientious consumer can find quality if they look carefully.
Products like William Frederick’s Finest are one of the ways to reach that goal.