Sauerkraut’s being touted as a wonder food these days, maybe even an antidote to avian flu. First came the Polish Women’s Health Study [1], showing an association between sauerkraut consumption and a reduced risk of breast cancer.

Then came the discovery that kimchi, a South Korean cousin to sauerkraut, may fight off bird flu [2]; after 13 bird flu-infected chickens were fed kimchi for one week, 11 of the birds appeared to recover. The buzz about sauerkraut’s benefits sent sales soaring [3] in the U.S. and Britain.

Mega model Heidi Klum even told the NY Times Boldface column [4] (subscription only) that sauerkraut soup helped her regain her high fashion figure after giving birth. “We don’t put sauerkraut on hot dogs in Germany like they do here. We mix it with sausage and potatoes.” And, she added, “it’s low in carbs,” (yeah, but what about the sausage and potatoes, Heidi? Isn’t a sausage a lot like a hot dog? Aren’t potatoes and hot dog buns both high carb? Oh, nevermind…)

The secret to sauerkraut’s allegedly curative powers is lactic acid, which forms when cabbage is fermented and seems to help fight all kinds of harmful bacteria.

I bought a jar of Eden’s excellent organic sauerkraut [5] last week in order to make smoked turkey reubens, but I still have nearly a whole jar left and I’m a bit tired of turkey at this point, so I’m going to make a batch of quinoa, sauerkraut and bean soup [6] from a recipe I found on Eden’s website. Sounds good to me, but if that doesn’t appeal to you, there’s a whole world of sauerkraut recipes at, you guessed it, sauerkrautrecipes.com [7].

And, of course, there’s always the humble hot dog. If we anoint it with sauerkraut, does it atone, somewhat, for its sinfully good fattiness? Let’s ask Heidi Klum.