The relationships between the redox potential of the brine, during fermenta
tion of white cabbage into sauerkraut of two early and two late fermentatio
n processes, and the changes in the amount of sugars, organic acids, the re
dox potential of the brine and of the ascorbic acid redox couple, and pH ar
e described. The trend in the change of the redox potential of the brine is
the same for all four fermentation processes studied. In the first phase a
sharp decrease in redox potential is followed by an increase in redox pote
ntial. In the second phase the redox potential is rather constant. This sec
ond phase is followed by another decrease in redox potential, which stabili
zes at a minimum value, the third phase. It was observed that sugar ferment
ation and acid production mainly took place during the first and third phas
es, probably representing, respectively, the heterogeneous and homogeneous
fermentation processes.