A few tidbits from Hyatt's Folk-Lore From Adams County, Illinois (New York, 1935):

4551: Drinking sauerkraut juice will cure diabetes.
5162: Drink sauerkraut juice as a cure for intermittent fever.
5620: If a person craves our foods like pickles, slaw and sauerkraut, it is the sign of biliousness.
7777: Sauerkraut should be eaten for luck on Christmas.
7837: A midnight on New Year's Eve eat sauerkraut and you will have money all year.
7838: Serve sauerkraut for dinner (midday meal) on New Year's Day and you will have luck all year.
7855: Worms in the cabbage used will give sauerkraut a good flavor.
8226: "If a preacher comes to your house on Sunday just at noon, you had better cook sauerkraut; because if you don't, you will have trouble in your house the rest of the day."

Here's on that applies to the song in question:

7974: Sauerkraut will taste better, if it is tamped into the barrel with the bare feet.

There's more, but this will do. From the foregoing you'd be eating a LOT of kraut around the Christmas holidays.