SC - keeping of saurkraut

[Glenda Robinson]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Anahita said:
> > You can learn more about Bubbie's products at:
> > http://www.bubbies.com/
> >
> > They say:
> > "Bubbies can be found in the refrigerator sections of better natural
> > health food stores nation wide as well as most chain stores in
> > California, Florida, and Colorado. Please ask for them by name.
> > Consumer demand is the key to success!"
> 
> If Saurkraut is pickled cabbage, and it was originally pickled as a
> preservative technique, why does it need to be stored in the
> refrigerator section today?
> 
> Is this simply overkill and a waste of resouces? Or is today's saurkraut
> indeed changed from the way it was done a hundred years ago, before
> commercial refrigeration such that it now needs refrigeration?
> 
> They sell jars of pickles (pickled cucumbers), pickled peppers,
> pickled carrots and pickled onions on the non-refrigerated shelves.

There's a degree of pickling (and remember sauerkraut is a lactic
fermentation, not a vinegar pickle) at which things like sauerkraut and
dill pickles become, well, nasty and unattractive, while still perfectly
safe to eat. Overpickled vegetables lose their crunch and acquire a
flavor most people find too strong.
 
> When I bought some saurkraut recently it was in a plastic pouch in the
> deli section, and again it was in a refrigerated case.
> 
> I've also wondered about this with other foods. The first time I saw
> Smithfield hams they were in the refrigerated case. This last season
> though, the same grocery had them sitting on the top of the cases.

Technically, Smithfield hams don't require refrigeration, unless they've
been cut into, or perhaps if the room they're being stored in is rather
warm. Could they have been out in the open in the winter and
refrigerated in the summer?  
 
> I've also bought smoked fish that was refrigerated. In that case, I
> think they are more lightly smoked than they were in the past and that
> it is simply for taste and not preservation.

Yeah, a lot of smoked fish, and most bacon nowadays, is smoked more for
the flavor than for any preservative quality the curing and smoking may add.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com