SC - keeping of saurkraut

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Adamantius replied to me with:
> > > 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.
> 
> So are you saying that the saurkraut sold in the store today has
> less pickling than that needed when used for preservation without
> refrigeration? In that case, it would appear that the "modern"
> saurkraut is not similar to period saurkraut and may be a poor
> choice for one of our feasts.

No, I'm not saying that. The preservation of sauerkraut, like many such
processes including the making of cheese,  is an ongoing process, and
the fermentation can keep up for a long time. If you don't refrigerate
fresh sauerkraut, such as that sold in bags or out of barrels in bulk,
it will get soft and very sour indeed, as does kim chee and several
other fermented cabbage preparations. That doesn't mean, though, that
preferences have changed from a pre-refrigeration society to the
present. Sauerkraut (or various other pickled vegetables) may well have
been preferred fresher and milder in flavor during our period (which is
probably why we seem to prefer it that way, too), but unlike a medieval
farmer, we don't generally depend on our ability to preserve our crop.
We can dump out that soft, sour kraut and get a new batch without
looking back or worrying about starving.

Bear in mind also that in the areas where sauerkraut proliferates, it
doesn't tend to get really hot, and that there are methods of keeping
food cool that don't involve evaporating and recompressing freon. I also
suspect that there's a standard time of year when sauerkraut wouldn't be
eaten (probably from, say, July through September), and wherein low
quality happens to coincide with unavailability. In other words, you
make your sauerkraut in late September or so, keep it cool in a stone
crock, possibly in a cellar, and eat it through about July first,
arranging to use up the last of it before it gets unpleasant. Then you
eat other stuff until the first batch of fresh kraut is ready> A food
available even 75% of the year is still plenty enough to characterize
and define a cuisine, no?  

So no, I wouldn't say that just because unrefrigerated kraut gets a bit
nasty after a while, that fresh kraut is not a good representation of
period sauerkraut. BTW, have we established the periodicity of
sauerkraut in Europe? I forget. We have so many of these discussions ; 
)   

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com