Can refrigerated sauerkraut go bad?

[SusieQ]

This package of sauerkraut has been refrigerated since I bought it. "Best used by" date is 09/09/25. It smells ok. What do you think? Can I still eat it? It will be cooked with other ingredients. 

[FeChef]

I can't speak for that brand, but i have had kept bags of silverfloss in a container in my fridge for well over a year and they never went bad. I keep them till the kraut losses its krunch.

[gfweb]

I have a Kissling's that I've been dipping into for at least a year.

[SusieQ]

I should have clarified that my Cleveland Kraut has no preservatives--just green cabbage, kosher salt, and caraway seed. I see that both Silverfloss and Kissling have sodium benzoate and sodium bisulfite as preservatives. I wonder if that makes a difference?

[liuzhou]

Yes, it can but I routinely ignore sell by dates. The manufacturers build in wide margins of error to cover their backsides. Your sauerkraut is only four months over. I'd bet its OK, but read this before you decide.

 

https://www.chefsresource.com/faq/what-happens-if-you-eat-bad-sauerkraut-2/

 

 

Edited Monday at 09:56 AM by liuzhou
typo (log)

[haresfur]

I have had homemade sauerkraut turn to mush in the fridge. Don't really know why that happened. 

[Maison Rustique]

I'd been wondering about freezing sauerkraut and see in the article @liuzhou provided that it says yes. Anyone tried it? I don't want to end up with a bag of mush, although if that happened, I'd likely just mix it into mashed potatoes.

[rotuts]

Why bother , even if the risk is ' small ' ?

 

and dont do it again

[SusieQ]

7 hours ago, rotuts said:

Why bother , even if the risk is ' small ' ?

 

and dont do it again

You're right. That's what I always think when I read posts like mine. And yet -- I went ahead and made my dish last night and ate some of it. So far, so good. But the anxiety isn't worth it. Next time I'm going to throw out the questionable item. I'm just such a penny-pincher, though, it goes against the grain. 

[KevinG]

With refrigerated fermented sauerkraut, as long as it doesn't smell bad, you are ok to eat it. It's healthier if you don't cook it as you will benefit from the good bacteria.

[liuzhou]

13 hours ago, KevinG said:

With refrigerated fermented sauerkraut, as long as it doesn't smell bad, you are ok to eat it. It's healthier if you don't cook it as you will benefit from the good bacteria.

 

Given that smell is a subjective sense, I'd give that suggestion a wide berth. 

 

What smells bad to you maybe appetizing to someone else. And vice versa. 

 

Think some cheeses, stinky tofu, durian etc. Love it or hate it. 

 

 

[KevinG]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Given that smell is a subjective sense, I'd give that suggestion a wide berth. 

 

What smells bad to you maybe appetizing to someone else. And vice versa. 

 

Think some cheeses, stinky tofu, durian etc. Love it or hate it. 

 

 

I understand that. I love bleu cheese and my wife hates it.

 

However, I have smelled bad sauerkraut. It will knock your head off and make you want to vomit.

[Tropicalsenior]

2 hours ago, KevinG said:

However, I have smelled bad sauerkraut. It will knock your head off and make you want to vomit.

That wouldn't help me. All sauerkraut makes me want to vomit.

Edited 7 hours ago by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

I probably should explain, again, my extreme aversion to sauerkraut. Every fall my little German grandmother would make sauerkraut. My grandfather grew mountains of cabbage and she would process it in five or six 10 gallon crocs in her basement. All through September and October her house would smell of fermenting sauerkraut. It was worse than the city dump on the hottest August day. There was no power on God's green earth that would make me enter her house until all of that had been canned and put away in hermetically sealed glass jars.

Even then, her house didn't return to an acceptable olfactory level until she started baking hundreds of springerly cookies for Christmas. But that's a horror story for another day.

To make a short story long, I don't know if sauerkraut will go rotten in the refrigerator. To me it's just rotten cabbage to begin with.