- Shelf life: 8 months
- Best before date: 8 months
- Shelf life in the refrigerator: 8 months
- Freezer life: not indicated
Cabbage is considered a very healthy vegetable and occupies an important place in human nutrition. It is also often used in cooking to prepare various dishes. One of them can be considered sauerkraut. Many people like its taste. It can serve as an excellent snack, as well as as an addition to meals. Sauerkraut is known not only for its taste, but also for the fact that it has a lot of useful properties.
This product is obtained through natural fermentation. Therefore, it is important to know the expiration date of sauerkraut. It contains a lot of useful substances for the human body. It contains vitamins, enzymes, micro and macroelements, fiber, enzymes and phytoncides. Sauerkraut contains the following vitamins: A, group B, C, K, P and U. It is the latter that is considered a rather rare vitamin; it has special properties. Thanks to this substance, the appearance of ulcerative lesions on the walls of the stomach and duodenum is prevented. It is also important that sauerkraut contains vitamin C, as well as ascorbigen. It is a derivative of ascorbic acid. Even during long-term storage, it does not deteriorate, and if subjected to moderate heat treatment, it becomes vitamin C. The product also contains choline, which belongs to the B group of vitamins. It normalizes lipid processes and has a good effect on metabolism. People who do not want to gain extra pounds should introduce sauerkraut into their diet, since 100 grams of the product contains only 27 calories. There are more minerals in this food than in other similar products. Sauerkraut can be a leader in terms of their quantity. There is potassium, iodine, magnesium, manganese, iron, sodium, chlorine, fluorine, phosphorus, calcium, selenium, zinc, silicon and others. This healthy product also contains amino acids necessary for humans. Among them are tyrosine, lysine, methylmethionine and tryptophan. Flavonoids and probiotics also have a great effect on the human body.
To strengthen your immune system, you should start eating sauerkraut. It also has a general strengthening effect, anti-carcinogenic properties and prevents the risk of heart problems. The body's resistance to stress increases and the secretion of the digestive glands improves. By introducing this product into your diet, you can recharge your batteries and prolong your youth. This is why it is important to know the expiration date of sauerkraut. Many people use it for hangover symptoms. It perfectly tones and activates activity, and also replenishes vitamin C reserves. To reduce harmful cholesterol in the blood and strengthen the heart muscle, you should pay attention to sauerkraut. As described above, the product has a lot of positive properties. But to avoid unnecessary health problems, you should not eat it in excess of the norm. This can happen if you have certain diseases. Sauerkraut contains mustard oils, so they can accumulate in the intestines and cause flatulence. People who have problems with ulcerative lesions of the stomach and duodenum should use it with caution or refuse. Also, patients with cholelithiasis and kidney failure, hypertension and pancreatic diseases should stop eating this product. This is also important to know, like the expiration date of sauerkraut. Now you can buy a ready-made product, or prepare it yourself. On the Internet you can find a lot of recipes and tips for making sauerkraut. This is a great opportunity to supplement your body with vitamins during the winter season. The product can be stored in barrels from the date of production for no more than 8 months at temperatures from -1 to + 4 degrees and a relative humidity of 85-95 percent. The shelf life of sauerkraut in glass jars under the same conditions is half a month, and at temperatures up to + 10 degrees - from 3 to 5 days. The shelf life of sauerkraut packaged in polymer films is no more than 6 days at temperatures from -1 to + 4 degrees and a relative humidity of 85-95 percent. The product can be stored for no more than 2 days at temperatures up to + 10 degrees.
As the famous actor said about sauerkraut, “It’s not a shame to put it on the table, and it’s not a shame to eat it!” Indeed, sauerkraut is an integral part of the Russian table in winter. Along with pickled cucumbers, pickled tomatoes, jams and compotes, sauerkraut takes its rightful place on the table. It is added to vinaigrette, bigus, cabbage soup, borscht, pies, and simply eaten with onions and butter! Every self-respecting housewife considers it her duty to provide her family with crispy and tasty sauerkraut during the winter.
Sauerkraut improves the functioning of the cardiovascular and nervous systems and helps you lose weight. Doctors recommend eating this product to normalize blood sugar, as a medicine against allergies. Cabbage improves appetite, cleanses the body, helps with nausea, vitamin deficiency and hangover. Sauerkraut juice is even used in cosmetology - as a component for many anti-aging face masks.
You need to eat cabbage, especially in winter, when there are so few other vitamins. But how to prepare it so that all the nutritional value remains in it and the product is preserved throughout the winter?
How to ferment cabbage for long-term storage
Here is a simple recipe for delicious, crispy and healthy cabbage.
- First you need to choose cabbage for this important task. Early varieties of cabbage are not suitable - they are too soft. It is better to take autumn and winter cabbage. It is better to ferment the product from September to November - at this time the vegetable gains juice and taste. If cabbage grows in your garden, it is better to harvest it after the first frost. A light frost turns the hard starch into sugar, making the vegetable crispier and tastier. Choose dense and light-colored heads of cabbage with thin veins and without damage or wormholes. Select your cabbage carefully - one rotten head can ruin your entire starter.
- For 10 kilograms of cabbage you need to take 0.5-1 kg of carrots and 200-300 grams of salt. The top green leaves of the cabbage are cut off, the stalks are cut out, and the vegetables themselves are chopped quite finely. Carrots are also chopped in the same way. It can be rubbed through a regular or Korean grater. The vegetables are poured into a clean container, mixed, sprinkled with salt and thoroughly ground. For taste, you can add a couple of bay leaves and a little cumin to the cabbage.
- Then you need to decide in what container the cabbage will be fermented. If you are only fermenting a couple of kilograms of cabbage, use a glass jar for this. For large volumes, a wooden barrel, tub, enamel bucket or pan is suitable. It is best to immediately ferment the cabbage in the container in which you are going to store it.
- Place the cabbage in the prepared container, cover with pressure and leave at room temperature to ferment. Usually it is about 20 degrees. You should not leave cabbage near heating devices or in a warm place - the product will sour.
- When bubbles appear, this means that the cabbage has begun to ferment. After 3-4 days it needs to be refrigerated to stop the fermentation process. Usually by this time the cabbage settles, becomes crispy, salty, and the brine ceases to be cloudy.
Cabbage prepared in this way will be stored for up to six months. But how to save it?
Cabbage is best stored at 0 degrees. At this temperature, it retains all its beneficial properties, does not spoil and becomes even tastier. If you fermented no more than 5 kilograms, the cabbage can be stored directly in the refrigerator. Transfer it to glass jars and cover with nylon lids.
If you have a large volume of fermented cabbage, you can store it on the balcony, in the basement, or in the garage. Of course, at low temperatures the cabbage will freeze. This will not cause it to lose its taste, but you should not defrost and freeze the cabbage again. With repeated freezing, the product loses the lion's share of vitamin C. Therefore, the defrosted product left after dinner is no longer worth taking out into the cold.
If you store cabbage in large tubs or enamel containers, you probably had to pick out the right amount of sauerkraut in the cold to bring it into the house. This is not very convenient. To avoid this, you can use this method. Before taking the cabbage out into the cold, pack it in plastic bags, and place the bags themselves in a dry pan. When it’s cold, just bring one serving of cabbage into the house in a bag and leave it to defrost. This method will solve many problems.
How to increase the shelf life of cabbage
Here are some tips for storing sauerkraut that may come in handy.
- Sauerkraut should be covered with its juice all the time. After taking the required amount of cabbage, the rest of the product is leveled and covered with pressure so that the vegetable is completely covered with brine.
- For oppression, you can use a jar of water or a cobblestone. Do not use limestone, a bag of sand or concrete chips.
- To increase the shelf life of cabbage, you can sometimes sprinkle a little sugar on top. During the fermentation process, sugar turns into vinegar, which protects the product from rotting and spoilage.
- To keep the cabbage crispy and fresh for a long time, add a few lingonberries or cranberries to it.
- Sometimes white mold appears on the surface of sauerkraut. If you don't remove it, the cabbage becomes flabby and sour and stops crunching. To get rid of this yeast, sprinkle mustard powder on top of the cabbage. It will rid the product of mold and give the cabbage even more flavor.
- Cabbage should not be fermented in aluminum containers. In such a container, the cabbage oxidizes and acquires a metallic taste. It is also not recommended to ferment cabbage in plastic containers - the acidic brine can corrode the plastic and its breakdown products will end up in your food. If you ferment the product in an enamel container, pay attention to the fact that it should not be chipped.
- Cabbage stored in a barrel retains its freshness for up to 8 months. Cabbage can be stored in glass containers for about 2-3 months. To increase the shelf life of cabbage, you can water it with vegetable oil.
- If you have prepared too much cabbage, and the weather makes you feel changeable, you cannot leave it on the balcony. It can be frozen and thawed many times, which degrades its taste and quality. In this case, the cabbage should be packaged in bags and placed in the freezer. There it will last much longer.
In ancient times there was such a sign - cabbage should be fermented in a good mood. If you ferment cabbage in a bad mood, it will certainly taste bitter. Therefore, be positive and ferment cabbage so that you always have this tasty and healthy snack on your winter table.
Video: how to preserve sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is a favorite dish of the Slavs. Everyone loves it, so as soon as autumn comes, the cabbage harvest ends and the process of pickling begins. Each housewife has her own recipe for sauerkraut, but the rules on how to properly store sauerkraut are the same for everyone.
How and where to store sauerkraut
Many people don’t know whether sauerkraut can be stored, so they ferment it in small portions. In fact, you can ferment this healthy vegetable in any quantity, and all you need to know is how to store sauerkraut at home. Having created the right conditions, you can enjoy your favorite dish for a long time without fear of it spoiling or mold appearing on it. So, the most important question that comes to housewives first of all is where to store sauerkraut? The best place for sauerkraut is, of course, the cellar. There the temperature is most suitable, the humidity is optimal, and light does not penetrate. But not everyone has a cellar, so the next suitable places to store it in an apartment are a refrigerator or a balcony.
Before storing sauerkraut for the winter, you should fill the container with brine and even press it with a press so that the brine completely covers the cabbage. The fact is that without brine, vitamin C is destroyed quite quickly, so it is advisable to take out the sauerkraut immediately before serving.
Those who know how to store sauerkraut in an apartment do it most often in glass jars. In fact, there is no difference in how to store sauerkraut in jars or in other, for example, metal containers. The main thing is to place it in the proper conditions and make sure that mold does not appear in it.
Although the cellar is the best place to store sauerkraut, there are still factors that can cause it to spoil, including mold. How to store sauerkraut in the cellar to protect it from unwanted white coating caused by yeast? Here are the most effective ways to combat and prevent mold:
- add cranberries or lingonberries;
- sprinkle with sugar from time to time;
- sprinkle with mustard powder;
- sprinkle with grated horseradish;
- put a bag of mustard seeds.
At what temperature should you store sauerkraut?
Judging by the above places, we can conclude at what temperature to store sauerkraut.
The ideal temperature for storing sauerkraut is 2-5°C
By the way, many doubt whether it is possible to store sauerkraut on the balcony. But, if the temperature there at a given time is suitable, then why not? It's another matter if the temperature drops below 0 Celsius. Then another question arises - is it possible to store sauerkraut in the cold? Of course, you can wrap the container where it is located, but there is still a chance that it will freeze, and this should not be allowed. Therefore, before storing sauerkraut on the balcony, you should make sure that the temperature there is not below zero degrees Celsius.
How to store sauerkraut in the refrigerator
Many people are interested in how long sauerkraut can be stored in the refrigerator. It is clear that it is not possible to place a large container in the refrigerator, so it is best to store sauerkraut in a glass jar. How long can you store sauerkraut? If you place it in favorable storage conditions, it will last for months. Although this is unlikely to be necessary, because it is so tasty that it will definitely not stay in the refrigerator for more than a few days.
Pickling is a way of preparing vegetables for the winter, especially popular in the post-Soviet space. Thanks to lactic acid, which is formed during the fermentation process, and salt, vegetables are preserved for a long time and, most importantly, practically do not lose their beneficial properties.
Of all the varieties of pickled vegetables, white cabbage is the most popular. This dish is widespread and even considered national in most countries of Eastern Europe. And this is not surprising, because it has several important qualities at once - it is easy to prepare, it is affordable and very tasty and healthy.
The benefits of sauerkraut are hard to overestimate. It is incredibly rich in vitamin C, K, B vitamins, and many minerals such as phosphorus, sodium, iron and calcium. It is very important to know how to store sauerkraut in order to preserve all the beneficial substances in it.
Vitamins for the whole winter
For almost any food product, its shelf life is important. Pickled vegetables are no exception. It is very important to know how long sauerkraut can be stored before the vitamins in it begin to be destroyed. Its shelf life in fermented form varies from several days to several months, depending on the method of its storage:
- in a wooden barrel, as they fermented several centuries ago, at a temperature of -1+5, cabbage will last for about 8 months;
- in a glass container at the same temperature, the shelf life will be only 2-3 weeks;
- Cabbage can be stored in polyethylene for up to seven days without losing its beneficial properties.
Where to store sauerkraut
In addition to the period, the storage location is also important. Interestingly, the best place and method for preserving pickled vegetables is still the one that was used several centuries ago - the product was stored in a wooden barrel, which was placed in a cool cellar. Of course, this applies to storing sauerkraut at home. On an industrial scale, the technology for its preparation is different.
Even with the advent of refrigerators in homes, it is most convenient to store pickled vegetables in a cellar or basement. Unfortunately, in a city apartment this is not always possible. Then the cabbage is stored in the refrigerator or on the balcony.
How long sauerkraut can be stored in the refrigerator is already described above. For this type of storage, a glass jar or enamel container is best. On the balcony, the workpiece can be stored in glass, wooden or metal containers. Do not use aluminum cookware as it will create a metallic taste. For the same reason, you need to choose enamel cookware without chips. If the container with cabbage is on the balcony, it is important to monitor the air temperature outside. When light frosts occur, the container needs to be wrapped so that the workpiece does not freeze. In severe frost, it is better to bring it into a warmer room.
If you plan to store sauerkraut for a long time, you need to ensure that it is constantly covered with brine. Otherwise, vitamin C will be destroyed. In addition, it is important that mold does not appear in the container with the workpiece. To avoid this, you can pour it with vegetable oil. Mustard seeds and cranberries will also protect against mold.
Salted cabbage
Salted cabbage is, in fact, the same as sauerkraut, only it is prepared with more salt. Thanks to this, it lasts longer, because salt has a preservative effect. True, such cabbage is considered less healthy. It is great for cabbage soup and stewing. The principle of its storage is the same as for sauerkraut.
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What to do if sauerkraut is over-acidified?
When fermented, cabbage may turn out too sour. This usually happens if you keep it in a warm place - then it will ferment and release more lactic acid than is needed. In this case, eating it is undesirable, although there are big fans of strongly sour cabbage. For those who are not one of them, there are several ways to save peroxidized cabbage:
- rinse with cold water and squeeze;
- mix with sweet onions and fragrant sunflower oil (in this case the taste will soften, but this product will still remain too sour for the stomach);
- process it: cook cabbage soup from it, stew it along with meat and potatoes, or prepare a filling for pies.
The best way to preserve sauerkraut for a long time is to store it in a wooden barrel in a cellar or basement. The ideal storage temperature for the workpiece is from -1 to +5 degrees. If you need to store the workpiece in a city apartment, then a cool balcony or refrigerator will do.
In winter, this vitamin product is on every table. Those who have their own garden make a large amount of fermented food for the winter, processing their harvest. Storage conditions are an important component in preserving the beneficial substances contained in the product. If the vegetable softens or becomes moldy, it will become unsuitable for consumption. Therefore, you need to clarify for yourself the question: how to store sauerkraut correctly. From the article you will learn how to properly prepare vegetables for storage (that is, ferment them) and how long sauerkraut can be stored in the refrigerator if you do not have a cellar or basement.
Sauerkraut contains a record amount of vitamin C, as well as a large list of microelements and important amino acids. During the fermentation process, this product becomes many times more useful than fresh and retains all its properties during long-term storage, if done correctly.
- Vitamin C is very important for the body and should be supplied with food daily; if you eat sauerkraut in winter, this problem will be solved.
Ascorbic acid helps the body resist colds and viral diseases, improves the functioning of the liver and hematopoietic organs, helps strengthen the walls of blood vessels, and is beneficial for the immune system.
Such a useful product has a number of contraindications, but they are not associated with the negative qualities of this vegetable, but with the presence of certain diseases. This is due to the presence of large amounts of salt and organic acids in sauerkraut.
People with cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and those with pancreatic diseases should refrain from consuming the product.
Basic methods of sauerkraut
There are many methods for fermenting cabbage at home. Some people pour hot brine into the cabbage to pickle it faster, others put vinegar in the cabbage. Each method is good in its own way. But it is the classic version that most fully preserves all vitamins and nutrients.
Mid-season and late varieties are suitable for pickling and winter storage. Early cabbage is not good.
The classic method involves using only cabbage, carrots and salt in the recipe: for 3 kg of carrots, take one medium carrot and 60 grams. salt.
The cooking process is simple:
That's all. All that remains is to put the jar in a warm place and periodically pierce the contents with a plastic or wooden stick so that the gases formed during fermentation escape faster. At room temperature, cabbage will be ready in two days. Where to store this workpiece in the future depends on the availability of utility rooms.
What is the shelf life of sauerkraut
Traditionally fermented white cabbage can usually be stored for several months. It can be eaten all winter and even in spring, if the preparation has not yet been eaten by that time.
Of course, the product should not be stored at room temperature, as the cabbage will quickly turn sour. She needs the right conditions.
You can further extend the shelf life of sauerkraut by placing it in the freezer.
Sauerkraut has a number of contraindications
OnlyPlease remember that this product cannot be re-frozen.. This needs to be defrosted
the amount you are going to eat.
Methods for storing sauerkraut
The recommended storage temperature for this product is from 0° to +2°. Ideal conditions for storing it can be provided by a glazed and insulated balcony, shed or cellar. You can store cabbage in the same glass jars or enamel tanks in which it was salted.
It is important that the temperature does not reach sub-zero levels, but is in the desired range. The frozen product will have to be eaten quickly so that it does not spoil; a large volume of the product will not allow you to do this.
How to store sauerkraut in the refrigerator
If you do not own a barn, cellar or balcony, you can store jars of cabbage in
You can prepare many different versions of sauerkraut salad
refrigerator. The only disadvantage of this storage method may be the lack of space in the refrigerator. The temperature regime for storing the workpiece in the refrigerator is the most favorable, taking into account the fact that there are no jumps or temperature fluctuations in the refrigeration unit. It’s a pity that you can’t put a lot of jars in the refrigerator. Taking into account the fact that other products should be stored there. How long can sauerkraut be stored in the refrigerator without losing its properties? Long enough that you can eat it without leaving anything.
Some housewives found the following way out of the situation. They store the fermented product on the open balcony, where it freezes. The trick is that the cabbage will be stored in an enamel tank, already packaged in small plastic bags. Having taken out and eaten the preparation from one package, you can then put the next portion in the refrigerator. Overnight it slowly thaws in the refrigerator, and the next day it is ready for use.
Learn to ferment this vegetable correctly and store it correctly - and you will always have a healthy and tasty product on your table in winter.
