Bubbies sauerkraut, cooking sauerkraut

[Guest guest]

[] 1. I bought some suarkraut in the refrigerated section at the

Health Food Store. The brand name is " Bubbies " . The only ingredients

are cabbage, salt, and water. Do you think it has the same beneficial

bacteria as your homemade saurkraut?

2. In order to get the benefits of the fermented foods, do you have

to eat them raw? If I cook the saurkraut, will it kill the good

bacteria?

[MAP] Hi , these are great questions! Let me take a stab at the

first two and tackle the others when I get a chance later and/or let

the more knowledgeable members of the group chime in.

As far as I know, Bubbies sauerkraut is pasteurized. That means it

does *not* have the same beneficial bacteria as homemade sauerkraut;

the bacteria are killed by pasteurization. However, it will have the

same lactic acid as homemade sauerkraut because it is made in the

traditional authentic manner, and if the cabbage is good cabbage grown

in good soil you'll get any other good stuff you'd get from homemade

kraut made with good cabbage. As to whether any commercial food is

grown in good soil, I have my doubts, but I really don't know...

In order to get the probiotic benefits of fermented foods, yes, you do

need to eat them raw. Cooking absolutely does kill the beneficial

bacteria. It would seem wasteful and sad to cook something like

sauerkraut, but, then again, Germans do it all the time! And Koreans

cook their kimchi in stews if it's been stored so long that it's too

sour. There are certainly many nutritional benefits to fermented

foods, and any foods, besides probiotic benefits, and most of them are

not lost by cooking. Whether to cook your kraut sometimes is a very

individual, personal decision and there's no right or wrong answer. It

really depends on your individual nutritional needs, health status,

dietary context, culinary preferences, etc.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay