That time a pro fermenter told me to stop washing my jars with soap

I used to scrub my kraut jars with dish soap like crazy until this old dude at a farmers market in Denver saw me buying jars and said 'you're killing the good bugs, man'. He told me to just rinse with hot water and let the natural bacteria do the work. I tried it with my next batch of sauerkraut and it came out way tangier and less mushy. Has anyone else gotten weird advice from a random stranger that actually worked?

2 comments

2 Comments

harris.uma16d ago

@blair_gibson78 same here, my kraut got way more zingy after I ditched the soap.

blair_gibson7816d ago

Yeah, I heard somewhere that soap residue can mess with the natural fermentation process. Some lacto-fermentation book I skimmed said the same thing about just using hot water and a good scrub. It stuck with me cause it sounds too simple to work, but I tried it with my pickles and they came out way crunchier. Crazy how that random advice actually pans out.