Probiotic Sauerkraut

Only raw sauerkraut has live cultures in it. This sounds obvious and is the single most confused point in the category.

Fermentation is what makes sauerkraut sauerkraut: lactic acid bacteria consume the sugars in cabbage and produce the acid that gives it its sourness and preserves it. Those bacteria are alive in the jar the whole time. Pasteurization — heating the jar so it can be stored at room temperature — stops that. The flavor stays, roughly. The living part does not.

We do not print a CFU number on the label, and we would look carefully at anyone in this category who does. A count measured at packing is not the count in your fridge three months later; it moves with temperature, time and the jar itself. What we can state is what the jar contains: cabbage, sea salt, and whatever vegetable or spice the flavor calls for, fermented in glass and never heated.

What that does for any particular person is a question for a doctor, not for a shop. What we can promise is that it is alive when it reaches you — which is the part most jars cannot claim.