About Mary Hughes-Cole Expertise I can answer questions pretaining to food preparation,cooking and storage and how to properly prepare food so as to not contaminate it or make yourself or anyone else ill. I cannot answer questions pretaining to wholesale distribution, manufacturing, etc.
Experience I have been a health researcher for forty seven years, and have been cooking for fifty years. I have learned a great deal pretaining to contamination of foods, bacteria, parasites, the control and prevention of disease. I have never made anyone ill and am living proof of what I profess to know.
Organizations I am the Founder and Director of Duane International Fullfillment Foundation, founded in 1989. Your Arizona Health Connection is a division of this foundation. We do research on disease, health topics, do clinical tests on the effects of supplementation on the body and your health. I personally have counselled thousands of men on mens health a field of expertiese. Recent member of National Health and Wellness Club
Question Can I freeze sauerkraut, bought in a bag, when I don't need to use all of it?
Answer Hello Barb,
For me to answer your question there are some things I would like to tell you first, so that you can fully understand. There is a town, Bismarck North Dakota, within that town, is a University where much study is given to bacteriology and disease. The reason for this is because of the wheat they grow there, in both North and South Dakota. They call it the wheat belt. No matter where anyone else thinks this wheat belt is, they believe it is there. They take great pride and go to great efforts to protect that wheat. The sub-zero winters they have can go to eighty degrees below zero.
Ok my husband just asked me what has this got to do with sauerkraut. Plenty, other than the fact that they are both German related. Just read on. The reason they have these universities and hospital that have large research facilities and foundations, such as you find in towns like Bismarck, North Dakota; New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York, is because of the disease. That is why when ever you cross the border into countries where agriculture is the better part of their commerce, or a port city where thousands of people and tons of products from all over the world come in every day, there has to be immediate control for disease. Research has to be readily available in case an outbreak of some kind of new strain of disease should rear its ugly head. In states like North Dakota, it is vital to the health of their wheat crops that absolutely no plants come across their borders. People who unknowingly bring fruit or vegetables or plants of any kind into these regions threaten the lives and well being of thousands of people and the economy of our country. The reason is this disease. People have the misconception that freezing something in sub-zero temperatures stops bacteria and disease from spreading. What happens to this disease and bacteria is this; in sub-zero weather like they have in North Dakota a bacteria can mutate, always remember this. They normally have a handle on all disease known common to that country. But a common bacteria or disease in sub-zero weather can mutate into something so deadly that there is no antibody to kill it and no known research available to control this disease. There are thousands upon thousands of people hospitals, universities, and research foundations that research disease and the control of disease around the world; and yet while all this dangerous work goes on every minute of every day, millions of people go on living their everyday lives in the safety of their own homes completely unaware of the dangerous environment within which they live. Within inches of all the rest of the food they will consume they could be breeding just such a deadly disease thinking that just because it is in the freezer it is safe. Thanks to web sites like All Experts and people like you who ask questions, these problems can be overcome.
First of all sauerkraut, is not a cooked vegetable. It is packaged conveniently in little plastic bags and should not be. The reason is because sauerkraut is put up in vinegar and is acid. Plastic is an unstable molecule. That means that it is easily dispersed into the air and easily dissolved with acid. The cabbage is raw and I have never know of very many vegetables you can freeze in your own freezer that were originally raw that could hold their flavor. Foods flash frozen right in the orchard or field stand a better chance of this. Frozen foods should not have to have salt added to them either if they are frozen properly they will not. Kroger is the only brand we have found lately that does not add salt, and packages in paper rather than plastic.
The better way to store sauerkraut would be to purchase enough of it all at once to fill about two or three quart or pint jars. Sterilize the jars and the lids. While they are boiling, in a sterilizer for jars, pour all of the kraut into a pan and bring to a boil covered, but do not boil for more than a minutes or thirty seconds. Not even that long. Just long enough to bring to a boil. You do not want to destroy the kraut. Once the jars and lids have boiled for at least ten minutes remove them with thongs and pour out the water and immediately pour the kraut into each jar, using the thongs, place the lids and the rims on the jars with the kraut in them and screw the rims onto them real tight. Place the jars where they will not be in a draft or air conditioning blowing on them to cool. As they cool the lids will pop. That popping sound is the rims sealing down onto the jars. This process is called canning and is safe. I am going to include a web site so that you can be sure you are canning, according to government standards. You can get lots of information about canning and food storage at the Federal Consumer Information Center website: http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/ then follow the link to "food"
These jars, should be brand new Mason Jars, easily obtainable from your grocery store, and should come with brand new lids and rims. When these jars have cooled place them in a cool dry place like in the pantry which should not have any thing in there that is exposed to air like crackers or flour corn meal, sugar etc. Anything in a pantry should be in cans or jars. Teas should be kept in these glass jars, or glass containers like large glass jars that people make tea in, with lids on them. The canned jars of kraut can last in these jars for a couple of years.
Take out a jar, remove what you need with a clean spoon put a new lid and rim on the jar and place it in your refrigerator. If you used a clean spoon and replace the lid immediately with washed and dried clean new lids and rims and did not leave the jars exposed or out for long they should last in your refrigerator, for a month or two. Do not put back into the pantry after opening. Not all foods last this long, but sauerkraut is acid and resists bacteria because of the vinegar it is made with. Wash the old rim and lid and throw into the recycleable garbage.
These mason jars once canned in, can be washed in borax wash water to clean. We use half Arm and Hammer Laundry Detergent and half Borax. Use about a teaspoon of this mixture in a big bowl of water and clean the jars thoroughly. Then fill the jar up with water and put a pinch of borax into the jar of water. Leave standing for twelve hours or twenty-four at the most. Pour the water out dry the bottom with a towel and do not put the towel into the jar. Just put the jar on a shelf and close the cabinet. These jars will do to store left over foods for another day but not longer.
Do not ever take something out of the original bag, fold that bag up and put into the freezer. This is the best way I know to put someone into the hospital. Whenever a product of food is exposed to air bacteria has already entered this food and has already started to grow. It only takes the time that it takes for food to be exposed to air for bacteria to become active. This goes for anything like water or juice as well. People who leave a glass of water on their, night-stand for the night without covering it are asking for trouble. Silver kills thousands of bacteria and is a good thing to store water in for a period of time provided it is covered, and the silver was clean to start with and washed like this method mentioned.
Once food has been exposed to air bacteria can continue to grow. It is true that freezing something can slow down the growth of bacteria and prolong the life so to speak of food, but often the quality and vitamin content of that food is jeopardized when doing so. Food stored in your freezer should be food that is already packaged and solid frozen when you buy it and kept in a chiller on the way home and put into to the freezer immediately upon arriving home. Many people buy meat, dairy, and frozen food but by the time they leave the store bacteria has already began to grow in this food. Put all cold or frozen foods into a cooler with ice within fifteen minutes of buying. Buy in small amounts at times when the store is not busy. Buy the other stuff that doesn't need refrigerating at times when you cannot get out right away. Don't forget the air that is in your house is also in your refrigerator, the air in your house circulates through your refrigerator, to preserve food longer clean your refrigerator often and keep all chemicals outside and not in the garage. Do not keep anything in the kitchen that could even be considered a chemical. The mixture we mentioned can do to kill much bacteria and disease and other chemicals are jus not needed. Tooth paste, is not even needed, just baking powder. The cleaner your house is the longer the food in the refrigerator will last.
Use this method of preserving many things like fruit, and vegetable that you cannot use up right away and you will find you can save a lot of money. If you like I will give you some more tips on how to can things like salt free pickles that are wonderful, and green beans.
