Had to toss 3 gallons of sauerkraut after a mold outbreak last spring

Everyone says to just scrape off the top layer and keep going, but when I did that with my batch from March the whole thing tasted like a basement within two weeks. Has anyone else found that surface mold means the whole batch is compromised no matter how clean the scrape looks?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesleyc752mo ago

Scraping never gets the bad taste out.

angela_allen532mo ago

@wesleyc75 nailed it, honestly. I used to be all about scraping the top and hoping for the best, but after my own batch turned into a musty mess last summer I changed my mind completely. That basement taste just seeps down into everything no matter how clean it looks on the surface. Now if I see any mold at all on kraut or even on pickles I just toss the whole jar. Not worth ruining a meal for the sake of saving a few bucks on cabbage.

uma_nguyen2420d ago

And it's not just sauerkraut either, I've noticed the same thing with pretty much any fermented thing once mold gets a foothold. Like sourdough starters, people always say "just scrape the mold off" and I tried that with mine, and the next few loaves had this weird flat taste that I couldn't place. Same with homemade yogurt that gets a bit of fuzzy mold on the surface from a jar that wasn't totally sealed right, the whole batch gets this off-sour flavor that's not the good kind of tangy. It's like the mold releases some kind of chemical signal that changes the whole environment, and by the time you see it on top the damage is already done below. I'm honestly starting to think "just scrape it" is one of those internet myths that sounds good but doesn't match real experience, like how everyone says you can eat food that's been left out for four hours.