Should you rinse sauerkraut before adding it to a stew? Experts explain the pros and cons

When you open a bag of sauerkraut, its sharp smell is hard to miss. The cabbage has a distinctive sour taste, and depending on the brand, it can be quite salty too. Some cooks add it straight to the pot, while others give it a quick rinse under the cold tap first.

It's a small step, but it can make a difference to the finished dish. And there's more to consider than just the taste. Sauerkraut is a fermented food, which means the way you prepare it can also affect the live bacteria it contains. So what's the best approach when you're making a stew?

How much salt is in sauerkraut?

Sauerkraut gets its characteristic flavor through fermentation, a process that uses salt to preserve the cabbage and encourage the right bacteria to grow. But that also means it can add a fair amount of salt to your meal.

According to the Dutch Nutrition Centre, a 50-gram serving contains around 0.75 grams of salt. That may not sound like much, but it can add up when you combine sauerkraut with ingredients such as sausages, bacon or salted stock.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks recommends rinsing finished sauerkraut under cold water if you want to reduce some of its salt. It does, however, warn against cutting back on salt when making sauerkraut from scratch, because salt is important for safe fermentation.

What happens when you rinse it?

A quick rinse can make sauerkraut less salty and take some of the sharpness out of its flavor. This can be useful if you find it too sour or want a milder taste in your stew.

Arla also recommends briefly rinsing sauerkraut under cold water to soften its sour taste. Just remember that some of the cabbage's flavor goes down the drain along with the salty liquid.

There's another consideration: rinsing also removes some of the live bacteria found in fermented sauerkraut. The University of Alaska Fairbanks notes that it reduces the amount of these bacteria, although it doesn't eliminate them completely.

Does cooking make a difference to the probiotics?

If you're adding sauerkraut to a stew or letting it simmer in a pot of potatoes, the live-bacteria argument becomes less important.

Heat can destroy many of the live microorganisms in unpasteurized sauerkraut. This means that if you're cooking it for a traditional stew, you shouldn't expect it to provide the same live cultures as raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut.

Pasteurized sauerkraut has already been heat-treated, so it generally won't contain live cultures either. If you want to enjoy the live microorganisms in fermented cabbage, look for unpasteurized sauerkraut and eat it without cooking. Not all live microorganisms are technically probiotics, however.

How to make sauerkraut milder without rinsing

If you'd rather keep the cabbage's full flavor, you can balance its sharpness with other ingredients. Arla suggests cooking sauerkraut with potatoes, onion, a little cream or stock.

Apple is another useful addition. Its natural sweetness can soften the sour taste, particularly in dishes served with pork or sausage.

So, should you rinse sauerkraut before adding it to a stew? If you find it too salty or sour, a quick rinse is a reasonable option. But if you enjoy its stronger flavor, there's no need to wash it first. And if you're eating it for its live cultures, raw and unpasteurized is the better choice.