Trader Joe's Sauerkraut - Is It As Good As It Sounds?
One of the best-selling Trader Joe's products is a wonderful pickled Persian cucumber soup called Trader Joe's Sauerkraut. The price is right and the product line up with other Trader Joe's products is great. I recently found myself drinking a bowl of the delicious soup as part of a healthy lunch.
The pickled sauerkraut is one of the most popular of all Trader Joe's soups. This tasty treat comes in two forms - pickled and fermented. The fermented variety of sauerkraut is fermented longer, and it's more tart than the pickled variety. In my opinion, you need to eat sauerkraut fermented for about 3 minutes to achieve its maximum flavor and crunchiness.
If you can't stomach pickled sauerkraut, you can substitute it with raw sauerkraut. Raw sauerkraut has the same crunchy goodness of the pickled variety, but without the need to consume the fermented juice. You can also eat sauerkraut raw, unfiltered. My favorite is to eat sauerkraut with bread. It makes a wonderful raw bread sandwich that contains the crunchy goodness of sauerkraut and the good bacteria benefits of the live fermented yeast.
But if you prefer the convenience of eating sauerkraut fresh, there are other ways to preserve it. Trader Joe's makes a fermented, shelf stable version of sauerkraut in their refrigerators. You can also buy Trader Joe's sauerkraut in bulk at bulk grocers and health food stores. If you want to try to make your own fermented sauerkraut at home, start with about 4 cups.
You can get both the fermented and the pickled raw sauerkraut from Trader Joe's. I prefer the pickled raw sauerkraut, because I don't care for Trader Joe's fermented variety. The taste is almost identical. In fact, there's a difference I can only detect when I am drinking the store bought sauerkraut - a slight tartness to it.
Both the fermented and pickled varieties of Trader Joe's sauerkraut come in glass containers, and they are shipped in plastic bags. They are both very attractive to look at, and the jars are great at keeping foods fresh. However, the fermented variety does have a slightly stronger flavor. It's not as vinegar-like as the store bought sauerkraut, but it has a nice taste that some people find quite nice. For me, though, it is the pickled persian cucumbers that are my favorite.
In addition to the pickled persian cucumbers, Trader Joe's sauerkraut comes in two separate jar sizes: one for the regular jar and another for the large ceramic jar. If you can find a Trader Joe's store that sells pickled persian cucumbers, those are the ones you should get. Otherwise, you might consider getting the large sauerkraut jar from a different Trader Joe's store.
There is only one way to know for sure, and that is by sampling the pickled raw. You won't know unless you give it a try. I've heard people rave about how great Trader Joe's spicy pickled raw is, so if you love spicy foods you will love this delicious pickled raw dish.
Traders Joe's sauerkraut comes in four different cuts. sausage sauerkraut soup trader joe's One is the King Cut. This is the thickest of the four cuts and has a very strong flavor. It also has a very long length, almost like a spear. This pickled raw goes great with sweet potato fries, eggs, or just about anything else.
The second variety is the Round Pickled Raw which is the lightest cut of the bunch. It's very similar to the king cut, except it doesn't have quite as much depth. Many shoppers really enjoy this pickled raw along with a sweet potato, but it works well with a variety of dishes.
The third variety is the Short Cropped Pickled Raw. It's a little thinner than the rest and comes in four pieces. Because of the way the pickled raw is cut, it works well with lighter dishes such as eggs and oatmeal. Another great combination is using it with beef stir fry. A lot of people are intimidated by this one because it's not exactly green in color - it's more of a brownish red.
Last but certainly not least is Trader Joe's Sauerkraut. This variety is most popular among die-hard fans of Trader Joe's products. It's an oval green fruit that's about an inch around. The outer skin is hard and bright red, but the inside is a dark green color. The inside of this sauerkraut is mixed with water to make it thicker.