The Surefire Way To Fix Over Salted Sauerkraut

Picture this: You've made your own sauerkraut and are so proud of it, and it just needs a bit more salt ... oh, darn! Now that's way too much salt and it tastes like a mouthful of briny potato chips. Well, that's the end of that batch, right? Into the trash it goes.

Not so fast! There's actually a super easy way to fix overly salty sauerkraut so that none of it has to go to waste. Instead of starting from scratch, whether you make sauerkraut with red cabbage for a vibrant color or the classic pale green veggie, just try adding more of it. Not only will this help balance out the salt-to-cabbage ratio, but the extra cabbage will also absorb some of the salt and hide its strong taste. As the vegetable's juice soaks into the brine, the sauerkraut will taste more like cabbage and less like salt.

There are also other ways to dilute the salt content in your sauerkraut that don't include a cabbage overload. One way is to rinse the sauerkraut in a colander. Continuously tasting the sauerkraut as you rinse and stopping when you've reached your perfect flavor is a surefire way to come out with a not-so-salty kraut. However, be warned that rinsing for too long can also rid the fermented food of its beneficial probiotics. So rinse lightly! A much less popular way to un-salt sauerkraut is to dilute its brine with water. While the final product will be less salty, it will also be more watery, so definitely weigh the pros and cons before going this route.

Sauerkraut also takes about one to four weeks to ferment, a process with some fascinating science behind it. Since the kraut is going to be changing rapidly over this time — especially in its flavor and texture — be sure to check on it often during fermentation to gauge its saltiness.