How long do fermented foods keep?
• The answer is not simple, because it depends on many factors: The food in question, the way it was fermented, the storage methods and conditions, etc, etc.
• How diligent you are about feeding kefir and Tibi, how diligent you are about NOT messing around with kraut and pickles during the first few days, and how well you attend to the rule of sufficient salt + keeping foods UNDER the brine.
• When fermented with quality fresh produce, in ideal conditions and stored well they can keep for anywhere between 4 months and 2 years. There have been reports of some foods keeping longer. I have had veggies and fruit for well over two years. My fermented green mango pickles were deelish at 3 years young.
• Harder foods (like cabbage) Sauerkraut will keep on improving with flavour up to 12 months or more.
In the cool temperatures, kraut can keep improving for months and months.
Softer foods like Pickles have a relative short life- about 4 – 6 months.