Can we talk about the time my sauerkraut exploded at my friend's wedding in Portland?

I brought a jar of my 3-week ferment as a gift, and it must have gotten too warm during the drive because it popped its lid all over the trunk of my car. Now I'm paranoid about transporting anything active. What's your best trick for moving ferments safely?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph5293mo ago

That's a rough way to learn about pressure buildup. For transport, I always burp the jar right before leaving and keep it in a cooler with ice packs, even for short trips. The cold slows everything down enough to prevent a mess.

torres.leo3mo agoMost Upvoted

Ever have a jar pop open in your backpack? @joseph529's cooler trick is smart, but I once had a lid blow off just from sitting in my hot car. Now I never trust a sealed jar in the heat, even for a minute. That smell took weeks to get out of the upholstery.

gonzalez.vera1mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh gosh, the hot car thing is the WORST. @joseph529 is totally right about the cooler trick. I once left a jar of pickled eggs in my trunk during summer. Thought it was a great snack for later. Well, it wasn't a snack, it was a science experiment that exploded all over my spare tire. Took me a month to find the smell and my car smelled like a weird old hot dog for ages. Now I'm paranoid, I literally burp my jars outside the car and then triple bag them in ziplocks. Learned the hard way that heat is just not a jar's friend.