I wrote to Bubbies about their pickles and here is the answer I got back
kathy gibb
OKC Chapter

September 9, 2008


Hello Ms. Gibb;

Thank you very much for writing in to Bubbies, we are always pleased
to hear
from one of our customers and we would be delighted to tell you more about
our products.

Bubbies Bread & Butter Chips are vinegar brined and pasteurized food
product
so there are no live cultures in that particular item. Our Pure Kosher
Dills, Dill Relish, Pickled Green Tomatoes and Sauerkraut are all
naturally
fermented and cured in salt water brine using a lacto-fermentation
process.
These products do contain live cultures and the enzymes that form from a
natural fermentation.

The Pure Kosher Dills, Dill Relish and Pickled Green Tomatoes are 100%
raw;
the Sauerkraut in the jars has been flash heated but not pasteurized. This
means that the Kraut is neither pasteurized nor raw. Bubbies Bread &
Butter
Chips are vinegar brined and pasteurized and are shelf stable. We also
offer Prepared and Beet Horseradishes and Pickled Herring in Wine, these
items are prepared with vinegar and they are in fact raw, but they have no
live cultures.

We were forced to begin heating our jarred Sauerkraut to calm the cultures
inside because they were causing the kraut to continue to ferment too much
causing a buildup of gas that then causes the brine to leak all over
distributor's and retailer's equipment and shelving.

When we heat our jarred Sauerkraut, it is quickly raised to about 135-140
degrees and then sealed in the jars. The goal here is not to eliminate all
the beneficial cultures, but rather to stifle them so they won't cause the
jars to leak. When our Bread and Butter Chips are pasteurized the pickle
chips and brine are heated to a boil and then allowed to simmer, so 212
degrees. This process is designed at eliminating any potential cultures
while the heating we do for our Sauerkraut is intended to calm the gas
producing nature of the product with the specific goal in mind not to
eliminate the beneficial cultures. We do not claim that this product
is raw
for these reasons, but it still does have live bacteria. It is above 140
degrees that you really begin to eliminate cultures on a massive scale.

We recently had all our naturally fermented products tested for their
biological activity, including a sample of Bubbies Raw sauerkraut which is
only sold at The Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in San Francisco and to a few
restaurants. This Raw product is only suitable for distribution in a food
service plastic bucket, and it will bulge and leak brine over the
course of
its life. Bubbies Raw Sauerkraut showed a minimal increase in activity
over
the heated, jarred Sauerkraut. The jarred Sauerkraut definitely responded
to their biological activity tests and showed that it has living
beneficial
bacteria within; and, since the product continues to change over time
because of continued fermentation (even when refrigerated -- but most
definitely if left at room temperature); those same enzymes produced
in the
original fermentation are still being produced. On a slightly different
note, the Sauerkrauts, raw and heated, tested a much distant third on the
charts for biological activity than our second and first place
winners: The
Pure Kosher Dills and Pickled Green Tomatoes. The tomatoes actually tested
the highest for biological activity and we believe that has to do with the
fact that tomatoes have more initial sugars than cucumbers or cabbage and
they ferment longer than all the other products.

It is important to note that our Sauerkraut is very crisp. It is crunchier
and able to maintain its crunch for far longer than other brands of
Sauerkraut I have tried. This is because there are still vegetable fibers
left intact in the cabbage which are the complex carbohydrates that break
down into the simpler food that the lacto bacillus cultures feed on during
the fermentation process. Our Sauerkraut maintains its fibers better than
others for a couple of reasons -- one, because we pay close attention at
when to pull and pack our Sauerkraut; and two, because of the method of
preparation on the cabbages: they are shredded coarsely, and as a
result the
Kraut is not reduced to a near relish consistency at the end. The bigger
cut is one of the key reasons our Sauerkraut is so active with and why we
were forced to begin doing the heating process, plus at that stage a
lot of
gas is being produced. The fermentation process must be carefully watched
to ensure that the product is packed and cooled at a time prior to
when the
bacteria use up the bulk of the food supply -- i.e. when all the fibers in
the kraut have been broken down and those simple carbohydrates have been
consumed. If your fermentation process is too long, or at too hot of an
ambient temperature, the process will happen faster and eventually you can
over ferment your product. If this happens the bacteria and the enzymes
have run out of viable food sources and begin to die off and texture is
adversely affected. You can see that in creating the optimal Sauerkraut,
Pickles or Tomatoes in regards to taste, texture and probiotics there is
quite a bit more to it than just throwing it together waiting until it is
not giving off anymore gas to pack it in the jar. The biggest concern is
the total experience, achieving flavor and texture in a clean wholesome
product.

If you are a numbers person the jarred Sauerkraut has approximately
360,000
active bacteria per serving size compared to 400,000 for the raw
Sauerkraut
in the pails. The Pure Kosher Dills have approximately 15,000,000 active
bacteria per serving and the Pickled Green Tomatoes 65,000,000 per
serving.
These numbers were recorded on the volume serving sizes which includes
both
brine and food product.

We hope this letter answers your questions, was not too overwhelming and
that you are well.

Kindest regards,

Jeffrey R. Wilson
Bubbies of San Francisco, Inc.
P: 209-951-6071
F: 209-951-6290