My sauerkraut kept getting mushy until I tried a weird trick with the jar lid

Ray Nelson · 2026-03-27T08:05:09.101518+00:00

I was making my usual batch of kraut, the kind with just cabbage and salt, and it kept coming out soft instead of crisp. I ferment in my kitchen in Cincinnati, and the summer humidity was making it worse. After three failed jars, I got desperate and tried something different. I stopped using the regular metal lid that came with the mason jar. Instead, I put a small, clean cabbage leaf directly over the shredded cabbage before weighting it down, and then just loosely covered the jar with a cloth. That leaf acted like a cap, keeping the bits underneath fully submerged and away from air. The next batch was perfectly crunchy after two weeks. Has anyone else found that the lid material itself can mess with the ferment?

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My sauerkraut kept getting mushy until I tried a weird trick with the jar lid | Fermentation Station - Talk Freely