i was just reading a really cool article on pickles and figured i would share a part of it. enjoy.
"So, is it really safe?
Leaving foods unrefrigerated for two weeks or more can be disturbing to those who weren't raised with a crock of pickles in the hallway. But U.S. Department of Agriculture research service microbiologist Fred Breidt says properly fermented vegetables are actually safer than raw vegetables, which might have been exposed to pathogens like E. coli on the farm.
"With fermented products there is no safety concern. I can flat-out say that. The reason is the lactic acid bacteria that carry out the fermentation are the world's best killers of other bacteria," says Breidt, who works at a lab at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where scientists have been studying fermented and other pickled foods since the 1930s.
Breidt adds that fermented vegetables, for which there are no documented cases of food-borne illness, are safer for novices to make than canned vegetables. Pressurized canning creates an anaerobic environment that increases the risk of deadly botulism, particularly with low-acid foods.
Sterilizing jars or crocks for sauerkraut or pickles is optional. It's OK to simply wash the jars in hot, sudsy water. Make sure that the food is completely submerged in the brine - some recipes call for weighting down the vegetables. Earthenware pickle crocks from Germany, such as Harsch brand, are designed to keep oxygen out but allow the undesirable carbon dioxide to escape. Canning jars work fine, too.
- Tara Duggan"
stolen from:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/07/FDS617UQKF.DTL&type=food#ixzz0LMTXasPP&D
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