Walk down the fermented foods aisle in most UK supermarkets and you will find products that are, technically, not fermented.
They are acidified. Vinegar is added to replicate the sour flavour that fermentation produces naturally. The product is then pasteurised — heated to a temperature that kills all bacterial activity — and sealed for a shelf life of twelve to eighteen months. The label says fermented. The product is not fermented in any meaningful sense. The bacteria are dead. The cultures are gone. What remains is a pickled vegetable that tastes approximately like the real thing.
This is not a niche problem. It is the dominant production method for the fermented foods category in mass-market retail. It is cheaper, more consistent, easier to distribute, and it satisfies the letter of the labelling requirement without the spirit of it.
Canbo does not do this. Every jar leaves us unpasteurised. This is not a marketing decision. It is a commitment to making something that is actually what it says it is.
What pasteurisation does
Pasteurisation was developed by Louis Pasteur in the 1860s as a method of killing pathogens in wine and beer. It was later applied to milk, juice, and a wide range of food products. The principle is straightforward: heat the product to a sufficient temperature for a sufficient time to eliminate harmful microorganisms.
It works. Pasteurisation has prevented enormous amounts of foodborne illness. For many products, it is the right call.
For fermented vegetables, it is the wrong call.
The bacteria that drive lacto-fermentation — primarily Lactobacillus species — are the same bacteria that make the product valuable. They lower the pH, creating the acidity that preserves the vegetables and produces the complex flavour. They produce lactic acid, acetic acid, and a range of other compounds that give fermented food its depth and character. When you pasteurise after fermentation, you kill them all.
What you're left with is a product that was fermented — past tense — and is now dead. The flavour profile is there, at least partially. The texture has changed. But the living component, the thing that makes fermented food different from pickled food, is gone.
What live cultures actually means
The phrase "live cultures" appears on a lot of food packaging. It means different things in different contexts. In yoghurt, it typically refers to the starter cultures added during production, which may or may not survive the cold chain intact. In kombucha, it refers to a complex community of bacteria and yeasts. In properly made fermented vegetables, it refers to the naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria that were present on the raw ingredient and drove the fermentation from start to finish.
These are not added. They are not manufactured. They come from the vegetable itself, from the air in the fermentation environment, from the water in the brine. The fermentation process selects for them — the salt concentration and acidic environment favour lactic acid bacteria over most other organisms, so they dominate as the ferment progresses.
When you open a Canbo jar, those bacteria are still there. Still active. The jar is still fermenting, slowly, at whatever temperature your fridge is running at. This is why the product changes over time — getting sharper, more complex, more deeply flavoured as the weeks pass.
This is also why it fizzes when you open it. The bacteria produce carbon dioxide as a byproduct of fermentation. A cold jar builds up a small amount of pressure. When you open it, that pressure releases. It is the same principle as opening a bottle of champagne, at a much more modest scale. It is not a flaw. It is evidence that what's in the jar is alive.
The cold chain argument
The practical consequence of selling unpasteurised fermented vegetables is that the product requires refrigeration throughout the supply chain. It cannot sit on an ambient shelf. It cannot be transported in an unrefrigerated van. From the moment it leaves our kitchen to the moment it reaches your fridge, it needs to be kept cold.
This is more expensive. It is more logistically complex. It limits distribution options. It is one of the reasons that genuinely live fermented products are harder to find than their pasteurised equivalents.
We think it's worth it. The product that requires cold chain is a fundamentally different product from the one that doesn't. One is alive. The other isn't. We are only interested in making the alive version.
A note on shelf life
Unpasteurised fermented vegetables, kept refrigerated, have a shelf life of several months. The acidity of the product — the same acidity that makes it taste the way it does — is a natural preservative. The salt is a natural preservative. The live cultures actively outcompete spoilage organisms. Properly made fermented vegetables are not fragile.
They are, however, changing. The flavour in week two is not the same as the flavour in week eight. Some people prefer it younger — brighter, more lactic, cleaner. Some prefer it older — deeper, sharper, more complex. We find it interesting that the product has a trajectory, that it rewards attention and rewards returning to it.
This is not a compromise. It is a feature. Alive things change. That's how you know they're alive.