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Are Pickles Fermented? Vinegar vs Lacto-Fermented, Half-Sours, Kosher Dill & Sauerkraut

Audio from the Clean Food Score video of the same name; the video shows the labels and scores on screen.

Most shelf-stable pickles are vinegar pickles with no live cultures, while half-sours, raw sauerkraut and kimchi are fermented in salt brine. We read the labels: what kosher dill really means, whether pickles need to be refrigerated, the dyes, preservatives and sodium to watch, and the cleanest jars we've scored (as of October 2026).

Full guide and the products we checked
Check any ingredient list free

Chapters
0:00 The Short Answer
0:46 Two Ways to Make a Pickle
1:50 Half-Sours, Full Sours and Kosher Dills
2:35 What Is Sauerkraut?
3:18 Raw or Pasteurized
4:00 Do Pickles Need to Be Refrigerated?
4:34 Dyes, Preservatives and Sweeteners
5:46 The Sodium Question
6:29 How to Read a Pickle Label
7:11 The Jars We've Scored
8:13 Your Turn

Product scores are Clean Food Score's 0–100 label scores as shown on cleanfoodscore.com on 2026-10-18. Recipes change, so read the package you buy. We read labels; this is not medical advice.

Music
"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Friday Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Sound effects: Kenney (kenney.nl), CC0.

#pickles #fermentedfoods #sauerkraut