Growing up in Ohio, I figured sauerkraut balls came over from Germany, or maybe Eastern Europe. Truth is, they’re probably from Cleveland.

I’ve heard a lot about these crunchy little pork-and-kraut fritters over the years: They’re the most popular appetizer at The Golden Lamb Inn, a hotel and restaurant in Lebanon, Ohio, that my family has owned since 1926. The kitchen rolled about 200,000 of them in 2024.

The Golden Lamb happens to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Ohio, but our sauerkraut ball recipe only dates to the 1960s, when an accountant named Edith, visiting from Cleveland, shared a version with longtime chef Norm Sims. That’s all I knew about its history for years. After doing some research, I’d bet a few orders that Edith got her recipe from the source, or somewhere close to it: a white-tablecloth restaurant in her hometown called Gruber’s.

Looking through decades of newspaper articles, I didn’t find any mention of sauerkraut balls as we know them (as opposed to meatballs cooked with sauerkraut, which have been around for a long time) until the late 1940s. That’s when diners and food writers began taking note of the signature appetizer at Gruber’s—created as a tasty and economical way to use up meat scraps, per various accounts.

In 1949, the nationally syndicated columnist Erich Brandeis wrote about trying “a delicious concoction such as neither my wife nor I had ever seen or tasted before” at a party. He went on: “The hostess gave my wife the recipe—you take some sauerkraut and put it through the grinder together with boiled ham. You mix this with some thick white sauce, form it into little balls, and roll them in bread crumbs. Then you deep-fry them until they turn nice and brown and serve, first sticking a toothpick in each ball." I don’t know where Brandeis, who lived in Connecticut, had his first sauerkraut ball, but that feels a lot like the Gruber’s recipe that ran in papers nationwide in the years after World War II. So does the recipe we use at the Golden Lamb.

In the decades since, the city of Akron, about forty-five minutes from Cleveland, has formally adopted the sauerkraut ball. Readers at the Akron Beacon-Journal voted it the city’s official food in 1996. If you search “sauerkraut balls” on Newspapers.com, you’ll see that that paper has run about twice as many articles about the heartland croquettes—1,278, at the time of publication—as any other in the country. Judy Orr James’s 2022 cookbook “Akron Family Recipes” concludes with an entire chapter on sauerkraut balls, subtitled “It’s An Akron Thing.” 

But even James acknowledges that Cleveland did it first, noting that the Beacon-Journal didn’t mention sauerkraut balls for the first time until November 1952, after Gruber’s had already impressed the famous food writers Clementine Paddleford and Duncan Hines with theirs.

And while the sauerkraut ball has evolved over the years, including at the family restaurant, which now has its own secret recipe, the Gruber’s version was a national phenomenon for a reason. I went through dozens of reference recipes when researching this dish, and though I experimented with more recent additions and substitutions including cream cheese (very common), breakfast sausage (common), and pork shoulder (less common), none improved on the original formula. So, I cleaned it up for a modern audience, making only relatively minor changes to improve the texture and flavor. The foundational recipe is all about balance—between pork chops and ham, hearty meats and zingy sauerkraut, a tender center and a crisp, crumb-coated crust. This recipe maintains that.

There are similar dishes in Europe, including Dutch bitterballen, rich with beef and gravy, and Spain’s well-known croquetas de jamón. Sauerkraut balls follow a familiar formula—sautéed meats and aromatics bound with a roux, shaped, breaded, and fried. And the combination of pork and sauerkraut is common in European cookery, of course, especially in Germany and Eastern Europe, where many northern Ohio families trace their roots. In the melting pot that is the Midwest, those imported ideas came together to form a perfect little appetizer, bar snack, and party bite. Drawing on European tradition but almost certainly native to the Buckeye State, these sauerkraut balls balance the flavors and techniques of the Old World with the playfulness and ingenuity of the New.

In a small bowl, whisk to combine 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper, and mustard. Set aside.

In a large Dutch oven or large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add pork chops and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on at least two sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Add onion, and cook, lowering the temperature if necessary to prevent burning and stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add sauerkraut and ham and stir to combine.

Sprinkle seasoned flour mixture over sauerkraut mixture and cook, stirring continuously, until no flour is visible, about 1 minute. Slowly add milk in a steady stream while stirring continuously and cook until mixture thickens and clumps together, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Let mixture sit at room temperature until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Using a meat grinder or pulsing in a food processor, pulse (about 25 pulses for a food processor) into a cohesive mixture of small, uniform pieces. It should resemble ham or tuna salad in texture. Spread mixture evenly across a plate and let it cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, use hands to roll sauerkraut mixture into 1-ounce balls (about 30 total).

Set up a breading station with 3 shallow bowls: Fill 1 bowl with remaining 1/2 cup flour, 1 with eggs, and 1 with panko breadcrumbs. Using separate hands for wet and dry ingredients, roll each ball in flour, then egg mixture, then breadcrumbs, pressing lightly to ensure an even coating at each stage.

Heat oil to 375°FF (190°C) in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot (oil should measure 2-inches deep, add more if needed). Working in batches of about 10 balls at a time, fry sauerkraut balls until golden brown and cooked through, turning if needed for even browning, 2 to 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a paper towel-lined wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Lightly season the fried balls with salt. Repeat with remaining sauerkraut balls. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve with ramekins of cocktail sauce and mustard for dipping.

Special Equipment

Large Dutch oven or large skillet, meat grinder or food processor, large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot for frying, slotted spoon or spider skimmer

Make-Ahead and Storage

The sauerkraut balls are best enjoyed immediately.

As far as cookware goes, there’s arguably no better investment than a cast iron or carbon steel skillet. Take a modicum of care with either one and it’ll last forever. (I’ve heard of cast iron pans passed down for generations.)

Both types of skillets get rip-roaring hot—and stay that way—and withstand high temperatures. This allows cast iron and carbon steel to put gloriously browned crusts on steaks, bake golden cornbread, shallow-fry anything, and even go on the grill. But because the world is expensive and kitchen storage is at a premium, the question then becomes: Which one should you buy? 

What Is Carbon Steel vs. Cast Iron?

Cast iron pans are typically a single piece of metal. To make one, a molten mixture of pig iron and steel (and other proprietary ingredients) is poured into a mold. Lodge—the maker of our favorite cast iron skillet—uses molds made from sand, which has a higher melting point than metal. “Once the cast iron pan or pot has cooled, the sand mold is broken, leaving behind a brand new piece of cast iron cookware,” Lodge says. 

Carbon steel, on the other hand, is a mixture of carbon and iron. The percentage of carbon varies, but, according to Misen, it’s often less than 3.5%. Carbon steel pans are stamped, not molded, meaning a sheet of metal is pressed into a shape. The handles are later welded or riveted on.

Which Weighs More?

There’s no getting around it: Cast iron is heavier than carbon steel. Our top-recommended Lodge skillet is five pounds, seven ounces, whereas our winning carbon steel pan is a little over three pounds. Cast iron’s weight (as well as its maintenance—more on that below) is what I hear the most complaints about. That being said, its heft has its advantages. Namely, its sheer mass gives it the edge over carbon steel for searing and browning. 

When Do You Use Cast Iron vs. Carbon Steel?

Sear, brown, roast, pan-fry, and bake: Both cast iron and carbon steel go neck and neck with each other and can be used for all of these core tasks. They also have supremely high maximum temperatures—cue “the limit does not exist”—though our favorite carbon steel pan from Mauviel lists a max of 680ºF. (Note: Some skillets, like this one from Misen, have lower max temperatures. Always double-check the manufacturer’s specifications.) The differentiators? Carbon steel pans have flared, sloping sides that make them better for sautéing, as does their lighter weight. Conversely, I find cast iron’s higher, straighter sides more reassuring when shallow-frying chicken cutlets or baking a skillet cake.

What you shouldn’t use cast iron or carbon steel for is the same. Namely, skip either when simmering acidic sauces like ye olde tomato, as the acid can eat away at the pan’s seasoning. And neither would be my top pick for delicate, stick-prone dishes like a French omelette.

Which Costs More?

As with most things in life, you can spend as much as you want on a cast iron or carbon steel pan. I have Smithey and Blu Skillet Ironware pans that cost hundreds of dollars. That said, you don’t need to, which is the beauty of both materials. Our tests showed that relatively inexpensive cast iron and carbon steel pans performed as well or better than their pricier counterparts. Our favorite Lodge cast iron skillet is about $20, whereas our carbon steel pick from Mauviel is under $100.

Which Is Easier to Season?

While most cast iron pans come pre-seasoned, the same can’t be said of carbon steel. Only half of our favorite carbon steel pans are pre-seasoned. Seasoning carbon steel requires heating the pan, applying a thin layer of oil, and then burning that oil off so it forms a polymer all over the skillet’s surface—and then repeating this whole process until the pan takes on a deeply browned hue. Seasoning a cast iron skillet is not entirely dissimilar, though is arguably less smoky, since we recommend doing so in the oven.

How Do You Care for Them?

Care for both cast iron and carbon steel is simple, though often overblown. The one rule? Don’t leave ‘em wet. As we explain here, to clean, either you’ll want to scrub it with hot, soapy water—yes, soap is fine once the seasoning’s built up—rinse, dry immediately, and apply a light layer of neutral oil that’ll act as a protective barrier, preventing rusting. 

So, Which Is Better? 

Sorry, but neither is unequivocally better. If you don’t have either, I’d opt to get a cheap cast iron skillet first. But I do love carbon steel and find myself reaching for this lighter pan more than its cast iron counterpart. The annoying answer is I think it’s worth having both. They’ll only get better with age, proving their versatility and durability again and again. 

Why We’re the Experts

• Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm is the associate editorial director of Serious Eats. 
• She’s been with the site since 2021 and has been testing gear professionally for more than six years. 
• Riddley owns several carbon steel and cast iron pans.
  

It's April. Daffodils have sprung up, trees are beginning to bloom, and the produce at my farmers market is getting greener and greener. Still, the weather in the Northeast continues to keep most of us on our toes as it oscillates between freezing winter temperatures and moderately warm days. Thanks to Mother Nature's erratic behavior, some of our staffers are still whipping up comforting and warming meals, while others are dusting off the grill or tossing together crisp spring vegetables to make a refreshing salad. Our list of editors' picks this month includes minimal-effort recipes, like Caesar deviled eggs, a savory carrot tart, and clay pot rice with silky chicken and mushrooms. You'll also find a simple mocha tres leches cake, which takes just about 20 minutes to prep, and fluffy almond rolls that taste like a mash-up of almond croissants and cinnamon rolls.

Cantonese-Style Braised Brisket

"I love when Genevieve publishes a savory recipe because—to be honest with you—the chances that I attempt to tackle one of her delicious baking endeavors is almost always close to zero. I tasted this during a photo shoot and have been thinking about it since." - Amanda Suarez, associate visuals director

Grilled Whole Cauliflower With Teriyaki Sauce

"The image of this golden brown head of cauliflower stopped me in my tracks. With the weather finally thawing out a bit, I can't wait to try this at home. I'm especially excited about the teriyaki glaze—yum!" - An Uong, writer

Cantonese Clay Pot Rice With Velveted Chicken and Mushrooms

"It is not a new recipe, but I have been dreaming of Lucas Sin's clay pot rice with chicken and mushrooms almost daily for weeks. I must make it, and soon." - Daniel Gritzer, editorial director

Fluffy Almond Rolls

"Contributor Zola Gregory's almond rolls—basically cinnamon rolls filled with almond cream instead of the classic cinnamon sugar mixture—sound absolutely delightful, and I can't wait to make a batch this weekend." - Genevieve Yam, senior editor

Fried Pickles

"I love fried pickles—tangy, crunchy, zesty. And even better when they're dipped in ranch." - Grace Kelly, senior editor

Mocha Tres Leches Cake

"I love tres leches cake, and I especially enjoy it when the weather starts to heat up. I've never had a mocha version, but it’s tres leches flavored with chocolate and espresso. What's not to love? Seems perfect for a dinner party when you could use a little pick-me-up at the end of the night." - Kelli Solomon, senior social media editor

Carrot and Raisin Salad

"Carrots are a truly underrated vegetable. I love them raw as a snack or roasted as a side, but I rarely put them in my salads. This salad looks so refreshing and positively screams spring. Plus, it seems like a fast and flavorful side for an Easter roast." - Kelli

Harcha (Moroccan Flatbread)

"Nargisse's harcha are my new go-to weeknight biscuit—the semolina flour gives them such a wonderful sweet and nutty flavor. Plus: They require just a handful of ingredients and come together in just one bowl." - Leah Colins, senior culinary editor

Caesar Deviled Eggs

"I love deviled eggs any time of year, but they're a must-have for Easter for me. I love the classic deviled eggs my mom always made—with mustard, dill pickle relish, and plenty of mayo— but I'm also a fan of creative spins. I was on-hand to taste these Caesar salad–inspired eggs when Daniel was developing the recipe, and they're phenomenally savory and satisfying." - Megan O. Steintrager, associate editorial director

Savory Carrot Tart

"This is the perfect Easter brunch recipe, and you cannot convince me otherwise!" - Rochelle Bilow, editor

Spring Salad of Asparagus, Ramps, Snap Peas, and Peas With Lemon Zest Vinaigrette

"Former editor Kenji's spring salad has everything I want to eat right now: crisp-tender asparagus, sweet peas, and ramps. I am desperate for all of these ingredients to come into season, and can't wait to make this salad when they do." - Genevieve

Some people like to clean out their fridge by making a soup, stew, or stir-fry. I prefer to do it with warm, buttery biscuits, which are a versatile vehicle for the odds and ends in your kitchen. Have rogue cheese, fresh herbs, and random nubs of cured meats? Toss them into your dough. It’s an effective and delicious way to curb food waste, and allows you to come up with whatever flavor profile you want for your biscuits: cacio e pepe, maple syrup and bacon, or, my favorite, sour cream and chives. 

The recipe below comes from my Birmingham, Alabama-based test kitchen colleague Tricia Manzanero Stuedeman, who baked batches and batches of biscuits to land on a formula for tender, flaky sour cream and chive biscuits that are also quick and easy to make. The sour cream gives the biscuits a pleasant tang, and a touch of garlic powder helps amplify the chives’ allium notes and natural sweetness. Making biscuits from scratch may feel intimidating and sound labor-intensive, but Stuedeman’s recipe comes together in just about an hour (only half of that is active prep time). And, with a few tips and tricks, you’ll be able to make light, fluffy bakery-worthy biscuits. 

The Key Techniques for Making Tender, Flaky Biscuits

Add a Little Cornstarch

Gluten is a network of protein molecules that gives doughs and batters their structure. The higher a flour’s protein percentage, the more gluten that flour can develop when hydrated. While gluten is essential in baked goods, developing too much of it can result in tough, chewy pastries. To reduce the gluten potential of a flour, bakers often incorporate cornstarch to “soften” a flour’s proteins. This is what Harold McGee, the author of On Food and Cooking, describes as diluting the gluten proteins. Adding a small quantity of cornstarch reduces the overall gluten in the dough, resulting in tender biscuits.

Triple the Dairy

Butter, sour cream, and whole milk all play a very important role: They provide fat. Butter and sour cream, in particular, help coat the flour particles (and a pair of gluten proteins called glutenin and gliadin) in fat to minimize gluten development, resulting in softer, lighter biscuits. Here, we cut half-inch cubes of butter into the dry ingredients until they’re pea-sized, then toss to evenly coat the flour mixture with fat.

Like buttermilk, an acidic ingredient frequently used to make biscuits, sour cream provides a nice tang and reacts with alkaline baking soda to help the biscuits rise. But because sour cream is so thick, it’s crucial to add extra liquid to hydrate the dough and help it come together, which is where whole milk comes in. Together, they produce soft, flavorful biscuits with good rise.

Laminate the Dough

Laminating refers to the technique of folding pastry over and over itself to create numerous layers. It’s a common technique many French pastry chefs use to create puff pastry or viennoiserie, like croissants. Below, we roll the dough into a rectangle, fold it into thirds like a business letter, then repeat once more for biscuits with plenty of layers.

Keep the Biscuit Dough Cold

Chilling the dough allows the gluten to relax, but it also ensures that the specks of butter in the biscuit dough remain intact. As the biscuits bake, the small pieces of butter melt, creating pockets of steam that give the biscuits their flaky layers and lift.

Adjust oven rack to middle position, and preheat oven to 425°F (220ºC). Line a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and garlic powder. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly and butter is pea-sized. Stir in chives until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and milk to combine. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture just until combined and dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Using clean hands, gently press and fold flour mixture in bowl until dough just holds together.

Turn out dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface; using your hands or a rolling pin, gently press or roll dough into a rough 9- by 5-inch rectangle. Fold rectangle into thirds like a business letter. (Dough may still be a bit crumbly at this point but will come together. If you are struggling to lift and fold the dough, use a bench scraper to help fold the dough.) Repeat process one more time, very lightly flouring surface or dough if needed; press or roll dough to 3/4-inch thickness.

Using a floured 2 1/2-inch round cutter, cut dough into 8 biscuits, rerolling and cutting scraps once, if needed; very lightly flour surface or top of dough only if needed to prevent sticking. Arrange biscuits on prepared baking sheet, spacing them at least 1 inch apart. Freeze, uncovered, until firm, 10 minutes. (If your freezer is too small for a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet, you can chill dough on parchment-lined plates, then transfer to prepared baking sheet once biscuits are firm.)

Brush tops of chilled dough with egg. Bake until tops are golden brown and biscuits are cooked through, 15 to 17 minutes. Set baking sheet on a wire rack, and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm with softened butter.

Special Equipment

13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet, parchment paper, whisk, rolling pin, bench scraper, 2 1/2-inch round cutter, pastry brush, wire rack

Notes

Onion powder can be used in place of garlic powder, if desired.

Make-Ahead and Storage

These biscuits are enjoyed fresh. Once cooled, leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

To freeze biscuits, place them on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and freeze. When frozen solid, transfer biscuits to a large zip-top bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.

Guacamole is old—really old. The word itself comes from "ahuacamolli," which means “avocado sauce” in Nahuatl, and the dish dates back at least the Aztec empire in Mexico, before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. At its most basic, it requires little more than avocados and serrano or jalapeño chiles, traditionally mashed in a large basalt mortar and pestle with some salt. The Aztecs prepared such avocado-based sauces for hundreds of years, making guacamole and its progenitors among the oldest continuously prepared dishes in the Americas.

An early written recipe for guacamole appeared in the 17th-century autobiography of the pirate William Dampier. He described a mash of avocado, sugar, and lime that he was introduced to near modern-day Panama. It was one of many forms of guacamole, both then and now. They vary in texture and consistency, ranging from thin and saucy all the way to something so chunky it might be described as a salad, and anything in between. These differences can reflect regional or personal preferences, as well as how the guacamole is intended to be used; whether as a condiment on tacos, alongside roasted meats and rice and beans, spread on sopes, or as a dip with tortilla chips.

The guacamole recipe I'm sharing here is not sweetened or mashed into a chunky salad, and it isn’t your standard game-day chip dip either. Instead, it's a taquero-style guacamole. Think of it more as an avocado sauce: pourable, creamy, and spicy with a zesty kick of cilantro. It’s ideal for spooning over (or into) tacos, quesadillas, burritos, nachos, and whatever else your heart desires. It goes particularly well with tacos de asada, tacos capeados or a hearty papa loca (a grilled potato mashed with cheese and topped with carne asada). 

Many taco shops throughout Mexico have some version of this sauce. If it’s watered down too much, clients might complain that they’re being served “aguamole.” In some cases you may even encounter a "guacamole" that doesn't even have avocados in it, but instead is made with cheaper summer squash, sometimes referred to as “fake guacamole.” 

I learned the recipe below from second-generation taquero Paco Gaztelum, who often serves it at Tacos El Veneno, his taco cart in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Paco has prepared variations of this taquero-style guacamole hundreds if not thousands of times, adjusting the flavor and consistency to pair perfectly with the dish it is being served with.

For this particular recipe, he designed a sauce that is avocado-forward with a pleasant hint of heat.He says the key to his sauce is as simple as picking good avocados. Ultimately, if the avocado tastes good, the guacamole will taste good. Picking great avocados is a bit easier in Mexico for Paco, where high quality, fresh avocados are more abundant than in other countries. Still, Paco says cooks in the U.S. and elsewhere can find the best ripe avocados available by following a few guidelines.

How to Select the Best (and Ripest) Avocados

Paco recommends using Hass avocados in his recipe. Hass avocados are widely available in the US and their buttery, creamy texture and flavor consistently produces flavorful guacamole. But Hass are not the only good avocados out there, and if you have access to other types of avocados, it can be worthwhile to try them. Just make sure to measure the avocados by weight, and not by the number of avocados, to ensure the right ratio of avocado to water; otherwise the consistency may be way off.

As a Hass avocado ripens, it darkens in color, and its dark color is the first good indicator of whether it's ripe. But a dark color alone will not tell you if the avocado is at it's peak. Ultimately, the best indicator for when an avocado is ripe is its feel: A ripe avocado should be soft, especially near the stem, but it shouldn’t feel spongy or hollow. You can also wiggle the stem—if it’s ripe, the stem will easily peel away from the fruit. 

Avocados have a short window of perfect ripeness, so make sure to take ripening time into consideration when shopping and meal-planning, and be prepared to purchase your avocado a few days before making the guacamole. (For avocado ripening tips, check out our guide on how to ripen and store avocados.)

Fine-Tuning the Guacamole’s Aromatics

If you don’t like spice (or your chile smells particularly pungent), you can cut it in half and remove the seeds, which carry a lot of the heat. This works for both serrano and jalapeño peppers. Another tip from Paco: For jalapeños, the spiceness can be gauged by looking at the veiny white striations on the outside of the chile. The larger and more visible these marks are, the spicier the pepper. 

Another parameter to keep an eye on is the salt level. Paco says that when seasoning this guacamole, it’s important to keep in mind the dish you plan to serve the sauce with. Serving it with salty, heavily seasoned pork tacos? You might want to scale down the salt amount in this guacamole. Is it going on a lighter fish dish? You might want to be more heavy-handed with the salt. “The quantity [of salt] is about balancing the dish, taco or chip, whatever you’re going to eat,” Paco says.

Like any really good guacamole, this recipe is almost infinitely flexible. Try it without cilantro, with a squeeze of lime, or with more or less salt or water to dial in your favorite version. I’ve had taquero-style guacamoles with a hint of garlic, a little finely chopped tomato, and even small chunks of queso fresco. As Paco’s father, a retired taquero, likes to say, “En la cocina, el cocinero manda”—in the kitchen, the cook is in charge. 

The Best Way to Store Taquero-Style Guacamole

This guacamole, like all guacamole, is best enjoyed very shortly after it’s prepared, but what about leftovers? Is there a way to prevent leftover sauce from browning? Oxygen is what causes avocado to turn unsightly brown. As is discussed in Serious Eat’s perfect guacamole recipe, there are a few hacks out there that claim to prevent this, such as the common tip of putting the pits on top of the guacamole to prevent browning or adding acid (most often lime juice). But the best option is to is to store the guacamole in a container that minimizes the amount of air it’s exposed to (a squeeze bottle works best) and to press a double layer of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the guacamole if it is going to be exposed, to minimize oxidation.

In a blender, blend avocado, cilantro, serrano, water, and 1 teaspoon salt until completely smooth. Season to taste with additional salt as needed. Serve.

Special Equipment

Blender 

Notes

A seeded jalapeño can be substituted for the serrano chile for an even less spicy option.

Make-Ahead and Storage

The guacamole sauce is best eaten the same day it's made. It should be refrigerated in an air-tight container when not in use (a squeeze bottle works great). Second-day leftovers still taste good, and light oxidation on top disappears with stirring. After that, the loss of flavor and color become increasingly noticeable.