Friday 25 October 2013

Fermented Foods



THE BASIC TECHNIQUE in making  Fermented Vegetables; they are delicious & Good for You!



  

Not pickled, fermented!


Raw cultured vegetables are powerful super foods and include sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles and many others. There is
a major difference between the foods eaten today as compared to long ago. Years ago, fermented vegetables were
used as a way to prevent spoilage in food. They were also used on the voyages of Captain Cook to prevent scurvy with
his shipmates. The main difference today, as compared to long ago, is that cultured vegetables, such as pickles and
sauerkraut have been pasteurized, thus in part, destroying the many strains of the health promoting bacteria and naturally
occurring enzymes that help with digestion and a slew of other things. These foods are so powerful that in Asia, where they
were experiencing the bird flu, they fed an extract of kimchi, a fermented food, to 13 infected chickens – and a week later 11
of them had started recovering. Many times when I or someone close to me has been sick I have given them a tablespoon
or two of cultured vegetables and watched the remarkable speed of their recovery.

Many people find the hardest part of fermenting vegetables, is getting started.
I learnt a number of recipes whilst training as a Raw Gourmet Chef, so I have continued to
experiment; the variety & flavors & textures can only encourage the adventurist to make them
regularly. 
At a very basic level, fermentation is controlled decomposition. Instead of allowing food to spoil, we
introduce a preserving element such as salt. This directs the food towards fermentation
rather than rotting.Vegetable fermentation happens through an anaerobic system in which the 
naturally occurring lactobacilli of the food, create lactic acid, preserving the food and not allowing
so called "bad bacteria" to exist.This bacteria can not exist in an acid environment.
With this in mind,these are the conditions we must create in order for vegetables to ferment. 

Submerged Vegetables. Whether your vegetables are self brining or not, they must be kept
covered in brine in a sterilized jar in order to prevent mould & encourage lactic acid production.
I also use salt as my fermenting agent but some may use yogurt or whey if they are not Vegan.
Salt is a preservative and improves the flavor and texture.

Temperature. In traditional Cultures, foods were fermented & stored in moderate temperatures
often in a root cellar or by sinking the fermenting vessel into a hole in the ground.
This is obviously not necessary, a cool spot around 60-80 degrees F. is ideal.
Now that I have explained the ideal conditions for fermenting, we can use any number of
vegetables through one of two techniques...self brine or added brine.

Self-Brined Fermented Vegetables

Vegetables that are fresh and have not been dried out, cabbage & carrot are a good examples, can
actually make their own brine when salt is introduced and the cabbage is massaged; the salt draws
the water out of the vegetable thereby creating it's own natural brine. In this case the vegetables
need to be finely shredded, increasing the surface area for the salt to penetrate & draw out a
large amount of liquid. Always remember the vegetables must be covered in the brine. Sauerkraut is
a fine example of this process, grated carrots & ginger or grated cucumber relish.

Added Brine Fermented Vegetables

Not every vegetable shines when it is finely diced or shredded. Many vegetables like cucumbers,
carrots or zucchini cry out to be left whole or in chunks. That is where added brine comes in.
If salt was simply added there is no way they could produce enough of their own liquid to cover
them. Creating a brine to pour over these larger vegetable chunks & submerging them completely in the salt brine,
is quite simple. This allows the anaerobic environment necessary for lactic acid to proliferate.
A good rule of thumb for a brine is 3 tablespoons of a good quality salt to 2 pints of water.
This brine can then be used to cover any number of different vegetables. Cucumbers, peppers,
celery, tomato chunks, garlic, onion, carrots, or even chunks of cabbage; in fact any surplus
vegetables you may have in the garden. Shredding can be a bit tedious, so simply pouring
over a simply prepared brine is often the easiest option & just as delicious although the texture 
will obviously be different. 

Here is another idea.
Many fermented sweet potatoes have been cooked and mashed. I like to keep them raw preserving the
beneficial bacteria on the skins which are killed in the cooking method. Leaving the skin intact
encourages natural fermentation with only the addition of flavorings & salt.

Take 3 or 4 sweet potatoes & wash off any dirt before thinly slicing.
Combine with 1 1/2 inch piece of grated ginger, 1 diced large onion,
1 teaspoon of cayenne powder and 3-4 tablespoons of salt
If you pound this mixture a little with a potato masher, this encourages the release of juices.
If you can't cover the vegetable mix with its own juice you may need to add some made up brine.
Cover & store in a cool place to ferment for 5-10 days before placing in the refrigerator. If you
place a lid over the submerged vegetable, release regularly, as the alcohol buildup will cause it to
burst out; burp the jars regularly to save this gas build up.

Raw Sweet Potatoes 











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