Fermenting Foods

I was first introduced to fermented foods a couple of years ago by my midwife as we were discussing my history of testing positive for GBS (Group B Strep) during my previous pregnancies and various methods to treat GBS naturally.  I had literally never heard of them, until she started naming a few: sauerkraut, yogurt…etc.  I guess there’s a lot more: water kefir, dairy kefir, kombacha, and of course you can ferment several vegetables.  Dairy kefir has been my kids favorite, and it has made a huge impact on their health.  Solveig calls it “pink milk” because I get her strawberry kefir.  She also likes “purple milk” which is flavored with blueberries.  Both are found in the yogurt section of most grocery stores.  I am more anxious about getting probiotics into this particular child of mine because she got an awful rash all over her body the first time she was on amoxicillin, and I would really like to avoid giving her another antibiotic ever again if possible.

Enter probiotics.  I haven’t tried them all yet (and am a bit scared to) but everything I have tried has been good, so I really shouldn’t fear.

Since I’ve learned nutritionally about good gut health, and how it effects depression, behavioral problems, in addition to stomach aches, acid reflux, etc.  Some studies are now linking it to seasonal allergies as well as a long list of health issues.  I’m learning that your gut acts as a filter to any toxins on your body.  If that’s weak, multiple organs can be effected.  I heard that we should be aiming for 85% good bacteria in our stomach and 15% bad bacteria.  For most Americans, it’s flip flopped.  Every time you take an antibiotic, all of the good and bad bacteria is wiped out, and you need to rebuild the system afterwards, so to speak.  Otherwise, the bad will soon start gaining on the good and that’s when sickness relapse happens.

While I know that probiotics come in pill form, I’m a big believer that food always trumps supplements when it comes to nutrition.  To confirm this theory of mine, one lab test showed that 2 oz of homemade sauerkraut has more probiotics than 100 probiotic capsules.  Pills are fine, but they don’t have the same power.  Now, this one is super, super easy to make.  You don’t need to eat a lot for it to make a big impact on your health.  However, common store bought sauerkraut is sometimes pasteurized, or heated first to kill off ALL bacteria (good and bad) before it hits the shelves, which kills the majority of the nutritional impact.  So homemade is really the way to go in this area.  Don’t worry, it’s ridiculously simple and easy and most of all: cheap.

So I’ve been on the hunt to give my family a diverse offering of fermented foods so we feed that gut lots of different kinds of healthy bacteria to keep that immune system and filter-for-the-body going strong.  I’ve been looking at fermentation crocks, but they’re expensive.  They can get into the hundreds of dollars!  What a crock.  (Hardy har har.)  When researching what a fermentation crock is, you’ll find a whole string of websites showing you how to make one, or make do with what you had like they used to do in “the olden days.”

Here’s what you actually need to ferment vegetables:
1) a container to hold the vegetables and water
2) a food safe weight of some sort to hold the vegetables under that water.
3) some sort of cover that won’t allow things to get into your water, but will allow air to be released

That’s it.  Pretty complicated, huh?

As food ferments, it releases gas, so you don’t want the container to be air-tight or it could “explode” or break on you.  (This often happens in wine making.)  Also, the vegetables will rot if they can be exposed to the open air, so it is important that they don’t have access to air.  The easiest way to do that is to push the vegetables underwater.

People get really creative with this, and use plastic Ziploc bags filled with water as weights, and the most common thing is to buy some sort of valve to convert a mason jar into a fermentation device.  That way air can escape but not get in, so you don’t have to worry about the vegetables staying under water.

I still hold to the truth that simple is often best, and as I was shopping in a kitchen store, and came across Weck jars for the first time, I lightbulb went off in my head that even though these are canning jars, they have every element needed for a great fermentation crock.

a container to hold the vegetables and water
(liter sized Weck tulip jar)

a food safe weight of some sort to hold the vegetables under that water
(a glass Weck lid, made for the smaller Weck jars)

some sort of cover  that won’t allow things to fall into your water, but will allow air to be released
(the tulip jar lid and clamps WITHOUT the rubber sealing ring)

Voila.  A fermentation crock.  Under $10 if you use the Weck jars.

Here are 2 different things I’ve fermented in here with lots of success, though I’m also working on a batch of apple cider vinegar too, and when that process is complete in a few weeks, I’ll show you how to do that too.

Sauerkraut:
I’m not a huge fan of sauerkraut, actually, but I’ll try anything homemade.  I made this out of purple cabbage just to make it more inciting for the kids (okay, and more inciting for me).

Step 1: rinse and chop up cabbage

Step 2: fill jar 3/4 full of cabbage, and add water with 3 Tablespoons salt per head of cabbage.  (I used less salt since I could only fit half the cabbage in my jar.  I chose granulated sea salt.)  You can add onion and/or apple, or whatever else you want to season with. Some people add caraway seeds for flavor.  Just don’t fill more than 3/4 full.

Step 3: carefully place the clean, smaller lid made for the smaller Weck jars on top of the food, inside of the jar, and make sure it’s pushing everything under the water.  I pushed down hard to make all the air bubbles in-between the cabbage rise to the top.

Step 4: put on bigger glass lid, and metal clamps (do not use rubber ring that comes with the jar, as it will make it air tight and you don’t want that.)  The metal clamps aren’t fully necessary as you could just place the glass lid on top and let it be, but I didn’t want any of my kiddos tempted to take off the glass top and just play around in there.  The metal clamps are simply extra security.

(optional step here: place jar in a small bowl, because everything is going to expand over the next few days and water might overflow onto your counter.  I may or may not have learned this from experience.)

Step 5: Place on counter in kitchen (room temperature) for 3-5 days, until fizzy bubbles form on top.

Step 6: Move to the fridge and eat as often as you like.  This will last for quite awhile.  (I took it from the fridge for this picture.  That’s why there’s condensation on the jar.)  Our jar is already half gone after a week.  It’s good stuff.

You can also do this with other vegetables like carrots.  This makes for a very tangy snack, and the kids of mine who like carrots and/or pickles like this.  I don’t have pictures for this process.  Sorry.

This stuff is gold in my house.  It’s truly a must during the flu season especially.  This has been really good on burgers, meat sandwiches, and we’ve found we really like it on top of pulled pork, or pork chops, as that bland sort of meat could use some kick.