HOW TO FERMENT VEGETABLES AT HOME

In this post I want to talk to you about how to ferment vegetables at home, cabbage, carrots, onion, cucumbers, cauliflower, tomatoes, turnip, any vegetable you can think of, it is a very simple process that we can all do and that can bring great benefits to our diet.

Surely by now you have heard of fermentation, but it may seem strange and you may not have thought that many of the foods you eat daily are fermented.

If the verb ferment resonates in your head as something distant, keep reading and you will see that it is actually something everyday, that has been around you forever and that, throughout history, has been a constant in human nutrition.

Fermenting is a way of transforming a food so that it can be consumed for a much longer period of time.

Therefore, considering that fermenting is conserving, you can imagine how important this technique has been in the history of humanity.

 

Fermenting vegetables at home is an easy process with great benefits for your health.

 

From ancient Egypt until now, food has been fermented, it is documented that beer was consumed in Egypt, and that it was an essential food in the diet of the moment, (although, obviously, it had nothing to do with what we know today ).

There are writings that speak about the use of this technique in the Quin dynasty, in China, S.III BC, and in the Natural History from Pliny the Elder, (year 77), it is told how fermented cabbage was stored in clay containers.

Did you know that one way to avoid scurvy during the XNUMXth century on long sea voyages was to ship large quantities of sauerkraut to ensure the supply of vegetables to sailors? It was one of the ways they had to ensure a vitamin C supply during long trips.

Fermented foods have been a constant throughout history, if we take a look at our past generations, we will see that fermentation has always been present.

 

 

When there were no refrigerators in the homes, when there were no supermarkets full of food throughout the year, when the harvest had to be conserved to have provisions during the harsh winter months, preparing preserves and fermenting food was the norm.

 

Fermentation and dehydration are the 2 oldest conservation techniques.

 

Fermentation together with dehydration are the two oldest food preservation techniques.

The Romans made wine and fermented fish, the famous garum, a fermented sauce based on fish viscera, which Apicius recognizes in his work Of Recowagen, was fundamental in the Roman gastronomy of the time, according to him, it improved the flavor of any other food.

What does that sound like to you? You could say that it was doing the function that monosodium glutamate exerts in the industry today, but in a much healthier way, of course.

It can be concluded that the garum provided the fifth flavor, known as umami, and it was a necessary condiment in the gastronomy of that period.

Fermentations like Bulgarian yogurt, fermented milks and cheeses in the Middle East are traditional examples of fermentation.

In Christian times flour was fermented to make bread and today the amount of fermented food is increasing, especially due to the nutritional value of this type of food and its enormous benefits for human health.

 

Fermented vegetables provide essential lactic acid bacteria to improve our intestinal microbiota.

 

Today, we know for sure that fermented foods are a good source of lactic acid bacteria, very beneficial for our intestinal health.

Its benefits are similar to those of the consumption of probiotics, many of the species found in fermented foods are the same or share physiological traits with species that improve our intestinal health.

But there are different types of fermented foods, in this post I am emphasizing fermented vegetables, but as we have already seen, you can ferment all kinds of food, fish, meat, milk, legumes, cereals, etc.

The characteristic of vegetable-based ferments is that when we consume them, we are ingesting live microbes, the same thing happens with yogurt or kefir.

On the other hand, when having a glass of wine or a beer, there are no live microorganisms in the sourdough bread or in the tempeh.

Today we find many recipes for fermented vegetables, perhaps the most famous is the sauerkraut, sauerkraut, but it is also very common kimchi Korean (with Chinese cabbage) or atcara in the Philippines, (based on green papaya mixed with other vegetables).

All three are examples of vegetable fermentations that we can easily do at home.

 

Learn how to ferment vegetables at home, improve your microbiota and enjoy new flavors.

 

In the supermarket there are many foods that have been fermented, but beware, in order to be distributed on a large scale and have long expiration dates, they have been pasteurized.

La pasteurization (discovered by Pasteur in the mid-XNUMXth century) is a technique that subjects food to high temperatures for short periods of time to eliminate or reduce pathogens.

This technique was an advance in the food industry, it began to be applied to many other products from the beginning of the s. XX and was a great advance in terms of food security.

But we are not interested in pasteurized fermentations, why? Because in order to eliminate those microorganisms that could be harmful and that degrade food, many beneficial microorganisms are also destroyed.

For this reason it is better that you make your own fermented vegetables at home, you will consume all the beneficial bacteria that develop and it is a very safe technique if you follow a series of basic recommendations.

Also, I must tell you that the results are wonderful, both from a nutritional and an organoleptic point of view.

And I also want you to know that fermenting is a great way to be yourself, because it gives you freedom, there are no recipes, everything is open and depends on you, you are in control of what you are doing.

You can hit or miss, but what is certain is that by doing it you will learn.

 

 

How to ferment vegetables:

I am ahead of you, I am not an expert, but I am not afraid to try new things, I am not afraid to err, especially knowing that the road will lead me to a good end.

Considering what I am going to find, a live, improved food with better nutritional properties and full of bacteria beneficial to my digestive health, there is no doubt that it is worth it.

Isn't that enough of a reason to experiment?

 

If you decide to ferment vegetables at home, start with the easy, sauerkraut is a good idea.

 

I started with the simplest, the sauerkraut (Fermented cabbage), fermenting cabbage is the easiest, you only need a good cabbage and a handful of sea salt, yes, it is only 2 ingredients, the rest is given.

To ferment your own vegetables at home you only need a few glass jars, (there are special ones, but you can use the ones you have or recycle them), filtered water, sea salt (without additives), and if you want, your favorite spices, some garlic, and some lemons or the vegetables you prefer.

The combinations of vegetables and spices are your thing, start with simple mixtures, you do not want to start the house on the roof, remember that less is more, focus on technique and there will be time to “innovate”.

The first time you want to ferment a vegetable, opt for sauerkraut, it is very easy to do and there is a good chance that it will work out right the first time. Then you can continue fermenting other vegetables.

I love to ferment cherry tomatoes, they give salads a very special touch, and I am passionate about fermented onion, both white and purple, its flavor changes and becomes a much more digestible food.

The carrot acquires more flavor after fermentation and the cauliflower becomes a delicious food, serving the small fermented flowers as an appetizer and enjoying its crisp texture as a snack.

Test to ferment some lemons, and use them later as a condiment, really, I think when you find out how they taste, you won't be able to stop.

Once fermented, you can use the meat of the lemons to flavor your sauces, prepare dressings and you can also add it to a hummus! Isn't that a good idea? With that simple action you will be adding probiotics and enriching the preparation.

 

Start by fermenting vegetables in isolation and then make your own combinations.

 

What do you need:

• Sauerkraut: For a fermentation from scratch, that is, from cabbage and salt, (what Sandor E. Katz calls wild fermentation), you only need a few glass jars and some patience, well enough patience, the more you have, the better.
• Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onion: You need the vegetables, salt and filtered water. The glass jars and once again, patience.
• Kimchi: to prepare a kimchee Korean style, you need a good cabbage, Chinese if possible, (akusay), turnip, carrot and chive with its green part, and a series of ingredients to make pasta, garlic, fresh ginger, chillies, etc.

 

 

Fermenting Engineering 😉

• Glass jars or ceramic fermentation jars.
• Tapas.
• Weights to ensure that the food is always immersed in the fermentation liquid. It is an anaerobic process (
• A cool and dark space (a cupboard or a cupboard at 18ºC-20ºC).

 

Main benefits of fermenting vegetables at home:

• Improve your digestive and intestinal health.
• Increase the diversity of your gut microbiota.
• Lactic acid bacteria like Lactobacillus they are beneficial for health.
• If you combine probiotics (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, for example) and prebiotics (legumes, garlic, leeks, onions, etc.), you will get a very healthy symbiosis.

 

The main objective of this post is to help you learn a little more about fermenting vegetables at home, and motivate you to try it.

In future posts I will publish the recipes, so you can get down to work.

Remember that fermenting is life !, lots of health and a hug.

Francesca

Related entries:

• Learn How to make kimchi easy.
• The simplest: How to ferment cabbage at home (sauerkraut).
• How to ferment lemons.
• How to ferment cucumbers.

 

If you want more information, I leave you some interesting links:

• https://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/es/
• https://microbiotica.es/
• https://nutribiota.net/