Support Your Microbiome by Consuming Fermented Vegetables

Since enhancing diversity and maintaining populations of good species in your gut are so important to good health, it follows that one should regularly consume fermented foods. Fermented vegetables in particular, since they are both probiotic (adding good species) and prebiotic (feeding the right species).

But how does one get a hold of a good variety of tasty fermented vegetables? What if you don't want to eat kimchi and the kind of sauerkraut you occasionally see at some grocery stores, all the time?

The answer is you start making your own. Enter the Ferment Your Vegetables book by Amanda Feifer.

What I liked about this book is that it reassured me that fermenting veggies is safe. It explained how to identify a batch that has "gone bad" (colorful mold or a swiss cheese odor). Such problems are rare anyway, and can't happen if the PH is below 4, you use sufficient salt, and only ferment at room temperature for a week or less. (You can safely put the batch in the fridge once it's "done".) Which is what I have been doing.

Although I wasn't keen on trying every recipe in the book, the numerous recipes did open my eyes to some interesting possibilities. I hadn't thought of adding lemon peel, fresh rosemary, or whole spices to my pickles, but it does expand the flavor horizons. I hadn't thought of fermenting jicama, slices of onion, or carrot slivers. I didn't know that fermenting nuts (such as almonds) and seeds (such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds) would increase nutrient availability and be delicious as well.

The detailed recipes and handy chart provided useful ratios for vegetables to salt, and salt to water content, by weight and volume.

Having read the book and learned that it's better not to add a culture because the outsides of vegetables are already loaded with good varieties of bacteria, and that fermented veggies have more nutrients than fresh and raw, I have all the encouragement I need. My enthusiasm however, may need to be tempered by wisdom in the future: I forgot that the cruciferous vegetable category includes brussel sprouts as well as broccoli, which under fermentation can get a bit sulfur-smelly.

It's all good learning! Ciao!