Fermenting some veggies!

I eat fermented cabbage, or as most of us know it - sauerkraut, on a very regular basis and love it on sandwiches and along side my breakfast or dinner dishes, but until recently I hadn't started fermented any of my other vegetables (except for the occasional pickles). It was just one more thing to do and try and I hadn't made the time for it.

If you are completely new to the idea of fermenting veggies there is plenty of wonderful health reason for why you should consider incorporating this wonderful health food into your diet. Fermenting was done in the past to keep food fresh for long periods of time, because of course there were no grocery stores to run to or refrigerates to raid when you needed something to eat and gardens certainly didn't produce year round. During the fermenting process, which includes your vegetables, water, salt, whey and spices/herbs (if you want any), lactic acid bacteria is produced. Lactic acid keeps the vegetables from rotting (at least for a time) and also provides some wonderful benefits for your intestinal track by increasing beneficial bacteria and encouraging the growth of healthy flora. Fermented vegetables are filled with fiber, nutrients and wonderful digestive helping enzymes.

"Lacto-fermented condiments are easy to make. Fruits and vegetables are first washed and cut up, mixed with salt and herbs or spices and then pounds briefly to release juices. They are then pressed into an air tight container. Salt inhibits the putrefying bacteria for several days until enough lactic acid is produced to preserve the vegetables for many months. The amount of salt can be reduced or even eliminated if whey is added to the pickling solution. Rich in lactic acid and lactic-acid-producing bacteria, whey acts as an inoculant, reducing the time needed for sufficient lactic acid to produce to ensure preservation. Use of whey will result in consistently successful pickling; it is essential for pickling fruits. During the first few days of fermentation, the vegetables are kept at room temperature; afterwards, they must be placed in a cool, dark place for long-term preservation."
~Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, page 90

I remember my first experience with homemade sauerkraut. It was probably 4-5 years ago and my mom was on a kick with this cookbook called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. This woman had a whole new approach to cooking and baking and I thought she might be nuts! :-) Her recipes seemed so foreign. I couldn't imagine people cooking the way she described. (How things have changed, since I love Nourishing Traditions now and if you follow my blog you'll know I quote from it rather regularly.) My mom made some homemade sauerkraut for my brother and me to try. Her container was bubbling and your could hear the carbon dioxide escaping, which naturally occurs in the fermenting process. I was very, very hesitant to try the sauerkraut. I was worried I was going to get sick. I mean normally sauerkraut comes in a can or jar in the canned food section at the grocery store. Certainly there was something special food companies where doing to make this food safe to eat. It took me months, if not longer, to become really comfortable with this new way of preparing or preserving food. My first couple of batches of sauerkraut I threw away because mold would form on top or it turned colors on the top. I was still worried I wasn't doing something right and would get sick, so into the trash the sauerkraut went. However, I was still very curious about eating food like this and it hit home for my desire to prepare foods in a more natural way, aka no preservative or processed ingredients.

Once you get past the initial wariness of naturally fermenting your food, it's easy to relax and start a variety of experimenting. Homemade yogurt, kefir, sourdough, etc. is all fermented food and just like fermented vegetables, are excellent for maintaining a healthy body. Get creative with with what type of vegetables you ferment, how you slice them, how long you let them ferment and try adding different spices.


For the fermenting I tried this time, I kept things simple. I decided to slice my veggies into spears because I thought I would have a greater tendency to eat them. They would be much easier to grab and munch on when I wanted a quick snack. I also only added garlic or garlic and dill for extra flavor.
After two days of fermenting I taste tested the veggies and decided to let them go for another day. How you slice your vegetables and the temperature in your house can easily change your fermenting time from approximately 2 days to 4-6 days. The warmer the house is the less time it takes for food to ferment. The average fermenting time is 3 days and works well when you're first starting out.
 
One things to note, the sauerkraut that you buy at the store in a can IS NOT the same as making the lacto-fermented stuff at home. The canning process kills any healthy bacteria that may have existed, assuming it was processed in a healthy way in the first place. Plus who knows what type of preservatives they've added to the can. Also, a site you might like on fermenting food is Wild Fermentation, and check out this article by Michael O’Brien on Fermented Vegetables.

The "recipe" you'll see below is for some very simple lacto-fermenting. In future posts I'll go into more examples of spices and herbs you can add. I also just made a fermented salsa and I'll share that recipe in the next day or two.


What You'll Need: for 4 pints of sliced vegetables
     • The vegetable(s) of your choice,
        sliced and enough to fill 4 mason
        jars. I did zucchini, carrots,
        cucumbers and green beans.
     • 4 cups filtered water
     • 8 tsp. salt
     • 4 tbsp. whey
     • 8 cloves of garlic, smashed
     • Fresh sprigs of dill
     • 4 mason jars with lids

Getting Started:
1. Fill each jar with vegetables, 1-2 cloves of smashed garlic and 1-2 sprigs of dill. (I actually only added dill to the zucchini and cucumber jars.) Have them sliced short
enough that you have about 1" of space below the rim of the jar. Pack them good or they'll float when you pour your liquid on them.

2. Mix together your water, salt and whey in a small bowl or pitcher until salt has fully dissolved. Then fill each jar, just until your vegetables are covered. Alternatively, you could fill the jars with water until veggies are covered and then add 2 tsp. of salt ad 1 tbsp. of whey.

3. Cover jars tightly and then place on counter (preferably in a room around 70º) out of direct sunlight for 3 days.


4. Place lacto-fermented vegetables into fridge for long term storage or in a root cellar, if you had one!


Enjoy this great food, but don't overdo it. These are better if treated like a condiment.

Mayonnaise from Scratch

Mayonnaise seems to be one of those things people either love or hate. Well in my house, it's a must-have condiment. My son will eat just about any food if you give him some mayo and ketchup to dip it in. For as often as we use it, it only makes natural sense to make it myself, especially when you look at the ingredient list on most store bought brands. For instance, did you know MSG is often put under the label "natural flavor" on commercial food ingredient lists. Try and find a mayonnaise that doesn't include natural flavors or for that matter uses an oil that is actually healthy for you. The health food store and co-ops tend to have better options for mayonnaise than the regular store, however personally I haven't found a "healthy" mayonnaise at the store that I like.

Mayonnaise is essentially the oil of your choice and eggs whipped together. Food for thought – your condiments can actually add extra nutrition to your food, so choose wisely when selecting the type of oil you want to use. We all know that not all oils are the same nutritionally, however did you know that some oils can be quite harmful to our bodies?

For the mayonnaise recipe that is included in Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon uses olive oil or expeller pressed sunflower oil. "Olive Oil contains 75 percent oleic acid, the stable monounsaturated fat, along with 12 percent saturated fat, 10 percent omega-6 linoleic acid and 2 percent omega-3 linolenic acid. The high percentage of oleic acid makes olive oil ideal for salads and for cooking at moderate temperatures. Extra virgin olive oil is also rich in antioxidants. It should be cloudy, indicating that is has been filtered, and have a golden yellow color, indicating that it is made from fully ripened olives. Olive oil has withstood the test of time; it is the safest vegetable oil you can use, but don't overdo. The longer-chain fatty acids found in olive oil are more likely to contribute to the buildup of body fat than the short- and medium-chain fatty acids found in butter and coconut oil."

One ingredient that's not standard in mayonnaise, but you'll see it below is whey. I had never thought of adding whey to my mayo, until seeing the recipe in Nourishing Traditions. "Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase, to sandwiches, tuna salad, chicken salads and many other dishes and is very easy to make in a food processor. The addition of whey will help your mayonnaise last longer, adds enzymes and increases nutrient content." When you use whey in your mayonnaise, you leave the mayonnaise out on the counter for 7 hours before refrigerating it. I know what you are thinking, and no, you won't get sick when you do this. :-) I know it's always strange to think about leaving raw ingredients like eggs out on the counter for any length of time. I can tell you I've done this quite a few times now and we haven't gotten sick yet! When you add whey to your mayonnaise it will lengthen the time it will last before going bad from a week or two to several months in the fridge.





What You'll Need: Makes about 1 1/2 cups

• 2 whole eggs or just the egg yolks at room temperature
• 1/2 Tsp. mustard powder or 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared Dijon mustard
• 1-1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice or white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. whey - optional
• 3/4 - 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 Tsp. of salt and more to taste if needed

Note: You can be rather flexible with all the ingredients. The more oil you add the thicker the mayonnaise will be. If you would rather stay away from raw egg whites, omit them and just use the yolks.



Getting Started

 1. In your food processor blend together the egg, mustard, lemon juice or vinegar, whey and salt.
Process for about 30 seconds.






2. With the food processor running add your oil in the thinnest stream possible or a drop at a time. This takes some patience, but the slower you add the oil the thicker and nicer the end consistency will be.


3. Place your mayonnaise in a jar and refrigerate for 1-2 weeks. If you used the whey, leave the jar of mayonnaise on your counter for seven hours before placing in the refrigerator. It will last for 1-2 months.

Enjoy!

Sauerkraut - A Delicious Addition to Your Meals

Why a sauerkraut recipe? Easy – it's extremely good for you and goes so well with a variety of dishes, especially sandwiches! Plus, since this is a new blog, I think it's important to start with the basics. Eating a natural, homemade diet is new to most and can be difficult to transition into, especially if processed foods make up the main part of your diet. Sauerkraut is extremely easy to make, costs little and can be stored for extended periods (months) in the fridge. When I started using "traditional" and "slow" cooking methods several years ago, this was one of the first foods I tried making. It was a bit daunting at first because I wasn't comfortable leaving a food item on my kitchen counter to ferment. I was worried I was going to make myself sick. I was used to having everything overly-sanitized, refrigerated, etc. This was as foreign to me as picking up a new language. Let's see, it's probably been three years and I've yet to make myself sick. Actually the only time I've had food poisoning was from processed restaurant food. Plus, my health and energy are night and day to what they were several years ago!

For a little more info, homemade sauerkraut is a lacto-fermented food. Note that I wrote homemade. The store bought stuff that comes in a can or a jar and isn't refrigerated, is basically a dead product. The only reason to purchase this is for the flavor. From my understanding it does little-to-nothing for your health. When sauerkraut is heated to can and pasteurize it, the lactic-acid-producing bacteria is destroyed, thus getting rid of it's beneficial effects on our digestive system. Sad. Just one more reason why you should stay away from the center isles (aka processed food areas) of your grocery store. I think it was my mom who told me to only shop on the outside isles of the grocery store (this goes for co-ops too) since that's where all the fresh, real food exists. Everything else should be ignored! Hard, I know – but still a good rule to try to follow at least some of the time.

Having a healthy digestive system is essential to maintaining a healthy body and lacto-fermented foods are one way to encourage this.

"Scientists and doctors today are mystified by the proliferation of new viruses--not only the deadly AIDS virus but the whole gamut of human viruses that seem to be associated with everything from chronic fatigue to cancer and arthritis. They are equally mystified by recent increases in the incidence of intestinal parasites and pathogenic yeasts, even among those whose sanitary practices are faultless. Could it be that in abandoning the ancient practice of lacto-fermentation and in our insistence on a diet in which everything has been pasteurized, we have compromised the health of our intestinal flora and made ourselves vulnerable to legions of pathogenic microorganisms? If so, the cure for these diseases will be found not in vaccinations, drugs or antibiotics but in a restored partnership with the many varieties of lactobacilli, our symbionts of the microscopic world." - Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats

If you aren't accustomed to eating sauerkraut, one way I suggest using it is on a breakfast sandwich. My husband lives on these. He makes one every morning before work, wraps it in a paper towel and then eats it at his desk while he goes over his morning emails. He has made more then one co-worker a bit jealous of his breakfast! It's easy to make, lightly toast some bread and spread a little mayonnaise and if you want, hot sauce on it. In a pan, fry 1-2 eggs (break the yokes so you don't have a mess when you eat) and cook any meat that might sound good, like a slice or two of ham or bacon. Place on bread, along with a decent helping of sauerkraut that has been drained of it's liquid.

There are of course tons of ways to eat it and you don't have to eat a lot, a couple tablespoons at each meal will do wonders for your digestive system. Think of it like eating a pickle with your meal!

Note: This recipe is from Nourishing Tradition by Sally Fallon

What You'll Need

• 1 medium head of cabbage, washed and exterior leaves removed
• 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons of whey or an additional 1 tablespoon of salt
  
  
• Sharp knife and cutting board
  
• Large mixing bowl
• Meat tenderizer or wooden pounder
• Quart size or larger wide-mouth mason jar

Getting Started

Slice your cabbage in half and remove the core. Slice the cabbage finely and then dump into a mixing bowl. Add your caraway seeds, salt and whey and mix together.



Next, using your meat tenderizer or wooden pounder, start pounding the cabbage mixture until the juices release. This takes approximately 10 minutes. I purchased a meat tenderizer at Target for less then $10 and it works great. I also use a metal bowl instead of a glass/ceramic one to make sure I don't accidentally break the bowl when pounding the cabbage.



Spoon the cabbage mixture into your mason jar and press down firmly with your meat tenderizer/wooden pounder until the juices come to the top of the cabbage. Make sure there is at least one inch of clearance room between the top of the jar and the top of the cabbage.

Cover your jar tightly and place on your counter and let sit for 3 days. One thing I've found is during the winter my house is much colder and the fermentation process takes a bit longer, so I leave the sauerkraut on my counter for 4 days.


After the 3 days are up, put sauerkraut in the refrigerator for storage and enjoy as often as you can! It should keep for several months or longer in the fridge. It will improve in flavor as it ages.