More Ferments and Yet More

After my first couple of experiments with fermenting foods, both as a means of preservation and (more importantly) a source of myriad probiotics, I decided to take the plunge and try fermenting some other things. Those first two experiments, namely my Apple Sauerkraut and Piccalilli, made me rethink flavors, as my taste buds were treated to such completely new and different tastes as I was hard-put to describe. It was truly tasting something for the first time; there was no point of reference.

Rhubarb Fig Chutney, Pink Onion Relish, Strawberry Spritzer, Salsa Verde, Hot Pepper Salsa

I am now heartily on the bandwagon in favor of lacto-fermentation. My first introduction to this type of preservation (one of the most ancient, and safer than home canning) was by way of The Art of Fermentation, by Sandor Ellix Katz. I am very glad I read his take on things first, as I am heartily in agreement with the idea that we live in a world of hand-sanitizing, so caught up in the war against bacteria, germs and viruses, we have become a culture that succumbs far too easily to any allergy and auto-immune disease, not to mention all other diseases. Our immune systems are meant to be strengthened. Ours have become so lax, they don't quite know how to handle anything that comes along. And all of this strengthening begins in the gut. I read an article in yesterday (site no longer available) that also stated these thoughts, much more coherently:

"What we do know for sure is that our Western fixation on sanitation may have some disadvantages. Inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s and colitis), asthma, and autoimmune disorders are far more common in ultra-sanitized nations. There is one hypothesis–the “hygiene hypothesis”–that suggests that less childhood exposure to bacteria and parasites in the US and Europe may actually interfere with immune development. Because of antibiotics, antibacterial products, and overall hygiene, we don’t have as much interaction with the bacterial species that may help to keep our guts balanced. Of course, this isn’t the only reason that Western nations display more signs of dysbiosis (imbalanced gut flora): medications, artificial foods, diets high in refined sugar and saturated fats, stress, constipation, and deficient dietary fiber are also associated with the condition."

Understand, mine are not claims backed up by personal research, beyond Katz's book and many internet sites, and when searching you are just as apt to find dissenters, or fear-mongers as those who are pro-fermenting. To be fair, most are not against fermenting foods, per-se, but just that they feel everything has to be absolutely sanitized, using only certain types of jars or crocks, due to one thing or other, where Katz has a more laid back attitude. I am in agreement completely with the fact that things should be clean. That is my first rule in the kitchen, when cooking anything at all. Cleanliness is great. Absolutely sterile conditions (according to The Art of Fermentation) can inhibit the ability of the food to ferment properly. And, while I like cleanliness, I am not a slave to it.

Hot Pepper Salsa  Left: Salsa just packed in jar; Right: after 2 days, active bubbling      

I apologize if I get carried away, My new hobby has got me firmly in its grip! Long and short is, I changed two things (well, maybe three) in the last month. I have not been eating almost any bread or desserts (or sugar, beyond a teaspoon of honey once or twice a week) beyond incidentally here and there, and I introduced my sauerkraut and piccalilli into my diet daily. Since then, I have lost seven pounds. I had already been trying to eat more healthily and eliminate sugars as much as possible, due to very high blood glucose numbers. I finally had to break down and go to a doctor to get back on meds. I hate the very idea of being dependent on meds for anything, so this was a huge concession. 

I fully intended, even before heading to the doctor, to make some radical changes in my diet. Knowing what one must do, and actually DOING it are two radically opposing thought processes. Now that I have started, I am more than pleased with the results. But, eating either sauerkraut or picalilli daily, no matter how delicious, gets old. I wanted some new flavors. So, I got busy over the past week and now have fermenting on my counter a Hot Pepper Salsa, a Pink Onion Relish, Salsa Verde and a Serbian Pepper and Eggplant Salsa called "Ajvar". I bought 2pints of jalapenos yesterday at the Farmers' Market and will ferment those also. I was amazed at how very active my Hot Pepper Salsa was after only 2 days! I used  8 different kinds of peppers, from hot to absolutely mild in the mixture. I am calling it Hot Pepper Salsa because it has hot peppers in it, versus the Ajvar, with only sweet red bell peppers. Here is my recipe:

Fermented Hot Pepper Salsa

Makes about 1½ quarts

Prepping the salsa

1 pound Rustico sweet red peppers (3 cups, chopped)
8 ounces Red onion (1½ cups, chopped)
8 ounces Fresno chilies (1½ cups, chopped)
8 ounces Jalapeno chilies (1½ cups, chopped)
8 ounce red bell pepper (1½ cups, chopped)
5 ounces Poblano chili (1 cup, chopped)
3.6 ounces banana peppers (½ cup, chopped)
3.5 ounces Anaheim chili (½ cup, chopped)
4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 large bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
0.46 ounce coarse sea salt (about one tablespoon; weigh rather then measure)
¼ cup whey (drained from yogurt)
juice of one juicy lime, about 2 tablespoons
2 dried chipotle chilies, whole
1 cabbage leaf to cover the veg in the jar

Weigh the vegetables once already cleaned, stems and seeds removed where desired. I chopped all the peppers and veg by hand, as I wanted to retain the shape and keep everything uniform. The ingredients may be chopped in a food processor or blend smooth if preferred. If blending smooth, it is far more difficult to ferment without the possibility of mold forming. I plan to blend some of this ferment once it is done. For now, I can keep the veg submerged in its brine far more easily this way.
Combine all the prepared vegetables (except the chipotles and the cabbage leaf) in a bowl and stir in the salt, whey and lime juice. Stir well to distribute the salt and allow the vegetables to begin creating their juices, about 10 or 15 minutes. If opposed to whey (which acts as a starter to get fermentation kick-started), there are vegetable starters available, or you may add more salt, or if you have already fermented sauerkraut, use some of that fermented brine with already active bacteria.

Pack the vegetables and any accumulated juices in two clean quart jars, or one larger jar (I used a 50.75 ounce Fido jar). Allow plenty of headroom (minimum 3-inches!), as this ferment makes a LOT of juice. Insert the whole chipotle peppers into the jar(s). Press down firmly to compact the vegetables and press out more juice. The goal is for the juice to completely cover the vegetables. Top with a cabbage leaf, tucking it firmly around the edges of the food to keep it contained and under the brine. Place a weight on top of the cabbage leaf, to help keep the vegetables submerged. They will float upwards after a day or two, but must remain submerged. 

If you have the Fido jar lid with a hole drilled, the grommets and an airlock valve, this is ideal. This ferment is very active, even after only 2 days and will release large amounts of carbon dioxide. IF you have only regular lids, ensure that no metal is exposed to the food or the brine and be sure to loosen the seal daily to allow gases to escape. 

Ferment the salsa for 2 to 10 days, as desired. Taste to determine when is best for you. After your determined time, refrigerate the salsa, but (according to Katz) try not to taste for 3 months at least, and better still, 6 months, for the absolute best flavor.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Making Picalilli by Lacto Fermentation

My Sauerkraut with Apples, Caraway and Dill

A couple of days ago I wrote about the adventure of putting together my first-ever batch of home fermented sauerkraut. Not "pickled" as in vinegar and heat processing, but true ferment, allowing the salted cabbage to ferment on its own, on the counter. If it was cold, this process could have taken a long time; 6 months or so. As it is, with temps in the 80s and 90s here, even air conditioning will not keep the house cool enough to ferment anything for that long. It is supposed to yield a far tastier end product when fermenting in a very cool time. For now, I am happy with the results of my first experiment. 

I keep mentioning that I got the book The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix

Katz. I was hooked from the beginning - from the intro or forward! I am not remotely being paid to say this. I became interested in the idea of fermenting foods, though I knew nothing about it, when perusing Amazon for something else. I got interested, searched through myriad books on the subject, read a zillion commentaries and finally settled on ordering this book as possibly the one I would like most as a start. In that, I was absolutely correct. This book was my own discovery, and one I am completely taken with at the moment. It is highly recommended - by me!

The very following day, I headed to the grocery store and came back with a cauliflower. I like cauliflower, most particularly in the Guatemalan style or with Indian Green Masala slathered on pieces and grilled. However, at this point in time, the fermenting bug had bitten, and I am well-hooked. I cast around looking for what to combine with what for tasty ideas. And somehow, totally out of the blue, the word "piccalilli" popped into my mind.
 

So what the heck is Picalilli?

I had only the very vaguest idea of what picalilli was that day. I had no real idea of what went into it, how it was made or what it might taste like. Still, to find out, I went online. Searching high and low, I came up with an idea that in the broadest sense, the British may have come up with this as something mimicking Indian "pickle". I won't even bother going into what an Indian Pickle might be in this blog, but suffice to say that in just about every recipe I found for piccalilli, cauliflower was prominent. After that, the additions seem to be completely at whim. Some of the vegetables I saw added into piccalilli are broccoli, carrots, green beans, onions, garlic, cucumbers, cabbage, bell peppers and the list probably continues, but you get the idea. 

My Fermented Piccalilli

Flavorings for piccalilli are almost always mustard powder and/or mustard seeds and turmeric. After that, again, additions can be diverse. Traditionally, piccalilli is cooked, and has flour added to thicken it into something like a corn relish or other thickened relishes. Some piccalilli is made very finely chopped in order to spread onto sandwiches, while others are made in larger chunks to eat alongside something. Either way, it is a condiment.

My idea to make piccalilli raw and fermented was just a whim, one of those light-bulb moments. I decided to try it out. Some things I wanted to do:

1. chop the vegetables finely
2. add in coriander seeds
3. add a tiny amount of honey (honey will kill off the newly forming bacteria if used in any quantity)
4. add in some fresh ginger
5. add some fresh jalapeno

Since it would not be a cooked and thickened condiment, I figured I would try chopping very small so it could still be added onto a sandwich (maybe with some mayo to kind of hold it in place). I like the flavor of coriander seed, and it is common in Indian dishes, so I wanted that flavor. I love fresh ginger, so while that may not be common, I felt it would add something. The jalapeno was a whim, since I had exactly one in the fridge that needed using. Honey - I didn't want the mixture sweet. I have been having difficulties with my blood sugar numbers so I am avoiding sugars lately. My last dessert post (something featuring using sugar) was on May 31st, with a Rustic Rhubarb and Apricot Tart. I still crave sugar, but am avoiding for now. Considering the amount of vegetables I chopped for my piccalilli, I used about 1 tablespoon of honey. This was partly as a sort of starter, though I did want just that tiny touch of sweet.

Picalilli and sliced tomatoes for lunch

After putting the whole batch of vegetables into a large jar and covered it with brine, I sat back and wondered if I would even like this - and if not, I was going to have a whole lot of something I didn't care for that I would have to eat. The fact that it contains both cauliflower and broccoli makes it absolutely and totally taboo for my husband. He is very firm in avoiding anything he thinks he won't like. As for me, I love cauliflower and broccoli and pretty much any and all cruciferous vegetables. The broccoli and cauliflower though need to be cooked, howsoever little! My digestion seems not to tolerate them raw. So once again here, I was really going on a limb in making this mixture. 

As it comes out, when I tasted it for the first time a few days ago, I was completely enchanted with the flavor combination. It did not taste of raw broccoli or cauliflower. I couldn't exactly say what it did taste like - again, as I have absolutely nothing to compare with, having never tasted fermented vegetables such as this, and never having tried piccalilli! It turns out my experiment was a total success. The one jalapeno, with seeds left in, was enough to give the whole batch just a little bit of heat, completely tolerable and totally enjoyable. More could be added, of course. For me this is perfect, though I could tolerate more heat. Here is what I did:

Lacto-Fermented Piccalilli

All vegetables, well pounded

Makes about 1¾ quarts

1/2 cauliflower, cut in very small bits
1 head of broccoli, cut in very small bits
2 carrots, crated
1 onion, chopped small
1 fresh apple, chopped or grated
1 handful of green beans, cut small
1 chunk fresh ginger, minced
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced, seeds left in
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds

BRINE:
1 quart filtered water
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup whey (drained from yogurt)

2 types of meat pounders

Make the Brine: Combine the filtered water and salt with the honey and whey. The whey is not 100% necessary, but as it is a living culture, does help with jump-starting the fermentation. Stir until all the honey and salt are dissolved. You will likely not need all of this brine, but better to have enough.

Assemble all the chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Add in the turmeric, mustard seeds and coriander seeds. Squeeze the vegetable mixture repeatedly with hands or use a meat pounder or wooden mallet of some kind (piece of wood, round-ended rolling pin, etc). You should end up with about 2/3 to 1/2 the original volume of the vegetable mixture, once well pounded. This breaks down cell walls in the vegetables and allows the salty brine to penetrate more easily. 

Pack the vegetable mixture tightly into a large glass jar or a crock that will accommodate the vegetables, plus about 1 inch of brine to cover, plus a weight of some king to keep the vegetables submerged. Optimally, a container that will hold at least 3 quarts, so as to accommodate all this, plus a rise in liquid level as the vegetables release their own liquid, and then fermentation, that could cause bubbling up, and/or over the container, causing spillage. 

Pour the brine over the vegetables to cover by at least 1/2 inch or so. If you have a cabbage handy, use 1 or two outer leaves to cover the top of the vegetables, then set a weight on top. This can be a plate, with something heavy set on top to keep the vegetables down, or it could be glass weights (Crock rocks) found where lacto-fermentation equipment is sold, such as from Amazon. In smaller jars, I used the small glass stones often used for flower arranging (well washed), and tied them into a piece of clean hosiery as a weight. All equipment should be scrupulously clean, but not necessarily sterile.

How warm it is in the place where your piccalilli will ferment, will determine how long it will take to ferment. If it is quite cool, as in a basement at 55 to 60 degrees, it could be many weeks (or months) before fermentation becomes active. If it is quite warm, such as my kitchen at high 70 degrees, it will take only days. I left my piccalilli to ferment for about 12 days. I love the flavor at this point. During winter, I will try this in the basement and allow a much slower ferment to take place. Once it tastes good to you, it is ready. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Learning About and Trying Out Fermented Foods

I keep mentioning my current interest in fermenting foods. I still haven't gotten around to actually posting "recipes" (in quotes, because everything is so moveable and scalable), though today I am planning to do exactly that. 

Tasting My Fermented Sauerkraut after 13 days

In my blog post of June 18th, I posted my thoughts and feelings on this subject. Listing some of the many, many benefits of fermenting foods, I hope to help others to get interested in this way of life. Every thing that is eaten does not have to be fermented. Especially at the beginning of the process of trying out fermented foods, the sudden influx of myriad "good bacteria" or pro-biotics introduced into the system will certainly cause at least some die-off of the bad bacteria and yeasts that have been in residency. This is a good thing, having the good bacteria on your side to "clean house," but at the beginning it can cause some pretty significant die-off symptoms. You might think you've caught some virulent strain of the flu! Some die-off symptoms can be in the list here. You may experience some, all, or none of these, depending on the state of your gut at the start.

Top, just packed in jar; bottom, after 5 days

Some symptoms possible through Die-Off

• nausea
• headache
• fatigue
• dizziness
• bloating, gas, constipation or diarrhea
• aching joints or muscles
• elevated heart rate
• chills
• itching, hives or rash
• sweating
• low grade fever
• skin breakouts

The term "die-off" is bandied about too often these days, but any time a significant amount of good bacteria is added into the body, as the bad bacteria are killed off, what happens is the dead bacteria release toxins into the system. These must be excreted by the body somehow. The toxins  floating around the system and being processed out are the problem. You could feel very ill, or hardly at all. My husband and I had only one significant day of symptoms such as headache, gas and diarrhea. We do take commercial probiotics on a daily basis, so with this new influx of pro-biotics (in addition to our already daily regimen) I can see that even with a constant supply in the system, the sheer amount of strains of good bacilli introduced with fermented foods can still kill off more of the bad bacteria. 

This is not a warning to avoid fermented foods! On the contrary!

After 13 days, noticeably soured: Note active bubbling

We all eat fermented foods all the time. Yogurt, Kombucha, sourdough bread, cheese, kimchi, vinegar, and air-cured sausages are but a few. The problem is that many of these products are then commercially produced and heat treated. Commercial canned or processed sauerkraut is not a fermented food (even if it was originally). And even if one takes the time to ferment the food, once it is placed into a jar and heat processed, it may have wonderful flavor, but the heat processing will have killed off every living culture that could have been beneficial. It is a wonderful thing to start making your own fermented foods and see what all the raves are about.

Fermenting of foods is generally a slow process. This is not instant gratification. It is returning to a slower kind of life. But it is oh-so-worth-it. My sauerkraut is now about 2 weeks into its process and is actively bubbling. While I have twice tasted and love what I'm tasting, I am allowing more time to pass to see how much better or different it becomes.  This is what I did:

My Fermented Sauerkraut

Makes about 1 - 1 1/2 quarts
Serving size: 1 - 2 tablespoons, until accustomed

1 medium head cabbage
4 cups dehydrated apple slices, briefly soaked to soften
1 tablespoon (approximate) sea salt
1 tablespoon dried dill weed (more if fresh)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, whole
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 - 2 outer cleaned cabbage leaves, left whole

Thinly slice the cabbage by hand or shred on a shredder or food processor equipped with the shredding blade. Layer the cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkling salt over each layer as it is added in. Add in the apples, squeezed of excess water, and the seasonings, continuing to salt each layer as it is added. Once all the ingredients are added, they should be broken down. The cell walls of the cabbage must be broken so the salt can penetrate and begin fermentation. This can be accomplished by using your hands to squeeze, squeeze, repeatedly, or using a meat pounder, a clean piece of wood, or whatever comes to hand. You should end up with about half, by volume, what you started with.

Place the resultant mixture into clean jars or a crock. Do not use plastic or metal containers. Press it down firmly in the container. Place the outer cabbage leaves onto the surface and weigh the mixture down with a plate with a weight on top, or another water or brine--filled jar inserted into the container to make pressure. There are commercial products such as glass disks that can be used to weight the mixture. As a last resort, some clean rocks (soaked in dilute bleach and thoroughly washed and rinsed - do not use limestone or it will dissolve) can be used to created the weight. The cabbage mixture should be completely submerged by its own liquid by the following day. If it is not, make a brine of:

2 cups filtered water
1 tablespoon sea salt

Stir these ingredients well to completely dissolve and then pour the brine over the cabbage mixture until completely submerged, by up to an inch. Cover the container in some way that will prevent flies or other unwanted debris from entering the container. If using canning jars, a piece of cloth held in place by the ring will work. A piece of cloth held on by a rubber band will also work as will a paper coffee filter. If covering with an airtight lid of some kind, be aware that the carbon dioxide buildup in the jar as fermentation proceeds can burst your jar or container. Do not use a metal lid that could come in contact with the fermenting food.

At this point, depending on the amount of overall salt used (more salt will slow fermentation; less salt allows faster fermentation) and the ambient temperature where your containers will reside (cooler temperatures mean slower fermentation; warmer temperatures will speed fermentation), the fermenting could take as little as 10 days or more than 6 months. Taste as you go, to see where in the process it suits you best for flavor. With these parameters in mind it may be best to use more salt in the warmer summer temperatures and less salt during cooler winter months.

Once the sauerkraut is fermented to your liking, pack it in clean jars and store in the refrigerator.

This is completely a combination of my choosing. Simply cabbage and salt is enough to make sauerkraut. Other possibly additions:

• red cabbage
• carrots
• radishes
• onion
• rutabaga
• fresh cranberries
• beets (to make a lovely pink kraut)
• fresh ginger
• juniper berries
• dried chiles
• cumin

The list is only limited by your taste and imagination. After 10 days, it already tastes remarkable; unlike anything I have tried; certainly unlike any sauerkraut I have tried! Tomorrow I will post my Fermented Picalilli recipe. This is completely my own creation, based on ingredients usually cooked and processed. I had no expectations, and some trepidations over the ingredients, but I was determined to give it a fair chance. I tasted the mixture after about 9 days and was both shocked and amazed at the fantastic flavors. I was concerned because my system does not well tolerate raw broccoli or cauliflower. I can and do eat them both cooked, even only briefly. Raw - not so much. This mixture is raw, yet caused no undue distress; on the contrary, though I cannot describe how this relish tastes, having never tried anything like it, it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

An Interest in Fermented Foods and Health

The views expressed here in this blog are my own. I have copied some views from elsewhere that express my ideas and beliefs, but they are my own views, nonetheless. I am no medical authority, but just a normal person interested in going back to healthier ways of eating and living.

My interests have diversified lately. I bought the book "The Art of Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz. I took a couple of days of reading at the beginning of the book, and then flipping around and just checking out what all types of things can be fermented. Turns out, almost anything can be fermented. This quote, taken from the Weston A. Price Foundation website, and copied there from Nourishing Traditions: the Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, by Sally Fallon with Mary Enig, PhD, copyright 1999, explains:

"The fermentation process is accomplished by lacto-fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic acid bacteria. These lactobacilli are ubiquitous, present on the surface of all living things and especially numerous on leaves and roots of plants growing in or near the ground. Man needs only to learn the techniques for controlling and encouraging their proliferation to put them to his own use, just as he has learned to put certain yeasts to use in converting the sugars in grape juice to alcohol in wine."

After taking time to read a lot of the new book, I am convinced that here is one very good example of why the American diet in particular is so poor; why there is such rampant obesity; why there is so much succumbing to auto-immune disorders, so many allergies, so much wrong in our gut. While some of these views I am expressing are also expressed in one book, website or other, they are also my own feelings on the subject. Thoroughly hopping onto my own little bandwagon here, I think that in a society where healthy fruits and vegetables are so very expensive, yet over processed foods, filled with every health-threatening additive (yet tasting so good!) are very inexpensive, this explains a large portion of our dietary and health problems. If one cannot afford to buy the fruits and vegetables, then settling for the processed foods that are cheap, high in empty carbs and sugars regardless of the threat to overall health, is the only alternative. And rampant health issues abound. 

Having dealt with yeast/candida issues pretty much all my adult life, I am very conversant with the effects of too much bad yeast in the gut. How does one get an overgrowth of candida in the gut? Well:

1. Eating a diet in highly refined carbohydrates and sugar
2. Consuming too much alcohol
3. Oral contraceptives
4. Antibiotics
5. Chloride and fluoride in your water

Sound familiar? These are only some of the things, but since the advent of antibiotics, the upswing in candida has soared. Coincidence? Probably not. So, enough of my little rant. The thing is, reading The Art of Fermentation is opening my eyes to how the preserving of food was once done, before refrigeration and the advent of processed canning of foods. Our ancestors, people all over the world, have been preserving foods through fermentation since farthest antiquity. In most cases, all that is needed is salt and water. In some cases a little help must be provided, as in the case of things like yogurt and kefir (among other things), where a culture of some kind is required.

Sauerkraut ferment: Day 1, top; Day 5, below

One of the easiest things to ferment is cabbage, making it into sauerkraut. All that is needed is a glass or ceramic container, shredded cabbage and salt. In most cases not even water is required, as the cabbage is squeezed or pounded and with salt, creates its own liquid. Other things may be added to the cabbage for flavor variation, but in its simplest form, that is all that is required. It will need to ferment for a period of time; how long a time will depend on the amount of salt used (more will slow fermentation) and the ambient temperature. Lower temperatures, such as in basements, or indoors during winter time, will slow fermentation to the degree that it can take more than 6 months. Higher ambient temperatures and it can ferment far more quickly, as quickly as 2 weeks. The longer and slower the fermentation, the better the flavor, but that should not stop anyone from giving this a try. It has been slightly over 70 degrees in my kitchen since beginning my sauerkraut ferment 8 days ago. I tasted the sauerkraut last evening, even though it is not nearly fully soured, but I can truly say I have never tasted sauerkraut that tasted so good. I will post the tasty "recipe" I put together soon.

You may say that you like sauerkraut and eat it all the time. Yes, but. . . is it from a can? Has it been heat processed? Unless the sauerkraut has been raw-fermented, and without being heat treated for stability, killing off all the good, beneficial bacteria, then you are missing out, both on flavor and nutritional and health benefits. Some of the benefits of raw, fermented sauerkraut:

• High levels of glucosinolates, shown to produce anti cancer activity. Not a cancer cure, but certainly worthwhile to have in the diet.
• Natural probiotic bacteria. Naturally fermented sauerkraut contains no vinegar; lacto-fermentation gives it the characteristic sour flavor.  Its raw state means live, active cultures.
• Healthy bowel flora: fermented sauerkraut helps cleanse the bowel, adding in helpful lacto bacteria; aiding in whole body health
• High sulfur content in the cabbage is invaluable in skin cleansing, from the inside out. Think acne!
• Fermented sauerkraut juice is a strong stimulant for the body to produce acid, helpful in Acid Reflux, where contrary to what it sounds like, means there is insufficient acid to digest foods.
• Sheer diversity of probiotics in fermented foods offer a fighting chance against the bad yeasts in the gut.
• Fermented foods are potent detoxifiers, helping out in such things as obesity, mood, diabetes, heart health, acne and many other things.

Just as a quick experiment, I made some "Dilly Beans". These raw green beans are fermented only a few short days in a brine with dill weed and seed before they are ready to eat. I ate one, single green bean from the jar after only 3 days. Let me say here, that introducing a goodly dose of healthy and active probiotics into the gut has some very interesting and explosive repercussions! Eat only a small amount of any fermented food at first, to allow the system to become accustomed to getting healthy!


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.