Fermented Foods

SweetP27
SweetP27 Posts: 218 Member
edited December 19 in Food and Nutrition
I've heard that fermented foods are really good for your gut but other than sour kraut I don't know what else to try. I like sour kraut but there are surely other foods that would be good as well. ??
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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I know nothing about fermented foods and gut health, but I enjoy kimchi a lot. Kombucha is something that some people like -- I hate it, but it might be worth a try if you want to try some more fermented foods.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Beer, bread, wine, cheese, yogurt, kefir, sour cream, chocolate, tofu, pickled cucumber, pickled fish, fish sauce, soy sauce, kimchi.
  • tmoneyag99
    tmoneyag99 Posts: 480 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I know nothing about fermented foods and gut health, but I enjoy kimchi a lot. Kombucha is something that some people like -- I hate it, but it might be worth a try if you want to try some more fermented foods.

    Kombucha tastes like vinegar to me. I'd rather just take a shot of apple cider and be done with it.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    tmoneyag99 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I know nothing about fermented foods and gut health, but I enjoy kimchi a lot. Kombucha is something that some people like -- I hate it, but it might be worth a try if you want to try some more fermented foods.

    Kombucha tastes like vinegar to me. I'd rather just take a shot of apple cider and be done with it.

    Yeah, I've tried a few different kinds and most made me gag. One was okay, but not something that I would pay $3.50 a bottle for.
  • kzooyogi
    kzooyogi Posts: 121 Member
    I love kombucha! Synergy's Cosmic Cranberry and Trilogy flavors are my favorite. I don't think they're vinegar-y at all. They're slightly acidic, but the more you drink it, the less you start to notice it.
  • Aw0627
    Aw0627 Posts: 82 Member
    Yes I heard and read about this too, Like @janejellyroll mentioned Kimichi which is a fermented Korean cabbage, is really good there's also radish kimchi and cucumber Kimchi which is really good as well and good for you as long as it not too salty
  • MzManiak
    MzManiak Posts: 1,361 Member
    pineapple rinds :wink:
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    Kimchi is divine. And easy to make, it's just the waiting that gets you.

    I'm currently trying some kefir grains that I got recently, and have made my own 'country' wine (no added yeasts) that so far I am to terrified to try. Sourdough breads are fantastic too.

    Sandor Ellis Katz book 'wild fermentation' or his website of the same name is a good source. He has AIDS, and uses fermented foods to help heal himself. The theory is that fermented foods are 'pre-digested' or 'cooked' and so easier for the stomach to absorb nutrients. This has some sort in Chinese medicine too, where foods are usually preferred warm than cold( ie raw)

    Easiest foods to start with are yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi.
  • SweetP27
    SweetP27 Posts: 218 Member
    I've never tried kimchi. Can you buy it in the store? Would it be better to go to a Korean restaurant to try it?
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    edited October 2016
    SweetP27 wrote: »
    I've never tried kimchi. Can you buy it in the store? Would it be better to go to a Korean restaurant to try it?

    My local Walmarts carry King's brand. I used to eat it every morning with scrambled eggs. A word of advice: heed the warning on the jar and open it over the sink. Those gasses are going to make the liquid spew a bit.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    SweetP27 wrote: »
    I've never tried kimchi. Can you buy it in the store? Would it be better to go to a Korean restaurant to try it?

    I have seen it at Asian markets, Whole Foods, and the Farmer's Market. I haven't been to a Korean restaurant, so I'm not sure if they will have it there or not (I assume so, just not sure).
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    SweetP27 wrote: »
    I've never tried kimchi. Can you buy it in the store? Would it be better to go to a Korean restaurant to try it?

    I have seen it at Asian markets, Whole Foods, and the Farmer's Market. I haven't been to a Korean restaurant, so I'm not sure if they will have it there or not (I assume so, just not sure).

    If you go to a Korean restaurant and they don't have Kimchi, leave. It's probably a front for the mafia. Seriously, it's often given as a "free" side item with everything.
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    my fav is beer. of all fermented things...beer.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    Kimchi is so easy, and so good!

    I just put up a big batch of escabeche - jalapenos, carrots, onions and garlic. A lot of mexican restaurants serve it as a relish/side with platters, and I bought a jar from the hippies at the farmers market and my kids loved it, so I figured I'd try it myself. So far, so good - its bubbling away on my kitchen shelf!
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    I love fermented foods. Dill pickles, kimchi, sourdough, beer, sauerkraut. Yum! I have heard eating them too much is linked to cancer though.
  • beadgalsarita
    beadgalsarita Posts: 47 Member
    kimchi can be a tricky proposition for a fermentation newbie. First of all can/do you eat fish or shellfish? Most all kimchi has some sort of seafood in there, often dried shrimp. It's also often spicy in addition to having the fermented flavor.

    So if you cannot have seafood or shellfish, be very careful around any Korean food, including the fermented items. Not all of them, but a lot of them will have seafood in there somewhere.

    If you don't like spicy foods, but you're interested in kimchi, try baek kimchi (translated to white kimchi). It's a non-spicy version and usually contains no seafood products. Most any korean grocery store should have it.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    edited October 2016
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    I love fermented foods. Dill pickles, kimchi, sourdough, beer, sauerkraut. Yum! I have heard eating them too much is linked to cancer though.

    I believe you are thinking of pickled foods, not fermented foods. I am not aware of any evidence linking cancer to consumption of fermented foods. There is a link between consumption of pickled foods and cancer.
  • beadgalsarita
    beadgalsarita Posts: 47 Member
    Gallowmere1984 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    SweetP27 wrote: »
    I've never tried kimchi. Can you buy it in the store? Would it be better to go to a Korean restaurant to try it?

    I have seen it at Asian markets, Whole Foods, and the Farmer's Market. I haven't been to a Korean restaurant, so I'm not sure if they will have it there or not (I assume so, just not sure).

    If you go to a Korean restaurant and they don't have Kimchi, leave. It's probably a front for the mafia. Seriously, it's often given as a "free" side item with everything.

    It's called banchan, which is a selection of side dishes that accompany any Korean meal. Probably one of my favorite features of Korean food.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banchan

    So if you eat at a Korean restaurant and they don't have banchan, then well, it's likely not really Korean food.
  • joeboland
    joeboland Posts: 205 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    I love fermented foods. Dill pickles, kimchi, sourdough, beer, sauerkraut. Yum! I have heard eating them too much is linked to cancer though.

    I believe you are thinking of pickled foods, not fermented foods. I am not aware of any evidence linking cancer to consumption of fermented foods. There is a link between consumption of pickled foods and cancer.

    There's a link between everything and cancer, depending on who you talk to.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    joeboland wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    I love fermented foods. Dill pickles, kimchi, sourdough, beer, sauerkraut. Yum! I have heard eating them too much is linked to cancer though.

    I believe you are thinking of pickled foods, not fermented foods. I am not aware of any evidence linking cancer to consumption of fermented foods. There is a link between consumption of pickled foods and cancer.

    There's a link between everything and cancer, depending on who you talk to.

    Oh, I agree -- I wasn't trying to discourage anyone from consuming pickled food (I eat a lot of it myself), I was just pointing out that there isn't any association (of which I'm aware) between fermented food and cancer.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Beer, bread, wine, cheese, yogurt, kefir, sour cream, chocolate, tofu, pickled cucumber, pickled fish, fish sauce, soy sauce, kimchi.

    Chocolate?
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    If you make it yourself you can leave out the seafood. I usually use some fish sauce because I'm not hot for working with dried shrimps.

    I generally work with a brine of known value rather than salting the veg and adding water. I make a brine, put the chopped veggies in it for 24 hours, pull them out, rinse and press extra liquid out, and then mix with flavorings and pack into clean wide-mouth mason jars. I've never had kimchi fail -- and I did have a disappointing sauerkraut incident last year.

  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
    Miso is fermented. Miso soup, miso-glazed salmon. I also drink cultured buttermilk and love sour cream which usually have some gut-friendly bacteria going on. I'm starting to think my dad's side of the family are the only people who actually drink buttermilk, but it's dang tasty with a bit of salt and pepper. (Fermented and cultured may not technically be the same thing, but you're getting similar results)

    Note that you can cook with many fermented and cultured products, but the helpful bacteria that are good for your gut microbiome start to die at high temperatures. Same with freezing and sometimes pasteurizing (many times the cultures are added after pasteurization, which is fine). Frozen yogurt isn't likely to have a beneficial amount of surviving bacteria, nor is the buttermilk in cooked pancakes.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    Here's a decent set of instructions for escabeche:
    http://silverlakefarms.blogspot.com/2012/09/jalapeno-escabeche-and-magic-of-lacto.html

    And Alton Brown's dill pickles:
    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/dill-pickles-recipe.html
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    I love fermented foods. Dill pickles, kimchi, sourdough, beer, sauerkraut. Yum! I have heard eating them too much is linked to cancer though.

    I believe you are thinking of pickled foods, not fermented foods. I am not aware of any evidence linking cancer to consumption of fermented foods. There is a link between consumption of pickled foods and cancer.

    What is the difference between pickling and fermenting? I thought they were the same thing. There are refrigerator pickles where a food is soaked in vinegar, giving a tangy flavor, but not fermented. However the vinegar is a fermented product. Is this what you mean?

    The google results for cancer and fermented foods are amusingly conflicting. If somebody is good at looking up studies and stuff, I would love to know what the science says.
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
    My mother in law makes raw milk kefir and allows it to thicken to sour cream consistency and then make a ranch dip out of it. That is the only way I can deal with the milk kefir. I make kombucha tea at home and experiment with different organic juices. It does take some adaptation to the taste. I also eat fermented pickles which taste similar to regular dill pickles except with a bigger tang factor. Kimchi is good too ...
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    jennybearlv wrote: »
    What is the difference between pickling and fermenting? I thought they were the same thing. There are refrigerator pickles where a food is soaked in vinegar, giving a tangy flavor, but not fermented. However the vinegar is a fermented product. Is this what you mean?
    I just realized I had a huge brain fart. Pickled foods are salted before fermenting.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
    Technically, fermenting veggies *is* pickling them -- pickling is preserving foods by putting them in an acidic liquid in which yeast, mold, etc can't grow.
    If you use vinegar, the fermentation to create the natural acid already happened.
    if you brine them and then let them rot, you're creating the acidic environment as you go.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    I've been making my own sauerkraut to use as a probiotic. Very cheap and easy to do. Just shred the cabbage, add salt and carrary seeds for flavor, allow cabbage to wilt, fill jar(s) w/cabbage and water to cover and let sit and ferment room temp for 4 weeks.

    A lot of recipes say to ferment only for 3-10 days but that's not long enough for the cabbage to go thru all of tbe stages of frrmentation necessary for "good" bacterial grow amd max probiotic benefit.

    Until now, I've been using 3 cup mason jars (a 3# cabbage will fill 2) but am going to try a 1 gal jar the next time around to increase production.
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