Fermented Foods

I have long been fascinated by food preservation and transformation techniques in other cultures and past populations. Specifically, food fermentation! During the past few years I have been experimenting with food fermentation in my own kitchen. What is fermentation? Fermentation is a transformation process that uses bacteria and or yeasts to convert molecules (starches and sugars) that then produce lactic acid and alcohol. The introduction of Lactobacilli into foods through fermentation not only increases the length of time our food is preserved, the good bacteria also makes our food more nutritious!

How does good bacteria help us? A large portion of our immune system is located in our digestive tract where all the healthy bacteria (microflora) live. The healthy microflora helps keep our immune system nice and strong so that we can defend ourselves from harmful bacteria and viruses. So it stands to reason that if we consume a large amount of fermented foods that contain good bacteria they help stimulate our immune systems and make us less prone to disease and infections! Lactobacilli surrounds us on the surface of all other living organisms so as I am sure you can imagine, it should be relatively easy to "capture them"!

All over the world many human cultures practice fermentation. In fact, there is archaeological evidence that humans have practiced the art of fermentation since the Paleolithic period and consistently for the last 12,000 years. There are cave paintings across the world in South Africa and India that depict humans collecting honey. What do you get when you ferment honey? Mead! T'ej is mead that is traditionally brewed at home in Ethiopia. Of course honey is not the only thing that can be fermented. Germans ferment cabbage to make sauerkraut. In Korean food culture, spicy kimchi is still part of daily meals. Fermented breads such as idlis or dosas and chutneys are made in India. Other fermented foods such as tempeh and beverages such as kombucha and kefir are consumed as well. Even sourdough breads (my favorite) are traditionally made with a fermented yeast starter. Pictured below is a sourdough bread I made at home from a fermented starter!

Stay tuned for Fermentation Fridays! Every Friday (I hope) I will post something informative regarding food fermentation and or instructional which will include my own food experiments, successes, and or failures!