Cultured Vegetables

I have a friend who told me about how her German family enjoyed their harvest of cabbage year-round as sauerkraut. Every year her father sliced the cabbage and layered it in crocks with salt. The crocks were kept in the basement, and when her mother wanted to include sauerkraut in a meal, my friend was sent to downstairs to bring some up. She enjoyed a sample for herself while she was there as well.

This happened in the 1940s before pesticides were widely used, so the cabbage they grew was populated with a bountiful supply of Lactobacillus and other lactic-acid producing bacteria. Thus the fermentation went well and turned the cabbage into sauerkraut every time without fail.

Then I told my friend about taking a food and dairy microbiology class in college and spending one of the lab sessions making sauerkraut just the way her father had, by slicing the cabbage and layering it with salt in a crock. We weighted the tops of the crocks down well, and left them to ferment for the next week. I don't remember where the crocks were put to ferment. Maybe the temperature there was a little off. I also don't know where our professor got the cabbage. Maybe he was given leftover heads that the food service for the dormitories didn't want. He may not have been able to choose perfect heads of cabbage with no bad spots, and I'm sure the cabbage was not organic. This was in the early 1970s and there was no health food store in the small college town.

With eight students taking the course, and each of us having a lab partner to work with, we prepared four crocks. At the next lab session, only one of the crocks had sauerkraut in it. The other three contained horribly rotten cabbage that released a stench I will never forget. Having seen this fermentation go wrong is part of the reason every fermented recipe in Healing Basics uses a freeze-dried starter culture so you are sure that you have the correct bacteria working for you. It's a waste of time and food to end up with a rotten mess, plus for health reasons, I like to know that the correct bacteria gets a head start on anything unfriendly that might be on the vegetables or in the milk.

In addition to using a culture to ferment vegetables, you should use the best organic produce you can find. Pesticides are not friendly to the bacteria you want to grow. Any rotten spots on the vegetables may contain bacteria you don't want. I've cut bad spots off with a wide margin, but those batches didn't seem to keep as long as the ones that I made with perfect produce. Furthermore, use purified water and sea salt. Chlorinated water and salt that contains anti-caking agents, iodine, etc. are not friendly to the desired bacteria. Use organic spices and herbs if you wish to add seasonings to cultured vegetables.

Some cultured vegetable recipes online and in other books call for homemade whey instead of a culture. I have not used whey because it is a byproduct of making yogurt and I am allergic to dairy products. However, if you are making your own yogurt as well as cultured vegetables and find a recipe that calls for whey, give it a try. The microbiologist in me hopes you used a starter for the yogurt within the last few weeks so your whey contains just the bacteria you need.

All jars, lids, knives, peelers, food processor parts, measuring spoons and cups, cutting boards, weights, airlocks, and any other equipment you use to make cultured vegetables should be scrupulously clean. Although I always wash all my jars and culturing equipment after use before putting them away, the next time I make cultured vegetables, I re-wash them, in the dishwasher if possible, right before I use them again. This could be "took too much microbiology in college" paranoia, so you might want to try just one washing between uses.

Along with being organic and unblemished, your vegetables should be very clean. Wash them in several changes of water until there is absolutely no dirt left. I tried fermenting Swiss chard stems once, and they rotted very quickly. I must not have succeeded in removing all the dirt, although I tried. Do not use soap or anything other than water to wash the vegetables. Sprays and soaking solutions for washing vegetables can inhibit the desired bacteria.

Fermented vegetables are partially digested by the bacteria that make them, so they are very easy to digest. In this state, you may be able to eat some vegetables that you cannot eat raw or cooked. They also contain enzymes to help with the digestion of your meal and vitamins such as B vitamins including vitamin B-12, vitamin C, and vitamin K.

Fermented vegetables are a very effective probiotic for intestinal problems. (But don't give up your probiotic supplements). In traditional cultures, they are often eaten as condiments, in small quantities with each meal. If you eat a teaspoon to a tablespoon of cultured vegetables twice a day, or even with every meal, it will do your intestinal flora a world of good.

Recipes and specific instructions for various kinds of fermented vegetables are found in Healing Basics. To purchase cultured vegetables containing live health-promoting bacteria already made, see the "Sources," section of Healing Basics or visit a well-stocked health food store.