new dawn of fermented foods -- Metro Santa Cruz

[Guest guest]

Kraut in the Act

An impassioned plea for the new dawn of fermented foods

By Steve Billings

I want to ferment a rebellion. I want to start a massive, digestion-aiding

rebellion led by the forgotten lacto-bacterian regime, whose new aim should be

to dash the empty-calorie, gut-busting grip of processed food purveyors and

sugarmongers everywhere.

We can call it " No Carb Left Behind " or " Every Carb Left Behind " or who knows,

because I cannot remember anymore what I am supposed to think about a carb--its

goodness, its badness, its alliance with the Axis of Evil. Carbs of Mass

Destruction are everywhere, even in Iraq, and certainly in your Birch beer.

What I do know is that I love fermented foods of all kinds. They are flavorful,

they have ancient origins and sometimes they even get you in trouble with your

girlfriend, if you choose the right one in the wrong amount.

When I think of fermented products, I immediately rush toward the legion of

liquids, including beer, wine and spirits. I'm simple--I like a buzz. But that's

not the whole story. Indeed, much of the world still regularly eats an amazing

range of digestion-assisting, fermented solids whose sugars and starches have

been converted by the lacto-bacterian regime.

Let's take a brief world tour. In Japan you would be hard-pressed to have a meal

without the presence of miso, soy sauce and some kind of pickled vegetable. Not

far away, Koreans eat a pickled cabbage called kimchi. If you go to India you

will frequently see people downing soured milk or yogurt-based drinks. Across

the African continent, one will encounter porridges made from fermented millet

or other grains. And if we traveled to France with the directive not to eat any

fermented foods whatsoever, we'd be bummed, pissed and out of luck--there goes

wine, cheese, bread, sausage and those awesome little cucumbers known as

cornichons.

Currently though, my absolute favorite is the German-style fermented product of

a head of shredded cabbage--sauerkraut. But before the Germans and the rest of

Europe got wind of how to preserve cabbage, the Chinese were doing so around

2,000 years ago by preserving the vegetable in rice wine. Many accounts suggest

that, in the 13th century, Genghis Khan brought this hearty fare along with him

from China to feed his hordes as he plundered Europe. Eventually, Europeans

adapted the process by excluding the wine and fermenting the vegetables by using

salt instead.

The reason I love sauerkraut even more today than I did when it set up a swampy

pool next to German sausages or pork chops plated for me in my youth is that I

can buy it locally the way it was traditionally produced before the advent of

refrigeration and the pasteurization process; raw, uncooked, unpasteurized and

full of bright fresh flavors that are absent from its limp, cooked and

pasteurized counterpart.

Raw fermented cabbage is packed full of beneficial vitamins, enzymes and

lactobacillus, a naturally occurring bacteria which is good for your gut and the

length of your intestine.

In fact, lactobacilli are the ubiquitous, microscopic minions of the fermenting

revolution that have made vegetable preservation possible among humans for more

than 2,000 years. In her book, Nourishing Traditions, author Sally Fallon tells

us that " lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying

bacteria. Starches and sugars in fruits and vegetables are converted into lactic

acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria. " Lactic acid not

only perfectly preserves vegetables but the " proliferation of lactobacilli in

fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels.

These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as antibiotic and

anti-carcinogenic substances. "

The bottom line: your gut gets good flora from raw, fermented food, which it

would not receive from the more industrial methods of production which include

overly acidic vinegar and heat sterilization.

Among traditionally fermented veggies, cabbage appears to have the most

illustrious history and widespread usage. It just really works. In her book Des

Crudités Toute L'Année, Annelies Schoneck informs us that the Chinese fermented

cabbage possibly as long ago as 6,000 years ago, and that in ancient Rome,

sauerkraut had a reputation as a food that was easy to digest.

Author Claude Aubert relates a seafaring story that should solidify the

soundness of such simple, effective food preparation: " For his second

round-the-world voyage, Capt. Cook loaded 60 barrels of sauerkraut onto his

ship. After 27 months at sea, 15 days before returning to England, he opened the

last barrel and offered some sauerkraut to some Portuguese noblemen who had come

on board. ... they carried off the rest of the barrel to give some to their

friends. This last barrel was perfectly preserved after 27 months, in spite of

changes in climate and the incessant rocking of the ship. The sauerkraut had

also preserved sufficient quantities of Vitamin C to protect the entire crew

from scurvy. Not one case occurred during the long voyage even though this

disease usually decimated crews of voyages of this length. "

Can one go wrong with a food that is still fresh and edible after two years with

no added preservatives or refrigeration? What's good to know is that you don't

need to harass a dead Capt. Cook if you want to treat your mouth and belly to a

healthy dose of organic raw sauerkraut. One need to look no further than the

refrigerator cases of Santa Cruz's New Leaf Markets. As of now I know that all

the area stores carry numerous flavors of Cultured Organic Raw Sauerkraut,

produced out of Berkeley. I've even bought the same kind at our downtown Farmers

Market. Word has it too that the Felton New Leaf Market sells an organic raw

sauerkraut bulk-packaged in plastic bags.

Remember, too, that you can very easily set up your own guerrilla-boutique,

lacto-fermenting kraut operation from home with a very minimal arsenal--try a

book like Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. That is how you ferment a

revolution.

[ Santa Cruz | Metroactive Central | Archives ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the September 15-22, 2004 issue of Metro Santa Cruz.

[Guest guest]

What an EXTRAORDINARY article!

When he mentioned France, it made me think of the so-called " French

paradox " .

What if the French paradox is really their liberal use of

lactofermented foods...which enhance digestion throughout life.

I'm thinking of the homocysteine situation. Homocysteine is a

byproduct of protein digestion, right? But the digestion is not

complete, right? What if using plenty of lactofermented foods keeps

digestion operating correctly, so that things like homocysteine don't

have a chance to get out of balance? That could help prevent heart

disease, right?

Perhaps, rather than things like resversatrol in the wine, it's

simply the humble lactobacillus organisms that help keep the French

from suffering from CHD...?

I wonder what effect lactofermented foods have on insulin and its use?

[Guest guest]

>I'm thinking of the homocysteine situation. Homocysteine is a

>byproduct of protein digestion, right? But the digestion is not

>complete, right? What if using plenty of lactofermented foods keeps

>digestion operating correctly, so that things like homocysteine don't

>have a chance to get out of balance? That could help prevent heart

>disease, right?

Homocysteine also doesn't get produced if you get plenty

of B vitamins ... folic acid, I think is the one you need. Eating

a fermented diet with green leafy vegies, legumes, citrus, pork, liver

would all help, and the French diet has a lot more " real " foods

than the US diet. I did find one study that is interesting, that

wine may raise folic acid levels even though it doesn't have much

in it:

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Daily/News_Print/0,2463,1805,00.html

Despite the findings, the scientists cannot say for sure why wine, especially

red, may impart special benefits. Although red wine drinkers had higher levels

of folic acid in their blood, for example, only trace amounts of this nutrient

are found in wine.

I think fermented foods in general help in the B vitamin dept too ...

That article also has a series of links to other benefits of red

wine. Seems to make the arteries more flexible too:

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Daily/News/1,1145,1569,00.html

In the " Endothelin-1 Synthesis Reduced By Red Wine " study, the researchers

exposed cultured aorta cells from cows to polyphenol extracts from 23 red wines,

four whites, a rosé and red-grape juice.

In the case of the red wines, a decrease in endothelin-1 production could be

seen in as little as an hour, with a 50 percent drop within six hours. Red grape

juice also inhibited endothelin-1, but was " markedly less potent than red wine, "

according to the study. The white wines and the rosé had no effect on the

peptide.

....................

My aunt had heart disease, and she always drank her red

wine. The doctor said that she probably lived a good 5 years

longer than she should have, because of the wine.

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

>

>In the case of the red wines, a decrease in endothelin-1 production could

>be seen in as little as an hour, with a 50 percent drop within six hours.

>Red grape juice also inhibited endothelin-1, but was " markedly less potent

>than red wine, " according to the study. The white wines and the rosé had

>no effect on the peptide.

do they talk about what kind of wine? is this regular old wine with

pesticides and added sulfites, or organic wine, or locally made wine,

or...does it matter? do they all have the same effect?

-katja

[Guest guest]

>do they talk about what kind of wine? is this regular old wine with

>pesticides and added sulfites, or organic wine, or locally made wine,

>or...does it matter? do they all have the same effect?

>

>-katja

Any ol' red wine. I suspect the ones they used in the study

were the cheaper, non-organic kind.

Heidi Jean