Cultivating their fascination with fermentation

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Leaving foods unrefrigerated for two weeks or more can be disturbing

to those who weren't raised with a crock of pickles in the hallway.

But U.S. Department of Agriculture research service microbiologist

Fred Breidt says properly fermented vegetables are actually safer

than raw vegetables, which might have been exposed to pathogens like

E. coli on the farm.

" With fermented products there is no safety concern. I can flat-out

say that. The reason is the lactic acid bacteria that carry out the

fermentation are the world's best killers of other bacteria, " says

Breidt, who works at a lab at North Carolina State University,

Raleigh, where scientists have been studying fermented and other

pickled foods since the 1930s.

Breidt adds that fermented vegetables, for which there are no

documented cases of food-borne illness, are safer for novices to make

than canned vegetables. Pressurized canning creates an anaerobic

environment that increases the risk of deadly botulism, particularly

with low-acid foods...