To Clear Up the Confusion about Pickled Vegetables

[Guest guest]

This is an excellent read about pickled vegetables, and it may

reconcile the viewpoints of those who, like one member, cannot

understand how pickled vegetables could be viewed as unhealthful,

while another member says pickled vegetables are said to cause cancer:

http://energizedeating.com/blog/?p=54

It is the pickling PROCESS that makes ALL the difference.

In some parts of China and Japan, for instance, where extraordinary

amounts of salt are used in the pickling process, it appears there is

a high incidence of esophageal cancer linked to the eating of such

foods. There is also some kind of red dye used in pickling in China

that is suggested to be the culprit of some digestive system cancers.

In the USA and elsewhere, many commercially pickled products are

heated signficantly, and contain tremendous amounts of salt, sugar,

preservatives and other junk so that those foods are at best

valueless nutritionally, and are hard for the body to digest. Many

traditional home pickling recipes also call for cooking and for large

amounts of salt and sugar, so that they also do not render food that

is healthful.

But there are other ways to pickle vegetables, ways in which the

vegetables are not heated, and in which they do not contain sugar or

large amounts of salt, and then, as with properly pickled sauerkraut,

those vegetables are actually a valuable addition to the diet.

Here are another couple of links that tell a bit about the link

between pickled vegetables and cancer in China and Japan:

http://energizedeating.com/blog/?p=54

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/is_n5_v8/ai_7292660

Elliot

[Guest guest]

I once read a book about fermenting foods. It stated that fermentation

has been done for thousands of years and preserves food, at the same

time boosting the proteins and available nutrients in the food, thus

enabling people with very meager diets to subsist on otherwise

inadequate food. Kimchee is a Korean staple-

Kimchee recipe-

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/appetizers/pickles/kimchee.html

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon pickling salt 6 cups water

2 lbs. Chinese (Napa) cabbage, cut into 2-inch squares

6 scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths, then slivered

1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons Korean ground dried hot pepper (or other mildly hot

ground red pepper)

1 teaspoon sugar