Another Fermenting Aid

ReCAP mason jar lids

It's starting to be fermenting time again as veggies begin to appear in our summer gardens.
These lids may make it less messy to ferment veggies at home. Simply add a rubber stopper (with a hole in the center) onto the spout hole, put a fermentation lock into the stopper hole, and ferment away.

If fermenting (which actually INCREASES nutritional content in foods), just type fermenting or ferments in the search box located on the right column and it will bring up several posts I've done on fermenting.

Rubber stoppers come in many sizes. A #6 should fir the ReCAP lid.

One of several styles of airlocks from any brewing supply store.

The other good thing about these lids is their general use for mason jars used to store beans, sugars, flours or even vinegars that can be poured out through the jar opening. BPA free.

ps, I own NO stock in this company!

The Body's Microbial Garden

I have posted often about the importance of microbes in our soil gardens, and now want to post some thoughts on the microbial gardens in our bodies.

There are estimated to be 100 trillion microbes that call our human body "home", known as the microbiome, and we have waged war on them with antibiotics for more than a century. According to Julie Segre, a senior investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute. “It [waging war] does a disservice to all the bacteria that have co-evolved with us and are maintaining the health of our bodies.”

This new approach to health is known as medical ecology. Rather than conducting indiscriminate slaughter, Dr. Segre and like-minded scientists want to be microbial wildlife managers.

No one wants to abandon antibiotics outright. But by nurturing the invisible ecosystem in and on our bodies, doctors may be able to find other ways to fight infectious diseases, and with less harmful side effects. Tending the microbiome may also help in the treatment of disorders that may not seem to have anything to do with bacteria, including obesity and diabetes. Source

Then while I was looking again at many reasons why lacto-ferments are so good for us, I came across this quote from Sally Fallon:

"Scientists and doctors today are mystified by the proliferation of new viruses--not only the deadly AIDS virus but the whole gamut of human viruses that seem to be associated with everything from chronic fatigue to cancer and arthritis. They are equally mystified by recent increases in the incidence of intestinal parasites and pathogenic yeasts, even among those whose sanitary practices are faultless. 

Could it be that in abandoning the ancient practice of lacto-fermentation and in our insistence on a diet in which everything has been pasteurized, we have compromised the health of our intestinal flora and made ourselves vulnerable to legions of pathogenic microorganisms? If so, the cure for these diseases will be found not in vaccinations, drugs or antibiotics but in a restored partnership with the many varieties of lactobacilli, our symbionts of the microscopic world."
Source: Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig, PhD. © 1999. All Rights Reserved.

I also think the current compulsion to NOT let kids get dirty, and to "sanitize our body's exterior" with chemical hand wipes everywhere we go, has reduced some of our immunity. We naturally have enough lactobacilli on our skin to make a loaf of sourdough bread, yet we don't just wash our skin with soap, we wash it with antibacterial soaps to kill anything that might be on our skin.

I don't think it's quite that simple, but I do believe all these things are factors. We can improve our gut health, which increases the overall health of our bodies, with probiotics like yogurt with active cultures, and lacto-fermented vegetables and fruits. And quit being such germaphobes.

Lacto Fermented Swiss Chard Ribs

I've been busy canning but decided to lacto-ferment a few things to have some crunch available. The first was Swiss chard ribs, shown above. They were just starting to ferment when I took the photo, and although it's not visible, there is a weighted cap inside the jars to keep the ribs under the brine. My standard brine is 1 tablespoon of non-iodized salt plus 4 tablespoons of whey per quart of spring water.

I also started some fermented summer squash with sliced onions.

Some cauliflower with garlic, black peppercorns and red pepper flakes made 4 weeks ago. I've eaten half of one jar, and gave the other jar away. YUM!

More lacto ferments to come as the garden winds down, especially some sauerkraut if my neighbor has extra cabbage. Lacto-ferments will keep all winter in my root cellar.

If you are not too familiar with lacto-fermenting, here are a few posts I made over the last couple of years:

Pickles, Lacto- Fermentation or Old-Time Fermentation

Eating Lacto-Fermented Vegetables

Fido Jar Fermenting Basics

It's Pickle Time!

Pickled garlic buds and scapes

Broccoli and Friends

Uses for Whey





 

It's Pickle Time!

Yes, it's that time of the year already... the first cukes are coming on fast! I'm starting with a half-gallon of lactic acid fermented garlic pickles, and will do more as the garden produces. One of my favorites from last year was a garlicky cauliflower pickle, and that will be a fall (cool weather crop) project.

For this half-gallon jar, I used:

2 tablespoons pickling salt (it's just like Kosher salt, no iodine added)

1 and a half heads of garlic, cloves peeled

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 and a half tablespoons dill seed

about a half teaspoon mustard seeds

about a half teaspoon whole black peppercorns

a pinch of red pepper flakes

optional: 2-4 tablespoons whey to jump start the fermentation

a handful of just-picked grape leaves (or horseradish leaves)

I'll be starting a batch of cheese today so I'll have plenty of fresh whey. You could also strain some plain yogurt to get a little fresh whey.

Put a few of the grape leaves in the bottom of the jar. Add in all the spices and garlic, then the cukes. Be sure you have washed and thoroughly chilled the cucumbers... it helps them keep the crunch. Also be sure you have taken a small slice off the blossom-end of the cukes.

I like to dissolve the salt first in a quart of non-chlorinated water and let it cool before adding to the jar. Once I add the salted water, I top off with fresh cool non-chlorinated water. Then cover the cucumbers with several more grape leaves, leaving about an inch of head space... and put the lid on loosely.

Be sure all the cukes are fully submerged! Keep it on the counter for a few days and you should see some fermentation bubbles in 2-4 days, depending on the temp of your kitchen. I put my jars on a plate because they will bubble-over and make a mess; I also cover the jar with a towel since light destroys nutrients in the jar.

I had enough small cucumbers to also fill a quart jar, although my experience tells me a greater quantity in a jar makes a better ferment. They'll be good eating nevertheless!

The pickles will be ready to eat a few days after the fermentation stops. Mine usually taste better after at least 2 weeks but 4 weeks is even better. After fermenting stops you can tighten the lid and refrigerate them or store them in a cold root cellar if you have one. Be aware that refrigeration stops the fermentation so be sure to taste them first to see if they are to your liking. You may want them to ferment a bit longer. They will keep a long time (as much as a year or more)... I don't know exactly how long because we eat them up pretty quick!

6 Degrees of "Fermentation"

6 Degrees of Separation is a term is often used as a synonym for the idea of the "small world" phenomenon. It refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.

In my case, it's the small world of fermenting... and all ferments are connected within 6 steps or fewer, so to speak.

I hadn't given much thought to the connectedness of the food things I do (other than eat them) until I started learn to make charcuterie and cheese. Then it finally sunk in...  fermenting is the connection! I started to ferment breads (sourdough) 2-3 years ago, and over the last 2 summers I spent a lot of time learning and making lacto-fermented vegetables. Last fall, I started to re-learn fermenting wines and cider. Over the winter I have been learning to ferment sausages and salume with the hopes of eventually fermenting (curing) a ham.

Now, I'm also learning to ferment cheese. It seems to me that each new thing is a little easier because it builds on the related experience which is also connectedness, gained from the things I learned previously. The more I learn in each of these connected areas, the more I am beginning to understand some of the nuances of fermenting, with hopes of eventually mastering a few of them. Lactobacillus, common to ferments, is a very interesting bacteria and enriches my world by the fermentation of foods from chocolate and sauerkraut to merlot and Brie.

To make things interesting, Lactobacillus is like any other living thing (including us!)... it depends on what it eats, and what it eats affects what it does. Maybe that cow ate a few more blades of grass with higher Omega-3, so that one gallon of milk had a miniscule amount more butterfat and lactose than the other gallon I used. No two cheese wheels will turn out the same, nor will any 2 loaves of sourdough, or batches of beer... The bacteria and yeast in the air we breathe, on our walls and on our skin, are all working in addition to (or sometimes against) the bacteria and yeast we add from little packets into whatever we are making. 

Perhaps a slight puff of air from an open window flows over my pot just as I am adding the culture, bringing a tad more of my resident lactobacillus along with it... or maybe there were a few more grains of salt in one measured teaspoonful compared to another...or today the humidity is 2% higher than yesterday. SO many variables that all affect every outcome.

I actually find it very refreshing (although a little frustrating) to know that everything I make will NOT turn out exactly the same every time, even after I learn the basics and move into some proficiency. There will always be an element of surprise and discovery waiting in the wings, keeping Life interesting!

Uses for Whey

There are many things you can do with leftover whey (even the small amount of whey that accumulates in a container of yogurt) other than to just make whey ricotta. That liquid (whey) is chock full of nutrients like proteins, vitamins and minerals, and has far more sustainable uses than just dumping down the drain.

Whey falls into 2 classes: sweet whey, and acid whey, and both have many uses. Sweet whey is the whey drained off a cheese process that uses a bacterial culture, such as hard cheese (like cheddar, and many soft cheese types). However, if you have added vinegar, citric acid or lemon juice to the milk (as in making mozzarella, or whole milk ricotta) the whey is already very acidic, hence makes acid whey.

Sweet whey contains active bacterial cultures and is great to add to a jar of fresh chopped vegetables to ferment, like sauerkraut or pickles (lacto-fermentation). You can use it as a substitute in any recipe that calls for buttermilk, or to replace the liquid in a bread recipe. In addition to live bacterial cultures, sweet whey is full of vitamins and minerals, and makes a healthy addition to soups, or beverages like smoothies. A common use in Italy is to use the sweet whey to make traditional ricotta, which is different than a whole-milk ricotta. There are other whey-based cheeses, too; consult a cheese book like Home Cheese Making by Rikki Carroll, or The Cheesemaker's Manual by Margaret P. Morris if you can find a copy.

Acid whey is good to feed acid-loving plants in the garden; I use it on my blueberry bushes where there is a constant battle to keep the pH low enough for the blueberries to survive.  You can add to the soaking water for beans and grains to reduce phytates (as long as it is rinsed away the next morning). It is not good for making whey ricotta.

Both sweet whey and acid whey may be fed to farm animals, or the household dog and cat.  My cats don't much care for the acid whey, but my sister's dog does. Sweet whey can be used for all the same things as acid whey, but not the reverse.

Why Do We Need Enzymes?

I have written several posts mentioning enzymes in foods, particularly fermented foods. Somehow though, I don't think I have talked about why we need enzymes, and what they actually do.

First off, there are 3 basic classes of enzymes: metabolic enzymes, digestive enzymes and food enzymes. They are basically complex proteins that catalyze almost of our body's biochemical processes, and thousands of them have been identified. No mineral, vitamin or hormone can do any work without enzymes.

The metabolic enzymes affect body functions like breathing, moving, thinking, and affect the immune system.

The digestive enzymes are generally manufactured in the pancreas, and break down the partially digested foods leaving the stomach going into the small intestine.

Food enzymes are contained in raw foods, and initiate our digestive system's actions beginning immediately upon contact with saliva in our mouths and continuing through the stomach. Here's the thing to know and remember: enzymes are deactivated by heat in cooking. (All enzymes are deactivated at a wet-heat temperature of 118F, and a dry-heat temperature of about 150ºF. ~ Nourishing Traditions.)

No, I am not going to promote a raw food diet... so don't even go there! It is true most of us don't get enough raw foods in our diets; even milk is no longer available as a raw food but only heat-pasteurized in most states, . So-called "fresh" fruit juices available for purchase in the cold dairy section of a store, or even canned juice concentrates, have all been heat-pasteurized, destroying enzymes.

However, if all we ever eat is cooked foods, it puts a considerable strain on the pancreas (and other digestive organs) to make the enzymes that should have been in our raw foods.

Most of us get some raw foods and thus some food enzymes... we eat a few salads, some fresh fruit, maybe an occasional bit of fresh raw (untoasted) nuts, and raw seeds like sunflower seeds; some of us still eat medium-rare steaks or steak tartare. That is, assuming we trust the safety of the meat. Remember when you could order a rare/medium-rare hamburger? That was before the gubbmint decided safety of meat had to be insured by the restaurant folks cooking it, and not 'just' the responsibility of the folks raising, processing and packaging it. The Consumer has no choice of 'rare' anymore unless we buy grass-fed... or take a big health risk by cooking CAFO meats rare or medium-rare at home.

However, there are many other foods we can eat that are not really 'raw' but still contain food enzymes, thus giving the pancreas and other digestive organs a break. Fermented dairy is one category and includes foods like butter, yogurt and cheese if made from raw milk. (Even the fats in raw milk contain enzymes.) Raw milk cheeses are legal in the US if they are aged, usually 60 days or more although it may vary by state. The advantage of raw milk cheese, butter and yogurt is that the milk was never subject to heat pasteurization, which kills the enzymes along with any "potentially harmful bacteria from unsanitary conditions". Cultured butter, cultured buttermilk, and yogurts in stores are all made from pasteurized (heated) milk.

Another category is lacto-fermented vegetables. These vegetables contain all the enzymes (and nutrients) of the foods in their raw state, and in fact, increases the enzyme and nutrient content by the fermentation process. Those of us who are older may remember when our grandmothers made sauerkraut and pickles in crocks, rather than the enzyme/nutrient-killing vinegar-heat-canning processes common today. (Today's processed kraut and pickles may be safe, but they are nutritionally lacking.) However, we may not remember that many folks also fermented almost any and every vegetable, not just cucumbers and cabbage. The only fermented vegetable that requires a bit of heat processing is a quick blanching necessary for green beans, but since the beans are not fully cooked, some enzymes remain.

So even if we are not considering a raw food diet, food enzymes are necessary to digestive health which in turn provides all our health, and we should get more raw foods any way we can.

The late Dr. Edward Powell, a noted pioneer in enzyme research, said that our enzyme-poor diets result in illness, less resistance to stress, and shortened life-spans. (1)

Dr. Howell formulated the following Enzyme Nutrition Axiom: The length of life is inversely proportional to the rate of exhaustion of the enzyme potential of an organism. The increased use of food enzymes promotes a decreased rate of exhaustion of the enzyme potential. Another rule from Dr. Powell can be expressed as follows: Whole foods give good health; enzyme-rich foods provide limitless energy. (2)

Making Real Sauerkraut

I made the time to start a jar of sauerkraut fermenting, using Sandor Katz's method of pounding the lightly salted cabbage to release the juices. The dark speck is one of the juniper berries I added for flavor. You don't really see the juice in this photo below, but there was enough to fill the very tightly packed jar.

I pounded the cabbage (half at a time) with the butt of my chef's knife, mainly because it was handy, and heavy. The carrots were added just for color, and I barely managed to pack the entire shredded and pounded 6-or-so-pound cabbage into the jar. 

I started it at suppertime, and used about 1-1/2 tablespoons of sea salt. The juice tasted salty but it hadn't had time to penetrate the cabbage so I'm hoping it isn't too salty when finished. (This is my first kraut in years and it's trial and error again. You can always rinse it before serving.) It started fermenting quicker than I thought it would (less than 24 hours), and I hadn't placed the jar in a container to catch overflows yet. When I came home from pitting plums the next afternoon, it had already spewed juice out all over the counter!

In another few days it will get moved to the cool and dark root cellar until October. YUM!

Keeping Pickles Crisp

Photo from Bogdan Suditu's photostream

It is always a challenge to keep homemade pickles crisp, but it is a lot easier with fermented pickles that are never cooked. Even in fermented pickles, there is some slight decomposition due to fermentation, and adding some tannins helps keep pickles crisp. Many plant leaves, such as oak, contain tannins. You could use white oak leaves but they are so high in tannins that you probably could not eat the pickles for the pucker! 

 Red Currants photo from guldfisken's photostream

Some better options:

Horseradish leaves and/or peeled and chopped roots

Grape leaves

Black or Red currant leaves

Red raspberry leaves
Apple skins

Raspberry photo from Zaggy J.'s photostream

Some home brewers use organic green or black tea leaves in brewing beer to provide tannins (which give body to the beer). I don't see why that wouldn't work in keeping fermenting vegetables crunchy, but I haven't read of anyone doing it. Of course, we are just now re-discovering the benefits of fermented veggies, and surely many of the tips and techniques were lost when our grandparents' generation stopped making them. I read somewhere that wild greens like purslane also help keep pickles crisp but I cannot find the reference again.

Salt also hardens the pectins in vegetables, making them crunchier. (Plus, salt inhibits the growth of bacteria [other than lactobacilli] and extends storage time.) However, there is a fine line with the amount of salt used for preservation so it works, and yet the vegetables aren't so salty you cannot eat them even with rinsing. I think it takes an individual 'trial and error' to find the right amount of salt you prefer.

Another tip: Every type of fruit/vegetable has enzymes whose purpose is to break down the food to make it decompose... the whole point of food from a growth standpoint is to make seeds, then decompose so the seeds will grow. Most of those enzymes are concentrated in the blossom end (not the stem end) and by cutting a bit off the blossom end, you discard a lot of those enzymes and help keep your dill pickles from getting mushy. 

Here's a recap with links to the recent posts on fermented vegetables:
Eating Lacto-Fermented Vegetables
Science and Hysteria in Lacto-Fermenting
Crock Fermented Garlic Dills
Fido Jar Fermenting Basics
Fermenting in Ball Canning Jars
Keeping Pickles Crisp
Pickles, Lacto- Fermentation or Old-Time Fermentation
Preserved Grape Leaves

Fermenting in Ball Canning Jars

 Photo from little blue hen's photostream

Fermenting in canning jars with 2-piece screw-type lids is another method used in many places. I knew a husband/wife team in Sweden who made their living selling fermented vegetables 4 days a week at farmer's markets. The majority of their fermented foods were things like sauerkraut and pickles, but they also made about a hundred other combinations, many with hot peppers.

Every year this couple made 2000 kilos (4400 pounds) of squash and cucumber ferments, 3000 kilos (6600 pounds) of red and white cabbage ferments (sauerkraut) and around 200+ kilos (400-500 pounds) of fermented carrots and gold beets. So, I am inclined to think this method worked very well for them!

His basic method was simple: Take a 7 dl canning jar (about 24 fl oz. or 3/4 quart), add some clean leaves of black currant (to keep veggies crisp), dill, garlic and small cucumbers. Add one tablespoon non-iodized salt and fill the jar with non-chlorinated water. Seal it very tightly, and keep at room temperature 4-6 days until you see bubbling, then put it in a cold cellar for some weeks or months. (I think you could adapt this basic recipe by increasing or reducing the amount of salt for quart or pint canning jars, the common sizes available here.) He said you can do it the same way with every kind of vegetable. but you have to boil any beans several minutes, and slice cabbage thin. He had seen whole cabbage fermented by drilling holes in the cabbage and filling the holes with salt but they didn't do cabbage with that method.

My friend said his cucumbers were good to eat after 1 month and up to 1 year; cabbage (sauerkraut) can be eaten after 3 months and will be good for 3-5 years unopened. The taste of all will be sour and taste good, but if you have made a bad batch it will smell terrible and rotten. Use only the best quality organic vegetables.

The room temperatures in Sweden during the growing season when he starts his ferments are about 77ºF/25ºC; cold cellar temps for long, slow fermenting should be 50-59ºF/10-15ºC. He cautions to open a jar over the kitchen sink as contents will be under some slight pressure and some of the brine may come out.

Many people in this country only use canning jars, even Sandor Katz, the fermenting guru. You can watch a video of him starting sauerkraut here.

Note: The lids of canning jars will rust easily from the salty brine. Some folks put a piece of plastic wrap over the jar mouth before placing the lid and ring on the jar.

Fido Jar Fermenting Basics

 Carrot Slaw on left, Carrots with Fresh Ginger on right

This is just an introduction to lacto-fermenting in jars; there is much more to know about lacto-fermentation and I'll post some of it as time goes on. After trying several types of containers for lacto-fermenting with only slightly differing methods, I have decided the safest for me is using Fido Jars. Here's why:

There is no reason to open the jars prematurely. Using a clear jar, I can see what's going on inside without the temptation to open the jars or crock. Because of the rubber seal which has a slight 'give' to it, the fermenting gases (CO2) can push their way out but O2 cannot push it's way in. Using a canning jar with a 2 piece lid is similar, but most people who use that method have problems with the lids working loose and losing the top portion of the contents, or sometimes the whole jar.

There is also no rim with water to keep filled as on a Harsch crock. I'd forget to check it almost as soon as I stuck it in a dark closet!

The first regular canning jar I fermented something in gave me a problem with keeping the contents submerged. I used a glass sugar bowl lid but it wasn't heavy enough. I even went so far as to look online for 1/2" thick glass 'rounds' that would fit inside the neck and keep the food submerged. Once I switched to Fido jars, that is no longer a problem. I fill the jars with about 80% capacity with food, and then brine up to about half an inch to an inch from the top; yes, some things will float... However, as soon as the lactic acid process begins on Day 1 or 2, any air space inside the jar fills with CO2, so anything floating will not spoil.

See the ferment bubbles at the top of the liquid? (Beets with garlic and onions)

Basically, I do this: Fill the jars. Snap down the lid. Place the jar in a catch-pan because it may overflow a bit of liquid in the first days of fermenting. Cover with a dark towel. (Ferments are best done in the dark; light diminishes nutrients.) Leave on the counter in a warm spot and visually check it daily. When the bubbling stops, move it to a cool place (45-50ºF) like a basement closet. If you don't have a cool spot, refrigerate the jars. After a couple of months, you may want to sample the contents. If you do open the jar, you must then keep the jar in the refrigerator to avoid spoilage.

I know folks who don't touch their ferments for 6 months to a year, or more. Once the active fermenting (bubbling) stops, you are still a long way from good ferments. As they age, more vitamins and enzymes are formed, and the taste mellows or 'matures' much like a fine wine.

Most ferments will keep in a cool, dark spot for 1-3 years. Fruits are the exception. I haven't fermented any fruits so far, but everything I read says they spoil rather quickly, like in a couple of months. If I do ferment any, they will go into the fridge as soon as the active fermenting stops.

Crock Fermented Garlic Dills

This is just an introduction to lacto-fermenting in crocks; there is much more to know about lacto-fermentation and I'll post some of it as time goes on.

In the past few years I have pretty much stopped eating garlic-dill pickles; actually, stopped eating most pickles in general. I think it is because they all taste like vinegar, which has become the 'norm' for any store-bought pickles, and for almost all homemade pickles. Last year I made and canned dozens of types of pickle relishes, but I no longer consider those a 'true' pickle... or at least not a fermented pickle.

There are several differences in a fermented pickle and a vinegar-based canned pickle, whether it is a cucumber, cabbage, carrots, beets or whatever you choose to ferment. A ferment is the action of bacteria producing lactic acid, which makes the food more digestible. As the lactic acid works on the fruit or vegetable, it also produces additional vitamins and amino acids that were not in the raw foods. We all know the benefits of the probiotics in fermented milk (yogurt), and it is the same for fermented vegetables and fruits.

There is lactobacillus bacteria all around us... in the air, on our skin, on the vegetables, and even IN the vegetables. Unfortunately, there is also an abundance of harmful bacteria. The basic idea in fermenting is to use salt, or a salty brine, which keeps the bad bacteria at bay until enough lactic acid is formed. The bad bacteria cannot exist in a lactic acid environment. Keep in mind the growth of lactic acid is very dependent on temperature. If you try to ferment at an initial temperature that is too cool, the bad bacteria will grow quicker than the lactobacillus can make lactic acid, and your 'pickle' will spoil.

The range of suitable temperatures varies for different vegetables. Carrots ferment best around 68ºF, cucumbers @ 64-68ºF, and sauerkraut @ 68-72ºF. Since I cannot control my kitchen temps that closely, I depend on length of time instead. Generally it takes about 2 days of room-temps to get the lactic acid-producing bacteria going. I have found if I use some fresh whey along with the brine, it seems to jump-start the lactic-acid bacterial action. After 2-3 days to as much as a week depending on room temperature, the bacterial action slows and you can move the crock to a cool place like a basement or a root cellar. 

The remainder of this post is about crock fermenting but for the most part, I am no longer doing my fermenting in a crock unless I have a huge batch of something. Instead, I am fermenting in the old fashioned jars with a rubber gasket and a wire bail to fasten the lid, sometimes called 'Fido' jars. The next post tomorrow will discuss that method, which I think is much safer for the novice fermenter.

Two things happened this year to change my attitude about making and eating pickles... my determination to eat nutritionally better foods, and my neighbor, Buster, losing his 19 year old son. Buster's wife cannot tolerate the thought of making pickles now because it reminds her of her son and his love of pickles of any kind. Although Buster loves them too, she can't get past the reminder of her son enough to make pickles for her husband. So I made some for Buster.

The traditional way my grandmother and my mother made pickles or sauerkraut was to put the ingredients in a crock, add a brine, put a clean plate with a weight on top to keep the contents submerged, cover with a clean dishcloth, and let them ferment. They will develop a harmless white yeast film on top, which they just skimmed away. With a Harsch crock it's almost the same, except if you have confidence in what you are doing and don't open the crock, the water seal will keep a yeast film from forming.

Several weeks ago Buster gave me a big bag of cucumbers he picked that morning, and I drug out my Harsch Crocks (7.5L) to be cleaned, and to start some garlic dill pickles. I think in New York City, these are called 'half-sours' and most delicatessens serve them. I have only made pickles in my Harsch crocks once before, right after I got them 3 years ago. Those pickles spoiled. (In retrospect, they probably didn't spoil; I saw the white yeast film that developed and assumed they were spoiled.)

The Harsch Crock has a moat around the top where the lid fits, and you keep it filled with water so no bad bacteria can enter the ferment. I had my crocks sitting on the kitchen floor after they had fermented about 10 days on the warmer counter top. (You can keep pickles in the Harsch crocks for months if the temperature is cool, the contents stay submerged in the brine, and you keep water in the seal; just occasionally skim the yeast film.) Buster and his son had already tasted the pickles and said they were great, just needed to mellow in the crocks.

Every morning when I went into the kitchen to make coffee, the water would be completely gone from the lip of the crock, so I'd fill it. It wasn't warm enough for that much water to evaporate overnight and I was quite perplexed. After about 2 weeks of filling the water trough every day, I thought the pickles were beginning to spoil, and just before I decided to trash them, I came into the kitchen late at night and found my sister's CAT drinking the water from the rim!

So, this current batch was made in my pantry room which has a door I can close, keeping thirsty cats out. One crock had cucumbers cut into spears, and the other had whole cucumbers. (The whole cucumbers need a longer time to ferment and I haven't opened that crock yet.) In each crock I put a large horseradish leaf on the bottom, added half the seasonings, then half the cukes, the rest of the seasonings, the rest of the cukes, 4 tablespoons of fresh whey, and the brine. Put another horseradish leaf on top, add the weights (photo below)... making sure 1-2" of brine covers the weights, place the top on the crock and fill the rim with water. Notice the lid has 2 notches; those are to let the build-up of CO2 escape through the water moat.

If you never open the crock until you want to taste a pickle, you will not get the white, thin film of yeast on top of the brine (see photo just above). However, every time you open the crock, all the CO2 that developed from fermenting will escape, and oxygen contacting the brine surface will allow the Kahm yeast (I'm not sure of the spelling) to grow. It is harmless, and you can skim it off daily in an open crock or in a Harsch crock.

This morning I opened the crock of spears, transferred them to 3 quart jars and took 2 jars to Buster to store in their refrigerator. (Once they are out of the crock, you need to refrigerate them.) The pickles are cloudy in the picture above, but they taste just fine. Buster said they had just the right amount of garlic, seasonings and salt to suit him.

My seasonings, per 7.5 liter crock about 1/2 to 3/4 filled:

4-6 cloves peeled garlic

1 onion, sliced into rings

4 fresh dill heads, medium to large

1 teaspoon dry dill seed

1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon whole coriander

1 teaspoon whole mustard seed

Pinch red pepper flakes

1 large bay leaf, torn smaller

3-4 fresh horseradish leaves

4 tablespoons fresh whey (drained from yogurt)

The brine had 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons sea salt per 4 cups non-chlorinated water; if you don't use whey, increase the amount of salt, to taste. Should taste like the sea; if it's too salty after fermenting, you can always rinse, or soak and rinse before eating. Since the only reason to use salt is to keep bad bacteria at bay until the lactic acid starts to take over, and by adding fresh whey, I have jump-started the lactic acid process, I felt confident to reduce the amount of salt.

Fermenting can sometimes be hit or miss; even long-time, accomplished fermenters lose a batch now and then. First-timers lose more than one, I'd bet. I lost my grape leaves because I used an airlock (like for fermenting wine or beer) on a half-gallon canning jar lid that came loose. I lost a jar of sugar snaps because I didn't blanch them. If a jar has slimy and smelly contents, just trash it; do not be tempted to taste it! Start small, so there's not too much to lose.

Science and Hysteria in Lacto-Fermenting

Over the next few days I will be posting several methods of making lacto-fermented vegetables. One question which always arises is the 'safety' of eating home ferments. I know, because I myself threw away what was probably a perfectly good 2 gallon crock of garlic dills just because I 'assumed' they might be bad, based on the kahm yeast on top!

In my nearly 70 years of existence in this lifetime, I have watched the increasing media-induced hysteria about sanitation in foods. You see ads for hand-sanitizers everywhere, and there are chemical wipes for hands and cart handles at most grocery store entrances (for cold and flu germs, not food germs). Some doctors suggest we may be too clean, giving rise to the inability to fight off normal bacterial infections. Today even most of the foods we buy are sanitized, irradiated, or cooked until all life, good and bad, in them is dead.

When I was a kid in school, we were taught the average human in this country eats more than a cup of dirt over a lifetime. I suspect that figure is much lower now, and few farmers even know how to taste the dirt to see if it is sweet, much less actually do it!

Most of us who home can foods wouldn't touch a jar of another's home-canned vegetables with a 10-foot pole if we don't know the person who made them, lest they contain odorless and tasteless botulism and kill us.

Don't get me wrong... I absolutely believe in cleanliness, and especially in the kitchen and my foods. But because of our learned fear of potentially contaminated food, it is hard for us to accept the safety of food made in a jar and left at room temperatures for several days, then weeks or months more in somewhat cooler room temps, all without any refrigeration. 

Most people freak if they even see butter sitting out on a counter. My mother always kept butter in a covered dish in a cabinet; summer temps rarely exceeded 75ºF and if they did, the butter merely got a little bit softer. I keep my butter in a butter bell (on the counter) which has water in it; the water keeps the butter soft at higher temps than my mother's home had.

Leaving foods unrefrigerated for 2 weeks or more can be very disturbing to people who were not raised with a crock of pickles in a hall closet, basement or garage. USDA Research Microbiologist Fred Breidt (who works at a lab at NC State University where they have been studying fermented foods since the 1930's) says properly fermented foods are actually safer than raw vegetables that may have been exposed to pathogens like E. coli on a farm across the nation or world somewhere.

So, what makes lacto-fermented foods safe?

Breidt said that there are no documented cases of food-borne illness from fermented vegetables, and they are much safer for novices to make than home-canned vegetables. Pressurized canning creates an anaerobic environment that increases the risk of deadly botulism, particularly with low-acid foods. "With fermented products there is no safety concern. The reason is the lactic acid bacteria that carry out the fermentation are the world's best killers of other bacteria."

While the lactic acid keeps the bad bacteria from growing during the fermentation process, the salt and oxygen in the jar or crock initially create an environment where botulism cannot live (aerobic). As the lactic acid begins to form it creates a gas which slowly pushes out the oxygen, but by then enough lactic acid has been produced to lower the pH to an acidic environment where bad bacteria will not survive.

So... take a deep breath, turn off the media warnings in your head, and take the plunge. Your grandma would be proud!

Eating Lacto-Fermented Vegetables

I will be posting a series on lacto-fermentation all week, beginning here with health benefits.

Lacto-fermented vegetables are intended to be eaten in small amounts with each meal, both as a digestive aid and as a nutrient-booster, although some people like a full serving on their plate. It's a matter of choice, but just a few tablespoons daily will improve your health. Put some pickle slices or kraut on a sandwich at lunchtime... and add a tablespoon or two of fermented carrots, broccoli or cauliflower on a dinner salad.

When I was out of high school and dating, my boyfriend always took me to one of the wonderful open-24-hour delicatessens for late-night dessert treat after a movie or a play. I remember there was always a 'relish' tray with perhaps 5-6 small dishes of pickles, kraut, beets, and several other items; Howie said they were to help with digestion. (They didn't go with my cake and ice cream, though.)

I didn't really understand that concept back then, since my family didn't make lacto-ferments and I had not grown up with eating them. It was only in recent years I understood my grandparents couldn't make them anymore due to the year-round warm weather they found in South Florida after moving from the dust bowl during the Depression. Much later, my mother moved to the NC mountains, and she started making sauerkraut and garlic dills for my step-father, who was born in Holland.

I doubt my mother knew the added nutritional benefits of ferments; she made them because they tasted great and my step-father loved them. Once any vegetable ferment has finished over the first 2-4 weeks, all of the ferments will taste great. However, the growth of added nutrients has just begun, and the taste just keeps getting better. The longer they mellow, the smoother the taste and the greater the nutrients (within a reasonable time, which is a variable of months to 2-3 years).

Lactic acid fermentation is a biological process by which sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, are converted into cellular energy and the metabolic byproduct lactate. (Probiotics) The term probiotics refers to bacteria and yeast found in food that are good for our bodies. Our skin and intestinal tract are completely covered in bacteria and the idea is that inviting the right kind of bacteria into our systems has health benefits. 

The human gut can contain over 2 lbs of intestinal microflora (beneficial bacteria) and they do some pretty important work there. They help digest food and create vitamins, they make it hard for bad bacteria to live there, and they stimulate the part of our immune system (70%) that is in our digestive system. In fact, there is more and more evidence that everything from acute intestinal upset to allergies to autism can be helped by normalizing gut bacteria and using probiotics.

Yogurt, kefir and buttermilk are all very common probiotic foods. These are all fermented dairy products that are eaten while the bacteria are still alive. Vegetables and fruit can also be cultured into probiotic foods through a process called lacto-fermentation. The Old-Timers merely called it 'pickling'.

The lacto-fermenting of vegetables is basically just covering vegetables with a salty brine and letting the bacteria do its work. The brine serves as a protection against the growth of putrefying microorganisms, and allows the growth of the desired of bacteria, Lactobacilli. Fermentation breaks nutrients down into more easily digestible forms. 

Lactobacilli transform lactose into easier-to-digest lactic acid. These cultures then create new nutrients: B vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin. Lactobacilli create omega-3 fatty acids, essential for cell membrane and immune system function. Some ferments have been shown to function as antioxidants, scavenging cancer precursors (free radicals) from the cells of the body. 

Sally Fallon says, "The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation [for a varying amount of time] but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine."

The bottom line is this: Fermentation is tasty, and makes food more nutritious.

Preserved Grape Leaves

Preserved Grape Leaves are expensive to purchase, and I have a grape vine... so I decided to try my hand at fermenting some at home, for a dolmades recipe. 

The fermenting recipe is easy. (I'll post the dolmades recipe when I make them.)

Wash the leaves well. I found the leaves repel water under the faucet, so I put them (individually) down flat in a 9 x 12 baking dish of water, where I could run my fingers over both sides, reducing the surface tension, then they gave up more specks rather than just under running water.

Place your stack of leaves in a solution of 1 tablespoon sea salt, 4 tablespoons whey (mine was from draining yogurt to make yogurt 'cheese') in 16 ounces (2 cups) filtered, non-chlorinated water.  If you don't have any whey (please don't use packaged whey), double the salt. Salted water encourages the lactobacillus present on the grape leaf skins to begin the ferment, and keeps the pathogens at bay. (The whey has live lactobacillus in it which jump-starts the fermentation.) Fully submerge the flat leaves in a dish for an hour or so, with a weight on top to keep them submerged. Pour the brine solution over them. This helps soften the leaves for rolling. If you don't have enough brine, just make more. I had to double the amount of brine solution for the size of my soaking pan.

After about an hour, stack a few leaves (I used 6), cut the stems off, and roll them into a tube shape. The leaves will roll better with the pale underside of the leaves on the inside. Repeat with remaining leaves. Place tubes in a wide-mouth quart jar and cover with the brine you had them soaking in, making more brine if necessary. I ended up using a half-gallon jar because the leaves I picked were just a bit too wide when rolled to fit in a quart jar. I won't make that mistake again! (Besides, the younger, smaller leaves are more tender.)

Place a lid and ring on the jar and store on the counter at room temperature for 3 or so days. Be sure all the leaves are fully submerged. You should open the jar every 24 hours to smell it, and to let any fermenting gases escape. After several days (maybe 5-7) you can place the jar in a cool, dark place (40-50ºF is ideal) or the refrigerator to continue fermenting, although the cold refrigerator will really slow down the fermentation. At warmer storage temps (but cooler than room temps) they should be ready in a couple of weeks. 

In fermenting anything, your own taste preference is important. Longer fermentation translates to tangier flavor. This happens more quickly in warm temperatures than in cool ones. If you start a ferment at harvest time, in the autumn, as temperatures are dropping, it can ferment for six months or longer. When you first begin fermenting, taste at maybe a week, and again at 3 more days, and again at 3 more days... and so on... until you get an idea how tangy you like your ferments. Be sure to note how long something fermented to a taste you like, but be sure to be aware not all vegetables will ferment at the same speed.

Results:
Day 1, contents bubbling slowly, leaves taking on a 'cooked' color. Need a weight to keep top edges of leaves submerged. Used the glass top of an old small sugar bowl, inverted. Just fits, with slight room for juice to come up and over it...
Day 2, jar bubbling slowly, but spilling over a little. Contents multi-colored, smells fine.
Day 3, bubbling slowed.
Day 4, no noticable bubbling. Smells fine. Tightened lid and stored in bottom of closet.

ps, I also started a pint of sugar snaps fermenting, just out of curiosity to see what happens. I used half a tablespoon kosher salt and 4 tablespoons whey added to the snaps and topped with water. Within 4 hours they had built up a bit of pressure inside the lid, so obviously they are 'working'.

Pickles, Lacto- Fermentation or Old-Time Fermentation

Free Pickles at a sandwich bar, photo from frankh's photostream

In the last few years, we have become focused on probiotics, and a spot-check of many refrigerators will find a container or two of yogurt, along with real cheese (naturally fermented; processed cheese is not) and maybe some wine, also naturally fermented. There might even be a bread box with some sourdough bread (which is naturally fermented). We all know that eating yogurt will increase the good bacteria in our intestines. As a cost-saving and ingredient-control, many of us even make our own yogurt, kefir and kimchee for the health benefits of the good bacteria cultured in the batches we make.

Why then, did we discontinue the old-time method of fermenting pickles, sauerkraut and other vegetables, which were probiotic? That older method is what today is known as lacto-fermentation or lactic acid fermentation (and sometimes called wild fermentation), the very same fermentation process that takes place in turning milk into yogurt. This process was known by earlier generations merely as 'pickling' and most general stores had a barrel of pickles where for a pittance you could spear one to eat.

Today, many of the same folks that are focused on eating yogurt and kefir for the good bacteria, are still making pickles with vinegar and heat-processing them, killing all the good bacteria, vitamins and enzymes in the process, and leaving the ingredients tasting of vinegar. Why? Lacto-fermentation is the simplest type of fermentation, and produces a superior tasting and healthier product. No canning necessary!

"The prized cultures of a San Francisco sourdough, or the finest Bleu cheese, have their roots in someone's kitchen or farmhouse long ago." ~Sandor Katz, Wild Fermentation, The Flavor, Nutrition and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.

When we 'lost' this old method of food preservation, we lost the incredible health benefits that came with it. Canned sauerkraut and pickles, whether home canned or store-bought, simply do not give us the same healthy benefits.

The pickling method our grandmothers used was easy: put your cukes or sliced cabbage or vegetables in a crock in layers with salt (which draws out the vegetable juices and becomes a brine), weigh them down with a plate and a jug of water, cover, and ignore. Pretty soon they had tasty pickles or sauerkraut, loaded with beneficial bacteria. Over time, recipes evolved for different tastes in their pickles... garlic, dill and mustard seed come to mind. Adding fresh grape leaves or fresh horseradish leaves produced a crunchier pickle. Sauerkraut might include caraway seeds, or juniper berries... or even cranberries. They found they could pickle all sorts of vegetables including carrots, cauliflower, radish, beets and even pickle eggs and pigs feet. Soon they had a whole cellar-full of healthy eating stored for winter.

The brine serves as a protection against the growth of putrefying microorganisms, and favors the growth of desired strains of bacteria, Lactobacilli. Fermentation breaks the nutrients down into more easily digestible forms. For example in making yogurt, Lactobacilli transform lactose (milk sugar) into easier-to-digest lactic acid. (Many meat products like salami are also fermented, although today it may be a chemical imitation rather than the real thing.) These bacterial cultures also create new nutrients – B vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin. Lactobacilli create omega-3 fatty acids, essential for cell membrane and immune system function. Some ferments have been shown to function as antioxidants, scavenging cancer precursors (free radicals) from the cells of the body. No matter how you look at it, it is simply this: Fermentation makes food more nutritious.

There are many ways to preserve besides the brine method. Vegetables can be submerged in whey, or wine instead of a salty brine. There are dry-salt methods used around the world for foods such as lemons, anchovies and salt cod. However, an easy way to start is with vegetables in a brine. The only trick is to keep everything submerged as the bacteria work in the absence of air. My mother kept a big pickle crock in the unheated garage. You could dip out a few into a jar (with some brine or just added water to keep them from drying out) and refrigerate them for weeks, and as long as what remained in the crock was submerged in the brine, the pickles or sauerkraut would keep all winter.

I will be posting how to make a variety of fermented vegetables as my vegetables mature in the garden throughout the coming months, and it can be done in canning jars if you don't have a crock. Right now I am fermenting grape leaves to be used for the Mediterranean foods known as dolmas, or dolmades. Look for it soon.

Update July 7, 2010
After more trials and a few errors, I am refining my fermentation procedure, away from open crocks although I have 2 of those going right now too. I will start posting my newer methods in about 5-7 days, so stay tuned.

Storing Foods for Emergencies

Part of my pantry in progress, Fall 2008

For many years I have kept a goodly amount of foods in my pantry in case of an emergency. (I have been through too many hurricanes and ice storms not to!) However, with my change in diet, the bulk of what I have on hand isn't what I now eat... although in a crisis, it's better than nothing. I have enough cereal grains, pasta and legumes to feed a family of four for 3+ months but I don't eat those anymore.

I do have many jars of home-canned meats and soup stocks, and now a small freezer full of meats. If there's no power for a few days the freezer contents will spoil unless it's below freezing outside and I can secure those foods in a shed, so that's iffy storage. I also have plenty of home-canned vegetables, but the starchy ones like corn are not on my "good for me" list.

I've been looking into what I can store in my pantry at cool room temperatures which will meet my current nutritional needs. One thing for sure, is to can more meat, fish and fowl. I can also make pemmican; it isn't difficult at all, and lasts up to 20 years on the shelf. I can convert some butter into ghee, another easy-to-do task. Properly stored ghee is good up to 10 years. I need to increase my store of saturated fats... coconut oil, lard and tallow. And more olive oil in light-proof tins.

One biggie I want to try is storing eggs. A common method was storing eggs in water-glass. Other methods were eggs stored in a combination of salt and bran, eggs dipped in tallow or wax and covered with flour or bran, and eggs stored in lard.

Eggs will keep in water-glass for about 6-9 months. Even when I have my own chickens for eggs, there will be a period of non-production every year when they moult, so I'd be without eggs even if there is no crisis. I have read many procedures for storing eggs, and water-glass looks like something for me to try. Eggs have been as successfully stored in lard but that takes a LOT of lard. I may try it anyway with maybe a dozen or so eggs just to see. Actually, it may be just as cheap to use lard; water-glass (silicate of soda) costs around $40 a gallon I think, and you dilute it with water 10:1.

None of those measures will work if the eggs are not fresh, and if they have been washed. Eggs fresh from the chicken are coated in a substance that seals the egg air-tight, which is why farmers can store a few eggs (to be used in a week or so) in a basket on a kitchen counter.

I know you can scramble eggs, dehydrate them, then grind them into a powder. I think that would be good to have on hand as a nutritional supplement to add protein to other foods in a crisis, but doesn't appeal to me for breakfast!

Confit preparation is something else I want to try. We all are familiar with fruit confit (stored in sugar), better known as candied fruit. Meat confit (stored in fat) originated as a means of preserving meats without refrigeration. Traditional meat for a confit included waterfowl such as goose and duck, plus turkey and pork, but other meats are also used.

Curing meats, and smoking meat, fish and cheese is something else I want to learn. Plus, I intend to try a greater variety iof naturally fermented foods this fall.

As I play around with each of these methods of storing foods, I will post them, with photos.

Broccoli and Friends

Photo from pieterjanviaene's photostream

Didn't your mother say, "Eat your broccoli"?

The cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, and cauliflower (Brassicas) are good for us under some circumstances. It just so happens I like them, especially broccoli. Yum!

The "good for us" part is that they contain a substance called I3C; when they are chewed, swallowed, and get to the stomach acid, I3C's combine to form another substance (DIM) that causes the liver to block some toxic enzymes, and helps protect the body against environmental estrogens. (Technical information here.) Most of our foods come to us carrying residues of herbicides, pesticides and even residues from plastic packaging; these substances all have estrogen-like endocrine disruptors.

It is suggested to eat these cruciferous vegetables every day (and eat lots of them) to fight disease, especially cancer. That's the good news.

The bad news is that cooking deactivates the good-healthy-for-us I3C. Additionally, cruciferous vegetables contain goitrogens which inhibit thyroid function, and for someone like me with a low thyroid condition, it's a big problem. (Your thyroid controls how quickly the body uses energy, and how it makes proteins.) So that means cooking brassicas isn't good for anyone because it deactivates I3C. Eating them raw is fine if your digestive system can handle it. (I love raw broccoli on a crudities tray but it always gives me terrible indigestion.)

So the answer is to learn to make and eat your cruciferous vegetables fermented, because culturing maintains the I3C which would be lost by cooking, and culturing neutralizes the thyroid-depressing substances. By cultured, I mean more than just pickles and sauerkraut. Fermented cauliflower and carrots would be a nice topping on a garden salad, and I love a few pickled onions on a sandwich. I have Sandor Katz' book on wild fermentation, but a quick glimpse on Amazon lists several books that contain basic fermenting techniques and recipes.

When I was a young adult, my boyfriend and I frequented a few Jewish Deli's over on Miami Beach. On every table, right along with the ubiquitous salt and pepper, was always a relish tray with small bowls of sauerkraut, and other pickled (fermented) vegetables. Howie said it was for good digestion.

I never thought about it much back then, but now it makes perfect sense to me. Cultured Raw Vegetables contain high amounts of probiotics, and ingesting just a little bit of all those natural enzymes aids our digestion and begins to re-colonize our intestinal tract with the good guys.

Just FYI: Canola oil is made from rapeseed, which is a Brassica.