by Mary
When winter sets in, vegetable lovers
living at the chillier latitudes have to make a choice. Do we
partake of the abundance of produce which has traveled from the far
corners of the world to our supermarkets, or do we accept a less
diverse selection in order to “Buy Local”? Do we ignore the
environmental impacts (from fossil fuel burning) and lower quality of
well-traveled vegetables, so that we can eat tomatoes and cucumbers
in January? Or do we find creative ways to enjoy the hardy greens
and root vegetables that we can buy from our local farmers and store
in our basements through the cold months?
As a vegetable grower who feels real
pain whenever I try to buy vegetables in a conventional supermarket,
I definitely advocate buying local whenever possible and storing up
food for the winter. My favorite way to preserve vegetables I've
harvested in the fall is through the time-honored process of
fermentation. In the context of vegetables, fermentation is the
transformation of food by acidifying (lactic acid) bacteria,
generally through cultivating the bacteria that naturally occur on
the plants. Fermentation has been used to transform and preserve
food throughout human history, beginning more than 8000 years ago!
The word “bacteria” has negative
connotations for many people, and fear of growing the “wrong”
type of bacteria deters many from leaving food out, unrefrigerated,
for days or weeks to ferment. But fear not – there are NO
documented cases of food-borne illness from fermented vegetables,
according to USDA microbiologist
Fred
Breidt. “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. Raw food is more risky than fermented
food, since raw vegetables may be contaminated by “bad” bacteria
such as E. coli.
In fact, the bacteria in fermented
vegetables are actually
beneficial to our health. The
bacteria
that live in the gut are vital for digesting food, absorbing
nutrients and, as we're now beginning to understand, for proper
immune function and other body processes. Antibiotics and chemicals
we're exposed to destroy our beneficial gut bacteria. Fermented
foods restore and diversity our “microfauna.”
“Ferment!” reads the hand-penned
inscription in my personalized copy of
Sandor
Katz' book
The Art of Fermentation.* Katz is a
self-described “fermentation revivalist,” and I was inspired to
experiment with fermentation (and buy his book) after attending one
of his workshops. His book is a veritable fermentation bible,
describing and documenting fermentation of not only vegetables, but
also fruit, milk, grains, meat . . . The possibilities are endless!
Katz explains the history and processes behind fermentation, but
what's most inspiring is his emphasis on how
easy it is to
successfully ferment food. No complex or detailed recipe is
necessary, just an understanding of the basic principles and a
willingness to experiment.
Chop up a cabbage and any
additional vegetables you'd like to add. [I like to mix green and
red cabbage, for a nice hot pink sauerkraut, and add shredded beets
and carrots.]
Put the chopped veggies in a large
bowl and lightly salt them. Katz doesn't measure the salt, but some
sources recommend 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of salt per pound of
vegetables. Experiment with the amount of salt until you get the
flavor you like.
Squeeze the veggies for a few
minutes, to release their juices. They must be submerged in their
own juices for fermentation to work.
Pack the veggies and their juices
tightly into a jar, so that there are no air bubbles in the jar and
the veggies are submerged under juice.
Seal the jar and set it on your
kitchen counter or somewhere you can keep an eye on it. Since gases
will be produced and pressure will build in the jar, be sure to
uncap the jar daily to release the pressure. You may also need to
press the veggies down to keep them submerged.
Start tasting your sauerkraut
after 3-5 days. Eat and enjoy, or wait longer is you prefer a
stronger, zingier flavor!
 |
| My Sauerkraut Set-up: (Top to Bottom) Small jar acts as a
weight. Cabbage leaf supports jar and keeps kraut submerged. Plate
catches liquid which overflows occasionally during process. |
Once you've mastered basic sauerkraut,
you can experiment with different vegetables and seasonings, and move
on to fermented beverages (like kombucha and kefir), cheese, beans
(soy sauce and miso) . . . Katz's book describes recipes for an
endless variety of fermentations from all corners of the world, so
you can fill your home with all sorts of bubbling concoctions if you
really catch the “fermentation bug!”
“Ferment!” You'll feel good
knowing that you're transforming and preserving food following a
grand tradition that's been practiced throughout history. But also,
since every fermentation is different, you'll be creating a tasty and
healthful product that's unique to your own kitchen and striking a
blow against the distressing trend of food homogenization.
*Sandor Katz, The Art of
Fermentation (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012).
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