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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Fermenting For Dummies (9781119594208) was previously published as Fermenting For Dummies (9781118615683). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product. Want to ferment at home? Easy. Fermentation is what makes foods like beer, pickles, and sauerkraut delicious--and nutritious. Fermented foods are chock-full of probiotics that aid in digestive and overall health. In addition, the fermentation process also has been shown to add nutrients to food, making already nutritious food even better! Fermenting For Dummies provides step-by-step information for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation. Fermenting For Dummies gives you the scoop on the fermenting process, the tools and ingredients you'll need to get started, and 100+ recipes for fermenting at home. So what are you waiting for? * Shows you how to ferment vegetables, including slaw-style, pickles, and kimchee * Covers how to ferment dairy into yogurt, kefir, cheese, and butter * Explains how to ferment fruits, from lemons to tomatoes, and how to serve them * Details how to ferment beverages, including mead, beer, kombucha, vinegar, and more If you're interested in preserving food using this ancient method, Fermenting For Dummies has everything you need to get started.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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Fermenting For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019934590
ISBN: 978-1-119-59420-8; ISBN: 978-1-119-59421-5 (ebk); ISBN: 978-1-119-59422-2 (ebk)
Fermenting For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Fermenting For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Getting Started with Fermenting
Chapter 1: In the Beginning: Fermenting Roots
Getting Familiar with Fermentation
Fermentation throughout History
How Can Something Rotten Be Good for Me?
Fermenting Essentials
Pickling (and How It Differs from Fermenting)
A Quick and Easy Intro to Fermenting: Making Sauerkraut
Chapter 2: The 4-1-1 on Fermenting
Why Ferment?
Getting Acquainted with the Good and Bad Guys
The Mechanics of Fermenting
Chapter 3: The Benefits of Fermenting
The Lowdown on Lacto-Fermentation and How It Helps Your Body
How Fermentation Can Make You a Better Cook
Figuring Out How Much and How Often
Chapter 4: Getting It All Together
Assembling Your Equipment and Tools
Keeping Everything Clean
Getting Familiar with Common Ingredients
Sourcing the Best Foods for Fermentation
Part 2: Vegetables, Fruits, Condiments, and Salsas
Chapter 5: Vegetables
Picking Produce for Fermenting
Selecting Starters for Vegetable Ferments
Mastering the Basics
Chapter 6: Fun with Fruits
Fermenting Fruit for Long-Term Storage
Selecting Ideal Fruits
Nondairy Starters for Fruit Fermentation
To Add Sugar or Not to Add Sugar? That Is the Question
Chapter 7: Spreads, Dips, Condiments, and Salsas
Reaping the Health Benefits of Homemade Condiments
Experimenting with Flavor
Exploring Vinegars
Part 3: Grains, Seeds, Nuts, and Beans
Chapter 8: Grains
Getting to Know Your Grains
Soaking and Sprouting Grains
Infamous Sourdough and Its Starter
Chapter 9: Beans
Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit
Soy and Fermented Soy Foods
Chapter 10: Nuts, Seeds, Coconuts, and Tubers
Nuts and Seeds: Great Nutrition in Small Packages
Sprouting Nuts and Seeds
Making Nondairy Ferments
Cracking into Coconuts
Fermenting Potatoes and Other Roots
Part 4: Meat, Dairy, and Eggs
Chapter 11: Got Milk?
The Basics of Fermenting Milk
Sourcing Your Starter Cultures
Serving and Storing Fermented Dairy Products
Chapter 12: Making Cheese
Understanding Cheese Making Ingredients and Techniques
Making Soft and Semisoft Cheeses
Making Hard Cheeses
Serving Cheese
Chapter 13: Meat, Fish, and Eggs
Choosing Meat and Ingredients for Fermentation
Choosing Casings
Meat Fermentation Techniques
Making Food Safety a Priority
Choosing a Spot to Ferment Meat
Storing Fermented Meats
Part 5: Beer, Wine, and Other Beverages
Chapter 14: Healing Beverages
Choosing Starters
Making Natural Carbonated Drinks
Kefir
Amasake
Kombucha
Chapter 15: Making Wine from Water and Fruit
Getting Yourself Ready to Make Wine
Understanding Wine Fermentation
Storing and Aging Your Wine
Finishing and Bottling
Tasting and Talking about Wine
Chapter 16: Brewing Basics
Gathering Your Ingredients
Cleaning Up Your Act: Sanitation
Ready, Set, Brew: Beginners
A Primer on Priming
Bottling Your Brew
Intermediate Homebrewing
Chapter 17: Brewing Beer
Looking at Beer Types
Exploring Specific Types of Ales, Lagers, and More
Trying a Few Beer Recipes
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18: More Than Ten Troubleshooting Tips for Fermented Creations
My Fermented Food Is Too Salty. What Do I Do?
Why Is the Fermentation Taking So Long?
Why Are My Fermented Creations Different throughout the Year?
Why Is My Ferment Too Soft or Mushy?
Why Isn’t My Ferment Working?
Why Is My Fermented Creation Too Dry?
What Do I Do about Yeast or Mold on the Surface of the Ferment?
What Should I Do about a Ferment Jar That’s Bulging?
Why Did the Color Change?
Why Is My Ferment Leaking or Overflowing?
Why Does It Stink?
Chapter 19: Top Ten Benefits of Eating Fermented Foods
A Much-Needed Nutritional Boost
Digestion, Enzymes, and Probiotics
Immunity Boost
Unique Flavor
Money Savings
Time Savings
Ecological Impact
Slow Food Movement
Control over Your Food
The Satisfaction of Doing Something Good for Yourself
Chapter 20: More Than Ten Food and Equipment Resources
Cultures for Health
Yolife
Water Kefir Grains
Wildwood Foods
Miso Master
Leeners
Homesteader's Supply
The Sausage Maker
New England Cheesemaking Supply
The Sausage Source
Adventures in Homebrewing
Chapter 21: More Than Ten Tips for a Long and Healthy Life
Food Is Medicine, So Eat to Enhance Your Health
Use Alternative Sugar
Reduce Plastic Use and Go BPA-Free
Choose Organic
Get to Know Your Farmer
Be Conscious about Your Condiments
Eat Whole Grains
Choose GMO-Free Foods
Get Protein from Plants
Find Vegan Milk, Butter, and Dairy Options
Learn to Love Water
Index
About the Authors
Supplemental Images
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 8
TABLE 8-1 Ancient Grains
TABLE 8-2 Pseudo-Grains
Chapter 10
TABLE 10-1 Sprouting Times
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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Introduction
Fermenting your own food may seem like a daunting and unattainable process to take on at home. We have to admit, we were there one day too. But after you wrap your head around it, understand fermenting’s history and methods, and know why fermented foods are so beneficial to your health, you may just reconsider. And because you’re reading this book now, you’re likely there already.
Coauthor Marni: As someone whose philosophy is rooted in natural nutrition, each step of my journey with food has been a true evolution. I’ve taken on each layer with true determination. When I first made the choice to eat a clean whole foods diet, it only became natural to take on all the things that came with eating in a more natural way. This included sprouting, juicing, blending and the most intimidating of the bunch — fermenting.
I resisted fermenting for years, thinking it was too difficult. When I started my first batch of sauerkraut, I had reached new levels in my kitchen and in my own health. The concept of it was a true novelty. It was so simple and so rewarding to preserve my own food. Of course, experimenting with all the different forms of plant-based foods was my true mission. So it was only natural to start taking some of my existing recipes and altering them to become more nutritionally active and alive.
Coauthor Amy: I can’t remember a time when food wasn’t an activity in my family. Sauerkraut, corned venison, pickled eggs — these were the foods of my people. It wasn’t until I became a teenager that I realized no one else knew what in the world I was eating! From this upbringing, I developed a taste for fermented foods.
There’s something intriguing about taking a single food and completely changing the taste and texture in a simple way. The smells and tingle of good fermented nourishment always remind me of being loved and cared for. I bring that same sense of self-reliance and health to this book. Each time I teach someone about the benefits of fermenting foods, I know that it opens up a whole new world of delicious taste that can come from their own backyard. There’s no need to travel to exotic locations to experience delightfully tasty, nutritious food. You can create a wide variety of recipes with the simple ingredients you have on hand and a little time.
About This Book
This book breaks down the whole process of fermenting, from how to get started to what equipment and ingredients you need to discovering all the different foods that you can ferment. You’ll be quite amazed at what takes place during the process of fermentation.
Here are a few of the topics that we explore:
The basics of fermentation
How to get started
The benefits of fermented foods
All the different types of foods that you can ferment: vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, meat, dairy, and beverages
On a technical note, you may notice that some web addresses in this book break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these websites, simply key in the web address exactly as it’s written in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy — just click the web address to be taken directly to the website.
Foolish Assumptions
This book is for anyone interested in exploring the world of fermented foods. They’re fascinating to learn about and healthy to boot. So if you’re looking to take your health up a notch and take your foods to the next level, then this book is for you!
We expect that you have an interest in the topic and that you probably fall into one of these categories:
You want to learn the basics of fermentation.
You want to preserve your foods using natural methods that don’t involve cans, vinegar, or other methods of food preservation.
Your digestion is weak and you’re looking for a natural solution through foods to heal your gut.
You’re interested in getting back to your roots and into the kitchen.
You’re looking to make your own homemade fermented beverages and foods so that you can avoid the not-so-healthy options in the supermarket.
Icons Used in This Book
This book uses icons — small graphics in the margins — to help you quickly recognize especially important information in the text. Here are the icons we use and what they mean.
This icon appears whenever an idea or item can save you time, money, or stress as you add more fermented foods to your diet. These include cooking and shopping tips and ideas for incorporating fermented foods into some of your existing meals.
Any time you see this icon, you know the information that follows is so important that it’s worth reading more than once.
This icon flags information that highlights dangers to your health or well-being.
When the discussion veers off into the realm of too technical or downright nerdy, you’ll see this icon.
Beyond the Book
In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Even though we try to give you as much info as possible in this book, you’ll likely want to find out more. To get to the cheat sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type Fermenting For Dummies cheat sheet in the search bar.
In addition, you can read interesting companion articles that supplement the book's content at www.dummies.com/extras/fermenting. We’ve even included an extra top-ten list, which For Dummies readers seem to love.
Where to Go from Here
For Dummies books are organized in such a way that you can surf through any of the chapters and find useful information without having to start at Chapter 1. Naturally, we encourage you to read the whole book, but this structure makes it very easy to start with the topics that interest you the most.
If you’re looking to gain an understanding of fermentation and its roots and what you need to get started, take a look at Chapters 1, 2, and 4. If you’re trying to understand why fermented foods are so good for you, check out Chapter 3. If you’re vegetarian, vegan, or generally plant-based in your diet, you may want to refer to Part 3, which covers all things plant-based.
Chapters 11 through 13 cover animal-based fermenting. So if you’re looking to ferment dairy, meat, or fish, these chapters are for you. The book also has several chapters on fermented beverages, from healing beverages in Chapter 14 to alcoholic beverages in Chapters 15, 16, and 17.
No matter where you go in Fermenting For Dummies, you’re sure to discover a lot and gain a healthy attitude toward fermented foods!
Part 1
Getting Started with Fermenting
IN THIS PART …
Get familiar with the basics of fermentation.
Discover traditional to modern practices of fermentation.
Find out the difference between pickling and fermentation.
Figure out the items you want to ferment.
Understand why fermented foods are so good for you and your gut.
Chapter 1
In the Beginning: Fermenting Roots
IN THIS CHAPTER
Exploring the history of fermented food
Achieving optimal health by integrating fermented foods into your diet
Gathering essential fermenting ingredients
Using brine to pickle foods
Making your first ferment: sauerkraut
Before the days of refrigerators, people had to do something to keep their foods from going bad. Fermentation is one of those incredible preservation methods still used today. You can preserve foods in so many different ways: You can freeze them, can them, dry them for storage, or ferment them. These days, few people know and love the art of fermentation, but it’s an art that has existed for many years past and, when you discover it, a world of splendor opens up!
Fermented foods are returning to the modern kitchen. The art of fermentation precedes history and happens by capturing and controlling the growth of bacteria, molds, and yeasts, and falling in love with the presence of lactobacilli found on the surface of all things. You’ll discover more about the importance of these healthy living microbes in fermentation as you read on.
Fermentation is a unique, natural, and fun way to preserve your food, discover new flavors and recipes, and go on a mind-bending adventure through various cultures and through an ancient history of food that has existed for centuries around the world. If you’re lucky, fermentation can even act as a tool for self-discovery and a vehicle for self-exploration in health and healing.
Getting Familiar with Fermentation
Fermented foods are all around you. You may not realize it, but you’re likely already a consumer of one or more fermented food products. Have you had any sourdough bread, soy sauce, tofu, yogurt, cheese, or a glass of cider or wine lately? Does your sandwich come with a salty pickle or some sauerkraut on the side? You can thank the process of fermentation for these items.
Fermentation turns sugars to alcohol or other acids using yeast and bacteria. The chemical change often involves increasing the acidic environment and develops in places without oxygen (anaerobic conditions). It’s a low-cost, highly efficient way of preserving foods.
Fermented foods have existed for centuries as populations around the globe learned how to capture the slow decomposition process of organic materials and preserve them by adding salts, sugars, or yeasts. They controlled mold and promoted good bacteria with the intention of maximizing the shelf life of their foods, enhancing flavors, or gaining health benefits.
Getting to know the art of fermentation also gets you familiar with the beauty of bacteria and its desirable presence in your food products. The changes caused by fermentation can be both good and bad. When fermentation occurs naturally, the food can smell or taste “off” (think of sour milk), but when you control the fermentation process, you can actually have some incredible results! When you execute fermentation processes properly, something that could have turned rotten instead turns into a consumable product. That’s right — bacteria, yeasts, and molds will soon become your new best friends.
When fermenting foods, the key to developing the perfect environment and flavor and gaining all the great health benefits is to be confident, experiment, and do your best to create the utmost environment for fermentation, with proportional ingredients to support its growth. Some recipes are more challenging than others or require longer fermentation time, but plenty of fun and simple recipes are out there for beginners.
Fermentation throughout History
Food can give you insight into cultural and culinary traditions from around the world. Every part of the world has had a fermented food to be proud of. From beverages and breads to vegetables and fruits to meats and milk, there is often a whole culture and ritual behind these fascinating fermentations. This section pulls back a historical veil and reveals some rhymes and reasons behind this unique food process.
Mesoamerica: Calling all chocolate lovers!
Fermentation is essential to making delicious and tasty chocolate. The history of chocolate began with the Mayan civilization. The cacao tree grows in the tropics and produces a long fruit pod that, when ripe, is yellowish in color and contains anywhere from 20 to 30 cacao beans, or seeds, surrounded by a delicious white, fruity pulp. The seeds are left inside the white pulp to ferment and begin changing the chemical compound and releasing the flavor of chocolate that you know and love into the beans. These seeds are what is harvested and processed to make chocolate. Some cultures used the fruit pulp alone to make a fermented, slightly alcoholic drink consumed by Aztec warriors and aristocrats. Although some chocolate is made using unfermented cacao beans, the most flavorful and least bitter chocolate is born from fermentation. Cacao beans were so valuable in Mayan civilization that they were even used as a form of barter and currency! (See Chapter 14 for a drink recipe that uses cacao.)
Africa: Turning toxins into edible tubers
The cassava root is consumed in many parts of the world but has a strong presence in Africa. It is very rich in starch, a great calorie filler, and a relatively cheap market item. This staple food is abundant locally and cooked in many different ways. Deep-fried, steamed, boiled, or fermented, cassava can be sweet or savory. It needs to be fermented or cooked because it contains an amount of cyanide that’s unpalatable and toxic to human consumption. Gari is the name for the common fermented cereal made from cassava, which could be compared to North American oatmeal, only fermented. (See Chapter 10 for notes on how to prepare cassava.)
Asia: Thirst-quenching and candied culture
Kombucha is one of the strangest looking fermentations, as it is done using a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts) and appears rubbery in nature when growing. When placed in the correct environment, the combination of a SCOBY with tea and sugar creates an ancient health drink, kombucha, a fermented tea that is said to have originated in Central Asia. When drunk in moderation, kombucha has a wide range of health benefits. In some cases, the SCOBY alone is even candied by adding lots of sugar. Today, kombucha is becoming widely recognized among health food shops and within new-age environments. (See the nearby sidebar, as well as Chapter 14, for more on kombucha.)
Eastern Europe and Russia: Bubbly fruit kvass
Kvass is the Eastern European version of Asian kombucha. It’s a fermented beverage that’s most commonly made from rye, though other yeasts and fruits can be used. It has a low alcohol percentage and has been a common drink in Eastern Europe, and especially Russia, for centuries. In many cases throughout their patriotic history, people have chosen kvass over Coca-Cola! (See Chapter 14 for a kvass recipe.)
Japan: The sensational soybean
The soybean has become a widely cultivated and commonly distributed fermented food product. Tofu, tempeh, miso, and soy sauce are among the most recognized fermented soy goods, which originated in East Asia. The soybean itself has been cultivated around the globe and is a major industrialized food that serves populations worldwide. Although many people have problems with soy allergies, in moderation the fermented soybean (covered in Chapter 9) can actually enhance digestibility, reduce gas and bloating, and add beneficial flora to a person’s diet.
ALLEVIATING DIGESTIVE DISCOMFORT
The exciting thing about being a culinary nutritionist is that I (Marni) get to inspire people and help them improve their health. Every client presents a different challenge, and we work together to find unique solutions to suit that individual’s body and lifestyle needs.
Many of my clients come to me with digestive issues, and one client in particular had been suffering from digestive discomfort for years. She had a list of common symptoms: bloating, gas, and irritability. What was happening to her gut? I suggested she be daring and try something new. I suggested she try making her own kombucha or at least buy some to include in her diet every day.
The results were incredible! After sipping just a half cup every day with lunch for a week, her bloating subsided, her energy increased, and she felt significantly better. As you can see, just a small amount of fermented foods can have a profound effect on the body!
North Africa and Morocco: When life gives you lemons
Morocco tells a different story of the lemon. Lemons may be the last thing you thought of putting into your mouth whole, but with the magic of fermentation, you can eat them rind and all. When lemons are quartered, salted, and stuffed into jars left to ferment, they transform into a zesty treat. You can leave them in saltwater brine for years (see a recipe for preserved lemons in Chapter 6) and then use them in stews and sauces or to add a zesty kick to any recipe.
How Can Something Rotten Be Good for Me?
In her book Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon says that 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 byproduct, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.
Fermented food helps turn those hard-to-digest substances into digestible ones and even comes chock-full of vitamins and minerals.
It may be deceiving that a food that has seemingly started to ferment can be good for you. Yes, the line can seem quite thin between rotting and fermenting, but as you get to know the art of fermentation, you’ll quickly discover the difference. Food that is rotten has already become useless and inedible. It can smell bad, be moldy, and can certainly harm one’s health. Fermented foods actually prevent rotting, can even be safer to eat than fresh food, and last much longer before they’re considered truly spoiled. Fermenting foods can enhance the foods’ flavors — you’ll grow to love the new smells, strange fizzes, and interesting looks.
Fermented foods offer some amazing health benefits. They can
Improve your digestibility
Help you better absorb more vitamins and minerals
Lower your risk of eating spoiled foods or getting food poisoning
Reduce your risk of cancer and other diseases
For more information on how fermenting foods increases the nutrients in the food and the digestibility of your gut, see Chapter 3.
Fermenting Essentials
The fundamental things you need to ferment foods are often the same, but there are many variations of those ingredients that can change your results.
Fermenting containers: Fermented foods must be made without the presence of oxygen or spoilage will occur. A good fermenting container is essential to your success. Use a sturdy container that’s large enough to hold your fermented goods. Containers are best made from glass, like Mason jars, or nonreactive materials, such as a crockpot made from ceramic or a well-cleaned plastic bucket. The key to fermentation is creating an anaerobic, or oxygen-free, environment by sealing out any outside air.
Look for fermentation jars with an airlock seal that allows gas to escape but no air to get inside, though in some recipes a weighted lid will do the trick.
Lactobacilli:
These naturally occurring bacteria are essential to the fermentation process. These good bacteria have been proven to fight intestinal inflammation and help create a healthy gut. They also enhance the flavors and digestibility of fermented foods — they’re the invisible workers that make your food ferment!
Salt:
Salt can kill any bacteria that may cause illness. It does this by creating a less inhabitable environment by removing water from the plant cells. Salt also helps enhance the flavors of food. It can reduce sweetness or bitterness in foods, a desirable thing for your recipes!
Spices and herbs:
You add herbs and spices to your fermented foods to create unique recipes. Think of adding ginger to your kombucha, cranberries to your sauerkraut, or caraway seeds to your pickled goods!
A starter or a culture:
Many fermented recipes ask for a starter or a culture. No, we’re not looking for you to adopt a new way of life; this type of culture is one full of existing microbial life. A fermentation starter can come in the form of a dried powder, yeast, or a wet substance and is essentially used to boost the food’s flavor and the digestion process. You can get good results using a kick-start from a previous batch to accelerate the fermentation process. You can purchase starters or, depending on the product, reuse them from other food products like sourdough or yogurt.
Sugar:
You use sugar to help preserve foods when salt would be undesirable. (Imagine making jam or kombucha with salt. Yuck!) Most commonly used in wet brine, sugar can include cane sugar, honey, or maple syrup. (Refer to
Chapter 6
for info on sugar substitutes.)
Time:
Every good fermented food product needs time. The tiny microbes will work to turn those starches into sugars and alcohol and will only slow down if you place them in cooler temperatures. Depending on the end product, you’ll leave your ferments anywhere from two to seven days, or longer! Check your recipe and taste your food according to the flavors you desire.
Pickling (and How It Differs from Fermenting)
There are so many different kinds of pickles! Pickles are generally associated with the traditional cucumber in brine, but you can pickle all kinds of things, from fruit and vegetables to meat, fish, and eggs. In India, some of the most popular pickles are made from mango and lime. In Europe, you’ll find pickled herring, olives, and beets. From Asia to Europe, the world of pickling is vast and varied.
Pickling is the process of preserving food using a brine (saltwater) solution. The salt in pickling acts on the food by drawing out the water from its cells and kills any bad bacteria that may spoil the food. Pickles are often added to a meal to help aid with digestion, giving your body that extra bit of Lactobacillus acidophilus it needs to restore some healthy gut and intestinal flora.
So, what’s the difference between pickling and fermenting? Fermenting and pickling can seem very similar, but they’re not the same thing. The process that occurs inside the brine is called fermentation, but the act of making brine and placing food into the saltwater solution is called pickling. Pickling also usually requires added heat through a canning process, whereas fermented goods can sit out on your shelf and don’t require heat. Fermented foods thrive in anaerobic conditions and make use of naturally occurring “good” bacteria submerged under the saltwater. Fermented foods have a bit of a tangy flavor, while pickled goods taste salty or vinegary all the way through.
The role of salt in fermentation is to help draw out water from foods and make a salty living environment so bad bacteria have little chance of survival. A brine is created in fermented recipes to preserve fruits and vegetables or other food products. Making brine can be a bit of an experiment, and the salt measurements sometimes depend on your personal preference. Remember that a little salt goes a long way! Some brine even contains a bit of sugar to balance out the salty flavor.
Here are some general tips on pickling:
Use the firmest, freshest vegetables or fruit possible.
Scrub your veggies well before using them; any dirt or bacteria can affect them.
Make sure you clean and sterilize all your pickling supplies.
Choose unrefined salt for the highest-quality and best-tasting pickles.
Keep your vegetables submerged under the brine (salt solution).
Wait the recommended period of time before eating your pickled goods.
A Quick and Easy Intro to Fermenting: Making Sauerkraut
Before we end this chapter, we want to show you just how easy it is to experience the wonders of fermented food. One of the most popular forms of fermenting and pickling is done with the common cabbage. For centuries, cabbage has been made into kimchi in Korea and sauerkraut in Germany. There are many different types of sauerkraut. Sauerkraut is an incredible recipe that uses the process of wild fermentation, meaning that no starters are needed. The natural bacteria living on the plant life are responsible alone for the ferment. It doesn’t get any easier than that, which makes sauerkraut a perfect recipe for fermentation beginners!
Here are the items you need:
One head of cabbage (any color your heart desires)
Sea salt
A well-sharpened knife and a cutting board
Cleaned and sterilized fermenting containers; a glass bowl, wide-mouth Mason jars, ceramic bowls, or plastic buckets will all work just fine
Sometimes people use a weighted object to cover sauerkraut as it ferments. Whether you use one depends on the fermenting container you’re using. For sauerkraut, large ceramic bowls or wide-mouth jars are certainly handy. Keeping your cabbage submerged under the wet brine is most important. A weight, something as simple as a heavy plate or a plate with a stone on top, helps to put pressure on the top of your container and pack down your cabbage.
Try to ensure that the plate fits snugly around the circumference of any vessel you use. You want to allow the gas to escape but minimal oxygen to get inside that may cause mold to build on your sauerkraut. If you notice mold, you can scrape it off and still eat the cabbage below. The fermentation process and all the salt will kill off any unwanted microbes.
After you gather your materials and equipment, here’s how you make sauerkraut:
Chop the cabbage into fine, thin slices.
Place the cabbage into a large bowl or plastic bucket and add an even amount of salt to cover the cabbage.
Two to four tablespoons should suffice, but feel free to add according to your taste and preference.
Mix the salty cabbage and squeeze the vegetable until liquid begins to emerge from it.
The act of salting the cabbage draws out enough water. You’ll get to see this over time.
Place the squeezed-cabbage tightly into a Mason jar or other fermenting container.
Press it forcefully down into the bottom of the container so it’s packed well. You don’t want to have any air bubbles. Ensure that the brine (saltwater) is covering the cabbage.
Leave the cabbage submerged under the brine.
If you want to add a small amount of water you can, but this isn’t necessary.
Seal the jar or cover your fermenting container with a heavy weighted object.
A comfortable fermentation environment is at or just below room temperature. Some people suggest covering the top of your sauerkraut with several full cabbage leaves before placing the lid on top. Try this for yourself and see what works best. Leave your jar sitting in a room slightly colder than room temperature for three to five days.
Check on your fermented goods daily.
Pressure will begin building on the inside of your container, and you may see some water overflowing. You can taste the changes over time and adjust the salt or water content as needed (add some water if you find the brine isn’t covering the cabbage). If the cabbage you use to ferment isn’t fresh, the water content is naturally going to be less.
After several days, your sauerkraut should be ready to eat.
When you’ve achieved the softness and salty flavor you desire, serve it as a side dish or just eat it alone. It will last for months in your refrigerator.
Chapter 2
The 4-1-1 on Fermenting
IN THIS CHAPTER
Considering the benefits of fermenting
Understanding mold, yeast, bacteria, and enzymes
Knowing what fermenting is (and isn’t)
In this chapter we explore why people ferment foods. There has to be a good reason — it has been done for years! We discuss everything from the process itself to which organisms are involved to what you need to make successful ferments at home. Just knowing that you can make your food last longer and that fermented foods are good for you should be enough to get you excited!
We’re confident that this chapter will familiarize you with fermenting basics so that you can get started right away.
Why Ferment?
You ferment food to change the food in a controlled way, into something completely different. Fermenting is used in common foods and beverages like beer, yogurt, vegetables, and even meats. After a food has been fermented, it not only tastes different but also is different on a molecular level.
Fermenting releases some nutrients that would otherwise be unavailable for digestion and creates an environment for probiotic, or beneficial, bacteria to thrive. These bacteria already live in a healthy digestive tract and help break down food properly. Antibiotics and digestive illnesses can reduce the number of good bacteria, making you susceptible to illness. Your immune system includes your digestive tract, and improving digestion can only help overall health.
When making fermented foods, you actually sour the food rather than pickle it. Because fermenting, or souring, is a controlled decay of the food, you must follow all food safety rules. Always ferment in the most sanitary conditions possible and use very fresh, exceptional food. Adding fermented food to your pantry is not only tasty but also healthy.
Fermenting is simply decaying with style. There’s a fine line between going bad and fermenting, so the rules of a good fermenting system are stringent. These rules become easier to adhere to as you become proficient, and the benefits are worth it.
Getting Acquainted with the Good and Bad Guys
Mold, yeast, bacteria, and enzymes are the four spoilers. Microorganisms (mold, yeast, and bacteria) are independent organisms of microscopic size. Enzymes are proteins that exist in plants and animals. When any one or more of the spoilers have a suitable environment, they grow rapidly and divide or reproduce every 10 to 30 minutes! With this high-speed development, food can spoil quickly. Some types of spoilage can’t be seen with the naked eye (like botulism), while others (like mold) make their presence known visually.
Food spoilage is the unwanted deterioration in canned or preserved food that makes it unsafe for eating. Ingesting spoiled food causes a wide range of ailments, depending on the type of spoilage and the amount of food consumed. Symptoms vary from mild, flulike aches and pains to more serious illnesses or even death. This is why we stress following the directions exactly in any proven recipe for fermenting, and knowing the signs of problems.
Living microorganisms are all around — in your home, in the soil, and even in the air you breathe. Sometimes microorganisms are added to food to achieve a fermented product, like beer or bread (for leavening). They’re also important for making antibiotics. The point? Not all microorganisms are bad — just the ones that cause disease and food spoilage.
Mold
Mold is a fungus with dry spores. Poorly sealed jars of high-acid or pickled foods are perfect locations for these spores to set up housekeeping. After the spores float through the air and settle on one of their favorite foods, they start growing. At first, you see what looks like silken threads, then streaks of color, and finally fuzz, which covers the food. Processing high-acid and pickled food in a water-bath canner destroys mold spores.
Don’t eat food that’s had fuzz scraped off of it. This was thought safe at one time, but not anymore. Mold contains carcinogens that filter into the remaining food. Although the food appears to be noninfected, ingesting this food can cause illness.
Yeast
Yeast spores grow on food like mold spores. They’re particularly fond of high-acid food that contains lots of sugar, like jam or jelly. They grow as a dry film on the surface of your food. Prevent yeast spores from fermenting in your food by destroying them in a water-bath canner.
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large group of single-celled microorganisms. Common bacteria are staphylococcus and salmonella. Botulism, the strain of bacteria to be most concerned with in canning, is the most dangerous form of bacteria and can be deadly. It’s almost undetectable because it’s odorless and colorless. Botulism spores are stubborn and difficult to destroy.
Because botulism is undetectable without laboratory testing, handling and preparing canned food according to the most updated guidelines available is essential.
Botulism spores hate high-acid and pickled foods, but they love low-acid foods. When you provide these spores with an airless environment containing low-acid food, like a jar of green beans, the spores produce a toxin in the food that can kill anyone who eats it. The only way to destroy these spores in low-acid food is by pressure canning.
Enzymes
Enzymes are proteins that occur naturally in plants and animals. They encourage growth and ripening in food, which affects the flavor, color, texture, and nutritional value. Enzymes are more active in temperatures of 85 to 120 degrees than they are at colder temperatures. Enzymes aren’t harmful on their own, but they can make your food overripe and unattractive while opening the door for other microorganisms or bacteria.
An example of enzymes in action occurs when you cut or peel an apple. After a few minutes, the apple starts to brown. We call this oxidization. Eventually, oxidized food will spoil.
The Mechanics of Fermenting
Fermenting is a glamorous term for decaying your food in a controlled method. Yes, you’re allowing your food to decay. Your food is decaying from the moment you pick it. If you ferment correctly, you create the perfect environment of temperature, liquid, and oxygen (or lack thereof) to change your food into a delectable, sometimes healthier food.
If you’ve never fermented, don’t worry. The piquant taste is something that’s enjoyable for most people and unforgettable to anyone who tries it. Fermenting is a technique that you can try without a lot of financial investment in equipment and specialty supplies. It has always been a simple way of preserving foods, simple enough to do in the farming kitchen.
If you’re eating locally, your choices for variety are limited. Fermenting is an easy way to expand the flavors and textures of the same short list of foods and keep your diet interesting. Fermented foods also provide nutrients that aren’t available in fresh or nonfermented foods. Consider the fermented foods to be an extension of your food pantry.
Fermenting can’t increase a food’s quality. To develop a perfectly fermented food, you must start with perfect produce, fresh meats, and milk. Any cuts or bruising is where decay is happening, and you don’t want to give unwanted bacteria any chance to be present in the fermenting container. In the case of meats and milks, ferment them as soon as possible, as they also degrade over time.
Salt curing and drying versus fermenting
There are other methods of food preservation besides fermenting. Salt curing and drying are commonly heard terms that may be confusing to sort out from the fermenting process.
Salt curing: This method of preservation is easily recognized in the cured favorite: bacon. Dried beef and real country ham also have the strong taste from curing’s main ingredient: salt.
You can add other ingredients to the salt mixture to help cut the strong salty taste and add additional flavors, but you can’t entirely hide that salty flavor. Plain salt curing has fallen out of favor over the years. It successfully cures the meat but imparts a harsh flavor. Some meats are still preserved country-style, or plain salt cured, but they must be soaked before cooking to remove the excess salt and make the meat palatable.
Drying:
This is one of the most delicious techniques for meat storage. Drying a piece of meat properly only enhances the flavor and creates a uniquely flavored product that truly satisfies. Drying is how jerky is made. The flavoring you add becomes concentrated as the meat dries. This process results in a chewy, delicious snack that packs a protein punch. From sweet to spicy, you’ll find a never-ending array of flavor profiles for jerky. You can dry meat in an electric dehydrator, an oven, or by sitting it out in the sun.
An electric dehydrator is the best and most efficient unit for drying, or dehydrating, food. Today’s units include a thermostat and fan to help regulate temperatures. You can also dry food in your oven or by using the heat of the sun, but the process takes longer and produces inferior results to food dried in a dehydrator.
Vinegar and acids versus fermenting
True vinegar is more than the flavor behind a dill pickle. Vinegar in its raw form is actually a living food, containing the beneficial bacteria you need to digest your food properly.
Several types of vinegars are used in cooking. Some of them are commonly found in a well-stocked pantry, while others are usually found in a specialty store or the specific country where they’re used.
For the most part, the vinegar found on your grocery store shelf isn’t a true vinegar, or it has been pasteurized to kill the beneficial bacteria inside. In fact, many vinegars are simply flavored and colored white vinegar. Be sure to read the label and look for the words raw and unpasteurized.
Adding vinegar to a food is pickling, not fermenting. You can enjoy pickled foods and fermented foods, but they’re not interchangeable.
Here are some of the vinegars you’ll find commercially:
Apple cider vinegar: Brown in color, this vinegar is available raw, with the mother still visible. It’s usually a naturally fermented product, but read the label to see whether it’s simply white vinegar that has been colored to look like cider vinegar.
If you buy a bottle of pasteurized apple cider vinegar, you can add the mother to it and replenish the beneficial bacteria that were killed during the pasteurization process. Simply add a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar to the new bottle of pasteurized vinegar and allow it to sit for about a week. You’ll see the mother beginning to form on the bottom of the new vinegar bottle.
Balsamic vinegar:
Made from grapes, this almost black vinegar is aged for many years. The flavor is complex, and it’s used in dishes that can showcase the unique flavor.
Fruit vinegars:
