Salute your Health | A bit of History and the Art of Food Fermentation

My daughter @mountainjewel is visiting this week and today she shared one of the oldest forms of food preservation with me.

Fermentation

---

She and her partner Ini have a lovely homestead which produces a bounty of fruit and vegetables each year. Canning, freezing and drying are several methods they use to preserve their vegetables, but fermenting is one of their favorite methods! Pickles, carrots, sauerkraut, turnips and beets, just to name a few are often found fermenting with saltwater brine in beautiful glass jars. Quite a lovely sight I must say!

---

Not only do they ferment for preservation purposes, they use fermentation because it is healthy!

---

But first… A little bit of history!

Vegetable fermentation dates back to 6000 BC in the area of land which stretched from Upper Egypt down to the southeastern area of the Mediterranean Sea. Russia, Poland, Latvia, India and Africa all claim fermented foods as part of their countries heritage. Due to unclean waters and uncleanliness in general, fermenting was the only method to keep food packed with healthy bacteria while preventing unhealthy pathogens. Fermenting enabled our ancestors to preserve their food as well as maintain healthy food sources throughout the cold winter months.

How is it healthy?

Fermented food is healthy partially because it is packed with Vitamin C! Not only do you reap the nutritional benefit from the vegetable itself, the nutrition is more bioavailable and more digestible. Great for our gut health!

---

One early story detailing the healthy benefits of vegetable fermentation began with a sea captain by the name of Captain Cook! Sailing the seas in 1700’s was a dangerous business, often navigating violent storms and seas. Many times sailors were injured or became ill during passage. Fermented cabbage was used by ships doctors as a poultice for injuries to promote healing. Lack of Vitamin C often caused scurvy among the sailors. Cook found fermented vegetables particularly Sauerkraut, was a great remedy! Why? Because fermented vegetables contain high levels of Vitamin C, in fact the fermentation process actually increases the levels of Vitamin C! Not only was Cook able to provide well preserved tasty food for his sailors, it was healthy too! The cabbage contained high levels of Vitamin C! Sailors who sailed with Captain Cook never had scurvy!

---

Captain Cook was a pretty smart guy, right?

Pic thanks to Pixabay

How does the vegetable ferment?

Fermentation begins with a microbe; a bacteria called lacto-bacillus naturally found on the skin of most vegetables. Pairing the vegetable with salt and water and depriving it of oxygen will cause the sugars in the vegetable to convert to lactic acid. This lactic acid acts as a preservative! Not only that, these same bacteria produces vitamins and enzymes which help make the vegetable more easily digestible. As I said, great for gut health! What an amazing probiotic you can makeyourself! [] (https://www.siberiancedarland.com/wild-fermented-sauerkraut/)

Meanwhile, back at the Bird’s nest…

We’re making Sauerkraut! Sauerkraut is one of my favorite fermented foods. It is so simple to make and quick to ferment! All you need is Fresh cabbage, Sea Salt and your favorite herbs! Amazing right? (One 2 ½ lb. head of cabbage will make about 2 pints of sauerkraut for about $2 USD.)

Wash and chop…

your head of cabbage. Slice into bite size pieces; fine or coarse, it’s up to you!

Layer and sprinkle…

the cabbage and salt using your favorite bowl. Massage the cabbage! *I’ll tell you, this old Bird worked on those forearm muscles massaging that cabbage! *It was fun, my daughter and I were chirping up a storm in the kitchen, such fun!> Back to massaging... pretty soon you will see a bit of moisture being released in the bottom of your bowl.

So simple…

and beautiful! I was amazed at the amount of water this cabbage produced! Feel free to add any favorite spices to your massaged cabbage. We added dill and mustard seed in the first bowl and celery seed in the second bowl!

Whole Peppercorns…

were first sprinkled Into the bottom of two sterilized jars. When the massaging was done, I used a wooden spoon I filled the jars with the cabbage and topped with the brine in the bowl. Firmly press the kraut into the jar until the brine covers the cabbage. My daughter said we must have the cabbage submerged in the brine to prevent mold.

Wipe the jars...

and cover with cheesecloth. You want to prevent any airborne bacteria entering your jars. Date and label and set in a cool dark area. No sunlight! Depending on the temperature, time of year and type of vegetables used, your sauerkraut will be done within 14 days. Feel free to taste it using a wooden utensil and cover if it isn’t tart enough for your taste. When you’re happy with the taste, refrigerate to stop the fermentation.

One thing to remember, if you want to achieve maximum probiotic efficiency with your sauerkraut, you must ferment for a minimum of 4 days!

We live in a warm environment and as a result our Sauerkraut was fermented in about 6 days! What a treat! I’m so thankful my daughter shared this valuable preservation method with me! Do you have a favorite vegetable? I hope you’ll try fermenting it! There are so many wonderful resources available check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!
And as always, blessings to you all

---

---

---

---