Cultured food

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Permalink Reply by Az'ya on July 7, 2009 at 3:24pm

Yes, that's the idea. If you want to get fancy, you can give the powder a head start by putting it in a little warm water with some kind of sugar or inulin for about 20 minutes. Depending on how much you're fermenting, and the potency you might adjust how much you use. I use 1 capsule of a high potency probiotic for about a gallon of kraut.

Food is fermented by probiotic microorganisms. They will feed on the sugars and nutrients in whatever you are fermenting and grow. You are in effect, growing more probiotics, while simultaneously pre-digesting the food, and even substantially increasing the nutrients as well as making them more bioavailable. Is that what you are asking?

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Permalink Reply by lemoned on July 7, 2009 at 3:40pm

Yes, thanks! So it's basically the same as the milk cultures. I was just wondering why some make their kraut without probiotics and some with. I mean, with fermenting milkm it seems a bacteria is absolutely needed (like kefir grains I'm using right now). But for the kraut/vegs it seems optional.

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Permalink Reply by Az'ya on July 7, 2009 at 4:15pm

Actually milk will ferment naturally, but only with strains that are present or that it's exposed to from the air. Unpasteurized milk has natural lactobacteria in it. But without a culture medium, it is much more susceptible to being contaminated by "bad" bacteria. Just like cabbage and many veggies have lactobacteria on their skin - it's that white film you see on the outside of the cabbage leaves.

Traditionally a starter is not used to ferment kraut, and only the naturally present lactobacteria grow and ferment the cabbage etc. However, to ensure that "bad" bacteria don't infect and spoil the kraut before the lactobacteria get a good enough start, you need to add quite a bit of salt - salt kills bacteria, but with the right amount the good strains will still grow slowly, while the bad strains are kept at bay. One implication is that without an added starter, it will take quite a bit longer for it to ferment. The other factor is that you are limited to the probiotic strains that occur naturally, and there is much benefit to selecting specific strains that have particular health benefits and use those for your culture. If you use a starter for kraut, it will be well fermented in a few days (usually about 3) especially if you don't add a lot of salt, but just a little to taste (or even no salt). Whereas without a starter, it could be a week or two, depending on temperature and other factors.

Some people use raw apple cider vinegar as a starter, that works well too - it has a number of good probiotics and lots of minerals... (make sure it's raw and unfiltered with the MOV - mother of vinegar)

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Permalink Reply by lemoned on July 7, 2009 at 4:41pm

Oh wow that's just what I wanted to know. I have some Bragg's ACV in the fridge. thanks so much!!

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Permalink Reply by Az'ya on July 7, 2009 at 5:07pm

There you go - perfect!

Permalink Reply by Az'ya on July 7, 2009 at 3:09pm

Also PLA - you've done the mercury detox so I'm guessing you've been successful in dealing with the candida monster! I'm still working towards that end myself. The info I've gotten from Body Ecology has been really valuable in understanding how to keep it from getting out of control in the meantime...

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Permalink Reply by chasmyn on July 13, 2009 at 4:41am

Is it possible to do kombucha in closed containers? My husband has started experimenting with kombucha and I don't want to quash his enthusiasm for fermenting :-)

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Permalink Reply by Lockheart on July 7, 2009 at 2:31pm

I love Kraut... don't think I'll ever eat high meat though, I'd rather just eat the stuff fresh and raw!

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Permalink Reply by lemoned on July 7, 2009 at 3:02pm

I'm looking into Sauerkraut since a few days and am curious about one thing:
some people say they use "starters" for the kraut. What are they and where do you get them?

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Permalink Reply by Az'ya on July 7, 2009 at 3:14pm

lemoned, check out my responses above. You might also check the posts in the Fabulous Fermentation group. :)

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Permalink Reply by Rawstrength on July 7, 2009 at 5:40pm

Although I use organic and raw milk that already has live bacteria in it, I always use kefir grains. www.kefirlady.com should get you started.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Snyder on July 8, 2009 at 2:09pm

Hi folks, here are a couple quotes from Viktorus Kulvinskas. I think he is one of the first people to recommend using a Starter Culture to make sauerkraut. Any type of good bacteria works as a starter culture, including your favorite probiotic powder or Miso.

Quote from
http://store.therawdiet.com/pisaandkimch.html
"The text below is quoted from "The Lovers Diet" by Victoras Kulvinskas, page 163

Acidophilus, Bifidus, and Probiotics: Internal Enzyme Factories

Over 25 years ago at the Hippocrates Health Institute I pioneered the fermentation process. I not only based it on totally non-animal milks but also found ways to accelerate the fermentation.

In the past, to get successful results, one had to add salt and ferment the cabbage for weeks. With my system, the kraut are ready in 2 to 3 days, and salt is unnecessary.

By starting a batch of the following recipes with 1 teaspoon of pro-biotics (friendly bacteria), you will be giving your intestinal bacteria a major boost. In a matter of 1 hour, 1 bacteria becomes two, within another hour it becomes 4.

If this is allowed to keep on for 8 hours, the total bacteria count in a preparation increases by 256 times.

Remember though, that the fermentation process produces a high lactic acid content, so you do not want to over-use fermented foods in your meal plan. Experiment with a few tablespoons or more; find out what works.

Because of the acid component, the ferments are NEVER to be combined in the same meal with starchy foods such as bread, rice, and other grains, root vegetables, ect.

Although sunflower seeds (which I find the most delicious of the lot) are most often used for cheese or yogurt, you could just as well use almonds or a mix of sesame with sunflower (comes out quite sharp), pumpkin, cashew, tofu, ect."

Another good article by Viktorus:
http://www.therawdiet.com/vikraut.html
"In Lithuania, my country of birth fermented foods - ranging from mushrooms, pickles to cabbage added delight to the bland evening meal. Although we were a farming family. In ourhome, , there was a special room of ferments grown in 30 gallon and other size wooden barrels with a yearly brewing of beer and wine. Also, in the kitchen, we had the ‘Grybas’ - the Manchurian Mushroom tea. My grandmother was the caretaker to all these magic potions.

My parents, poetically called the delight Raugytas Zardo Gydemas- The fermented Garden Healers. They added every kind of hard vegetable into their wooden fermentation barrel. It was the Lithuanian Version of Kimchi - I was told there were always onions, scallions, garlic, horseradish, variety of spicy red radishes, cauliflower, broccoli, beet, carrot, black pepper and other spices....

...High concentration of salt has been used by most traditions, to reduce the likelihood of mold, spoilage and rot of food. The traditional kraut and Kimchi is heavily salted and is fermented 7 to 14 days. I discovered the way to stop spoilage, by creating a truly ‘fast food’ in 24 hrs and without the need for salt to stop the spoilage. Here is how:

1. Have the cabbage finely shredded with the help of juicer or food processor. Increases the food surface availability to microbes. They multiply extremely rapidly; one acidophilus bacterium becomes trillion bacteria, in 24 hours if there is an adequate fast food supply. With the fine pulverizing of the cabbage, we pre-chew the food and make bacteria eating more rapid.

2. Use a starter culture. We increase the amount of friendly lactobacillus bacteria, far beyond what is in the air, water and the cabbage. So, you will be starting with several billion bacteria instead of the few airborne and or those that are found on the cabbage. Hence, the cabbage will be eaten up in 24 hours instead of the 7 plus days. Having a quick high acidity and 1-day fermentation, removes any possibility of spoilage from mold, yeast and putrefactive microbes...."

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