Lacto-fermenting vegetables

Yesterday we posted about making Ginger Carrots, a recipe we like that uses lacto-fermentation to preserve vegetables.  This is the process that is used when making traditional sauerkraut.  We realized that we didn't explain the process of lacto-fermentation and wanted to write a follow-up post today in order to do that.

We learned about this process through our association with the Weston A. Price Foundation and used specifically Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" Cookbook.  In the old days, people didn't have freezers, refrigeration or canning to help them preserve foods.  They preserved foods using lacto-fermentation.  Lactic acid preserves food naturally by inhibiting bad bacteria.

There are other benefits besides preservation, though, in using this process.  A good bacteria, lactobacilli, in fermented vegetables helps you digest them fully and actually increases the vitamins.  This good bacteria produces beneficial enzymes and antibiotics.  Lactic acid is a by-product of these good bacteria and helps promote the good flora throughout the intestinal tract.

Traditionally these fermented vegetables were eaten in small amounts before the main meal as they get your digestive juices in gear to enable your body to fully digest the meal.  This process is well known in many cultures around the world.  The primary fermented vegetable is cabbage, but cucumbers, turnips, peppers, carrots, beets, and almost any other vegetable can be preserved this way.

When pickling became more industrialized, companies used vinegar to pickle vegetables, which made the contents more acidic and not as good for you.  Additionally, they pasteurized the product, killing off all of the beneficial bacteria, thus eliminating most of the nutritive benefits of eating pickled foods.

We use whey as our lactic acid starter.  This inoculates our vegetables with lactobacilli.  We make our own whey using our kefir.  In the photo below we are straining the kefir in a cotton cloth, allowing the whey to drain off of the curds and we catch the whey in a container.

Drip, Drip, Drip...

In the end we have a jar of whey that we'll use in our pickling process.

I did it my WHEY

Remember from last night's post about Ginger Carrots, the whey was mixed with the carrots and salt and then it will sit at room temperature for 2 - 3 days and then will go in the fridge where it will continue to ferment for a couple of months.

Ginger Carrots - Our favorite lacto-fermented vegetable

In the past we tried it after three weeks, but found it is at its best after 2 months.