Great Fermentations
Friendly Bacteria for Optimal Health
Summertime is upon us and with it a bounty of fresh, living foods. In keeping with the cycles of the seasons, many of us have come through spring detoxifying our bodies of winter’s excess and, now eager for the abundance of summer, our diets take a dramatic shift from building to cleansing.
Fruits and vegetables burst with juicy, cooling, and refreshing vitality. These living foods, with their high antioxidant content and easy digestibility, will continue to cleanse our bodies well into the autumn months.
In the pursuit of balance, summer becomes a time when it is necessary to be conscious of including building foods in our diets alongside those wonderful fresh ones. Bodies need cleansing and building – too much in one direction tips the balance.
One method of balancing out the diet and supporting optimum digestion is to incorporate more fermented foods. Fermentation precedes human history. The oldest evidence of humans fermenting foods is winemaking, where yeasts converted the sugars in fruit to alcohol, first found in archaeological sites in Georgia and Iran, dating from 6000 to 5000 BC. We also have evidence of bacterial fermentation through the leavening of bread and the fermentation of milk and vegetables in other ancient civilizations, where ferments of yeast produce alcohols, and bacterial ferments produce acids. The latter process lends itself well to optimizing human nutrition. The process of fermentation in foods, where complex starches are converted to acids, serves many purposes:
increase in diversity of taste and texture of food: Fermented foods offer the palate an array of new flavours and textures. From earthy to tart, the zest of fermented foods can brighten up the most mundane of meals. From crunchy to chewy, fermented foods lend layers of texture as well.
nutrient enrichment: Fermentation generally increases the bioavailability of nutrients in food, supports the synthesis of some nutrients, increases the amino acid content of foods, and produces valuable enzymes.
improved digestibility: During fermentation, certain nutrients that would normally be difficult for humans to digest are broken down into their smaller constituents. In dairy ferments such as yogurt, lactose and milk proteins are essentially pre-digested. In grain ferments such as sourdough, complex starches are broken down into simpler ones. Fermentation also imparts enzymes to foods, which further aids our bodies’ ability to digest complex molecules.
elimination of antinutrients: Bioavailability of the nutrients in many foods is sometimes drastically decreased due to the presence of various chemicals that we refer to as antinutrients. The phytic acid present in beans, for example, makes them very difficult for humans to digest because it tends to neutralize our own digestive enzymes (this is what causes the gas). During fermentation, the phytates are broken down, thus eliminating their interference.
food preservation: Lactic acid, the by-product of lacto-fermentation, has preservative qualities. Perishables like vegetables and fish could be kept for long periods of time before the advent of refrigeration. We live in times when this is no longer a concern, but consider the potential for those times when you don’t have access to refrigeration, like camping trips. The fermented salsa featured in this issue makes a great substitute for its fresh counterpart.
probiotics: These friendly bacterial cultures or microflora, often referred to as probiotics, populate the human digestive tract where their primary role is to keep pathogenic bacteria in check. By nature they are antibiotic, antiviral, and anti-carcinogenic; serving to enhance the immune system and support intestinal balance.
While it would seem that fermented foods have a lot in common with cleansing foods (antioxidants, enzymes, pathogen fighting properties to name a few), let’s look at what this means in terms of building. In fact, fermented foods are ideal because they support both processes (digestion and building), which is part of their charm. We can now access those building blocks without the common negative digestive symptoms associated with complex protein, carbohydrate, and fat molecules.
Learning to incorporate fermented foods into your diet can be an adventure. Here are some ideas:
- dairy: raw milk cheeses, yogurt, cultured cream, kefir
- bean: tempeh, miso, natto, dosas, idli
- grain: sourdough bread, ogi, injera, rejuvelac, amasake
- vegetable: cabbage, carrots, ginger, cucumbers, virtually any vegetable
- other: raw apple cider vinegar, kombucha tea, chutneys
Commercially prepared products rarely contain the quality of bacterial culture that can be attained in a homemade ferment. Experimenting with fermentation at home can be as rewarding as the nutritional benefits themselves.
Find recipes online, or consult my two favourite fermentation books: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz. And here’s to putting friendly bacteria to work for you this summer!
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