The current trend these days is to get as
much probiotics in your diet as is necessary. These friendly bacteria are available in many forms
today but let’s look at a brief history of probiotics.
Probiotics are a class of beneficial bacteria that aid the human digestive system. They help
protect your gut (entire digestive system) from bad bacteria, stimulate parts of the immune system
linked to the digestive system, and even produce vitamins. Probiotics are generally produced
via fermentation. So getting these beneficial bacteria has been commonly done for
centuries.
You will commonly get probiotics being added in yoghurts and soy yoghurts, or as dietary
supplements. So it shouldn’t come as surprise that pickled vegetables are rich in
probiotics.
The process of getting probiotics in pickled vegetables is via a process called
lacto-fermentation. The vegetables and fruit are covered in salty water for some hours while
bacteria get to work. The bacteria convert the sugars present in the food into energy and
lactic acid. It is the bacteria that create this lactic acid (such as Lactobacillus and
Streptococcus) that are the essential probiotics. Here are the details of some of these
‘power’ vegetables:
Pickles are very common in Europe and the US, although they refer to different vegetables. In
the U.S., the pickle actually refers to pickled cucumbers whilst in the UK they refer to any
pickled vegetable, or even fruit, that is used as a relish.
Pickled cucumbers are made by immersing the cucumber in an acidic solution or more commonly made at
home through the process of lacto-fermentation. Note that if you use an acidic solution such
as vinegar, you will kill off the probiotics. They cannot survive in an acidic
environment. Pickled cucumbers are usually used in hamburgers, sandwiches and or in hot
dogs. Here’s a quick recipe for making your pickled cucumber at home:
- Ingredients:
1 large cucumber
1 teaspoon of salt
60ml white vinegar
50g sugar
7.5cm root ginger
4 stem gingers in sugar syrup
- Run through the cucumber with a fork to
get a fluted pattern on it.
- Then cut the cucumber into small slices
into a bowl, sprinkle in the salt and mix well. You can add more salt to it, depending on what
you’ll be comfortable with.
- Leave the mix for 10 minutes for the salt
to be absorbed. Then rinse with cold water and squeeze out excess water.
- Combine the other ingredients before
adding to the cucumber slices and mix well.
- Transfer the mix into a plastic container
and leave for at least 24 hours before eating. Here again, you may like to leave it for longer
to ferment. Be sure to taste after every 24 hours to ensure you get it
right.
|
Korean Kimchi
|
In the U.K., relishes are used as
condiments and are quite thick containing chopped vegetables that are pickled. It’s more common to
buy them in shops rather than make them. The best known manufactured pickle in the UK is the
Branston brand. Recently there’s been a surge in the use of Oriental pickled vegetables, which are
rich in probiotics due to the fermentation process used. These include
Kimchee (kimchi), Pao cai, Zha
cai. Kimchee is a Korean cabbage pickle
which is spicy in taste. Pao cai is also a cabbage pickle originally from China but tastes
more sweet and sour than its Korean counterpart. Zha cai is also Chinese but is a pickled
mustard-type plant stem with a unique combination of tastes - salty, spicy and sour. All
three can be bought in your local Chinese shop or you can try making it at
home.
For Zha cai, you will need to get the vegetable which is difficult to find in the
West. It is more commonly found in China or Japan in cans or loose. Interestingly, the
name means “pressed vegetable”. The vegetable is indeed pressed to remove the salt water in
it - this is the next stage after salting it. After pressing the vegetable, it is dried
before rubbing chilli on it and allowing it to ferment in an earthenware jar for a day or
two. Before using it, the Zha cai will need to be soaked to remove excess salt. As it’s
so salty, no more salt will be needed in any dish for which it’s being used. It’s
traditionally used in Chinese hot and sour soups.
|
Kimchee Pots in Korea
|
Kimchee on the other
hand is easy to make at home, with steps similar to making sauerkraut.
The ingredients are: Chinese cabbage (or any other type of cabbage),
sea salt, 1 tablespoon each of fresh finely chopped garlic, ginger, and scallions, 1 teaspoons of
dried red chilli pepper, and 2 teaspoons of sugar.
- Core and chop your cabbage into a bowl.
You can make the slices as large or as small as you want.
- Measure out 3 teaspoons of salt foe every
1½ pounds of cabbage. You may need to guess a bit here.
Toss the cabbage and salt whilst squeezing the cabbage. The
cabbage will soon start bringing out its liquids.
- Set the mix aside overnight ensuring the
cabbage stays under water. You may have to place a plate on it to make sure it does. Then rinse
and squeeze the mix dry.
- Mix all the other ingredients together
with the cabbage and salt mix. It may be best to use gloves for this as the chilli will be
quite hot. You could add more chilli to suit your taste.
- Then place this mix in a large jar, with
two inches of space at the top, and keep at room temperature for at least two
days.
Finally, for Pao cai, you don’t need much of
a recipe. It’s very close to Kimchee in content and preparation, but is more sweet and sour
in taste. In China it’s eaten with congee (rice porridge) as part of a breakfast meal.
The exact recipe is difficult to find. But Chinese cabbage (Napa cabbage) is really good for
this recipe as it is said to contain compounds that can prevent cancer if eaten raw in small
amounts.
Next: Sauerkraut is
Probiotic
|
BlinkList
Delicious
Digg
Diigo
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
Slashdot
Spurl
Stumbleupon
Twitter
