Lacto Fermentation-The Microbial Family

After months of research and personal success with the experiment, I've come to the conclusion that we should include a lot more lacto fermented foods in our diet. Now, I keep a microbial family going at home. The members include Water Kefir, Milk Kefir, cultured yogurt, Kombucha and other lacto-fermented veges especially cabbages.

For years, I suffered from severe constipation. Once I was packed for 8 weeks. Believe me not, it was nasty. I thought I was dying. In a nutshell that was the beginning of my health journey in search of a cure for my constipation. It then took me another 6 years before I stumbled over the answer (Thanks to Tara who introduced Nourishing Traditions to me). From juicing to consuming tonnes of fiber, taking probiotic tablets, and herbal laxatives, the answer for me is finally found in lacto fermented foods.

It has been six months, and I hardly needed the usually herbal laxative to get things moving. Since, I've also found a few things that are especially hard on my digestive system. Too much carbohydrates will pack me up too. At the moment, I'm experimenting with sourdough recipes as I would like to enjoy carb without the side effects.

We're planning for a family, and I'm confident these lacto fermented foods will
help with easing constipation during pregnancy. Yes, these lacto fermented foods are safe to consume during pregnancy.

June's Urban Permies meeting

The meeting fell on a cold and wet winter afternoon. Judith did a short presentation on the ram earth house that she visited in the Kapiti at the soil and earth meeting.

Next, we talked about closing the loop in the permaculture garden, in the sense of preserving excess vegetables from the home garden for a later date.

In earlier times, people knew how to preserve vegetables for long periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. This was done through the process of lacto-Fermentation. Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacterial. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria (read more about this at this link).

We made Korean sauerkraut (kimchi) with an organic cabbage that I bought from the local organic shop – cabbages in the garden aren’t ready yet!! This is the first time I’m trialing with purple cabbage and with whey. The cutting and bounding and bottling came up to less than an hour. It will take about 4- 5 weeks before it’s ready. The flavor gets better over time. But in my household, a bottle doesn’t last more than a week. We’ll be able to do some sauerkraut tasting at the next meeting – exciting.  Overall, we had a lovely time despite the wet and cold weather.

Lacto Fermentation - Books

In my best effort to live a simple lifestyle, I do have my indulgence moments: I simply can’t resist good books. But then my dad always says that knowledge is priceless, so I don’t feel too bad about INVESTING in a FEW good books. Now that I’ve justified myself, it’s confession time: I’ve recently bought 2 books on Fermentation from Amazon and they arrived this morning. The two titles are

1) Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz (http://www.wildfermentation.com/)
2) Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home by Klaus Kaufmann

It’s a timely arrival as the harvest season is not far from now, and I can start thinking about the lovely meals I could be having in the coming cold season by preserving the lovely fruits and vegs through fermentation. I’ll try my best to keep an update of the results from the recipes from these books.

Sandor is so crazy about fermentation that his mate, Nettles, wrote a poem about his obsession:

Come on friends and lend me an ear
I’ll explain the connection between wine and beer,
And sourdough and yogurt and miso and kraut,
What they have in common is what’s all about.
Oh the microorganisms,
Oh the microorganisms…

Dying to plant cabbages in the heat of Summer?

Well, my clever neighbour, Haklyka, came up with a great plan one day. Between the two sisters, they built a giant cage with a very tidy netting over it. When everyone elses cabbages are being devoured by the white butterfly caterpillers, she grew the most perfectly amazing cabbages. I was very luckly to be given one of them. Even the most annoying aphids couldn't get near it.


I believe the cost of the netting came to NZ$28. Another way to get around this is to use recycled window netting although it will probably last one season. But then, there are always someone willing to part with their curtain netting. Note that she had to crawl from under the netting to get in there, so it's good to think about accessing the plants. Also, I think there "Net cage" only need to be half the height.

I made 3 bottles of sauerkraut from the cabbage and gave her a bottle.

Lacto fermentation - Good Health and Save Money

In Mid December (2007) I made 2 quarts of Sauerkraut (into 4 bottling jars) from the cabbages planted in Spring. I prepared it 3 days before I went away on a 3-week holiday. You can imagine my great anticipation coming home from the holiday. It tasted surprising nice and we’ve finished 2 bottles since. Yesterday, my neighbor gave me a big cabbage. Quiz question: What will be the fate of this cabbage? J

My first introduction to sauerkraut was from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/lacto.html and the benefits of lacto-fermented vegetables.

From all the readings, I am more convinced that lacto-fermented vegs should be part of my regular diet for health benefits. It’s a more nutritious, a time and cost effective way of preserving excess crops in summer for the cold months ahead. I also come across two books on lacto fermentation frequently mentioned in forums, blogs and websites:

1) “Wild Fermentation:The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-culture foods” by Sandor Ellix Katz (http://www.wildfermentation.com/)

2) "Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home: Creative Recipes for Lactic Fermented Food to Improve Your Health (Natural Health Guide) (Natural Health Guide)" by Klaus Kaufmann

This link http://constantstateofflux.wordpress.com/2007/11/24/pickling-day-the-old-way/ provides some info on how sauerkraut is made. Enjoy