Preserving the Harvest with Lacto-Fermentation
Image: Valery Rizzo
Thank you to everyone who attended my “Preserving the Harvest” workshop on the ancient art of fermentation at Oko Farm’s Harvest Festival earlier this month! I wanted to follow up that class by sharing a bit more about the type of ferment we made, along with a few resources for those who’d like to dive deeper into this healing food tradition.
lacto-fermentation
In “Preserving the Harvest” we made sauerkraut, a ferment that utilizes a process called lacto-fermentation to transform plain old cabbage into a sour, digestion- and immune-supporting provision. Although sauerkraut has become associated with Eastern Europe, its roots are in a Chinese fermented cabbage dish called suancai. Suancai made its way to Europe via trade routes established by the Tartars.
Whereas yeasts—single-celled members of the Fungi kingdom—are responsible for producing the wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages we may think of when fermentation first comes to mind, in lacto-ferments like sauerkraut, sourdough, dill pickles, cultured hot sauce and kimchi, specific types of bacteria are responsible. These organisms are primarily members of the Lactobacillus genus, a group of more than 231 species and 29 subspecies of gram-positive, single-rod, non-spore-forming bacteria. While Lactobacilli are often associated with milk products, they are not exclusive to dairy. These organisms are the main drivers in the fermentation of a host of non-dairy goods. Similarly to yeasts, members of the Lactobacillus genus are found all around us, taking up residence in soils, on the skins of fruits and vegetables—especially those grown close to the ground—and in our bodies.
Like yeasts, their partners in cultured crime, lactobacilli are hungry for sweets! Sugars, the building blocks of carbohydrates, are what they are after. Think of the sour taste of yogurt, kraut and kimchi. As lactobacilli consume and metabolize the sugars found in vegetables, fruits, grains and milk, they produce lactic acid as a byproduct. Further, when the percentage of lactic acid, pH and percentage glucose are plotted on a graph, we can see that the longer a lacto-ferment like kimchee is cultured, the higher the percentage of lactic acid it produces and the more acidic the ferment becomes, as the percentage of glucose falls.
Clearly lactobacilli enjoy going to town on the sugars present in grains, fruits and vegetables!
This entire process gives lacto-fermented foods the characteristically sour taste with which we associate them while creating a low-pH environment that is inhospitable to pathogenic bacteria. We can see how lacto-ferments entered the great pantheon of fermented foods.
the benefits of fermented foods
What impact do Lactobacillus-rich foods have in our bodies? Like all fermentation, lacto-fermentation is a process whereby microorganisms, in a coordinated dance, pre-digest, break down and alchemize regular old foodstuffs. In doing so, these organisms make a host of vitamins and nutrients more bio-available: they convert the carbohydrates, proteins and fats we need to live into forms that are easier for our bodies to digest. These processes also enable the formation of bioactive end-products, including bioactive peptides (BAPs): immuno-modulating, antioxidant, hypotensive and mineral-binding proteins that are only made available to the body through gastro-intestinal digestion and microbial fermentation.
Fermentation is the key that opens up the bottomless treasure chest of nutrition and biodiversity present in our food. Fermented foods are probiotic: they act as food for the beneficial bacteria in the gut. As we come to understand more and more about the enteric nervous system, or gut-brain, the thin layer of more than 100 million cells lining the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, we receive confirmation on the deep links between our digestive health and mental health. Consuming fermented foods can help us feel good by nurturing the complex community of organisms that make up our microbiome.
At Oko Farm’s Harvest Festival we made sauerkraut with cabbages from Madura Farms, beets and ginger from Norwich Meadows Farm and organic carrots from my local independent grocer. All ingredients were either organic or “spray free”—small-scale, regenerative farms’ way of describing produce that may not be USDA-certified organic, but is nonetheless grown without the application of synthetic pesticides and herbicides, using methods that help restore fertility to the land. When we make fermented foods, especially when we use local vegetables in our ferments, we are building relationship with the unique microorganisms that populate the air and soils of our bioregion. This deepens our connection to the more-than-human-beings with whom we coexist, strengthening webs of interconnection.
Sauerkraut recipe
Now that we have the science of fermentation out of the way, here is the simple sauerkraut recipe we made at Oko Farms, adapted from Sandor Ellix Katz’s Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.
Ingredients
1 small, spray-free cabbage (about 1 pound)
1/2 pound of any combination of spray-free: carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, collards, kale, or other leafy greens, and onion
4 garlic cloves, cut into thin slices
1 tbsp sea salt or non-iodized salt (it’s very important that the salt be non-iodized. Iodine inhibits the growth of the beneficial bacteria that we are seeking to encourage in cultured foods)
2-inch piece of ginger, grated
1 tablespoon whole spices like coriander, cumin, fennel or mustard seed
1 large, clean mason jar (32oz)
1 small, clean mason jar with lid (4oz, should fit inside the larger jar)
Use organic and spray-free vegetables, as synthetic pesticides and herbicides kill the beneficial organisms that steward the fermentation process
Process
Begin with clean hands. Wash all vegetables, scrubbing roots with a brush to remove surface dirt. Set aside.
Grab head of cabbage. Using a sharp knife, cut cabbage in half, then in quarters. Remove stem. Take one quarter head of cabbage and cut on the bias into 1/4 inch strips. As you cut, drop into bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Salt helps break down the cellular walls of the cabbage and encourage it to release the juices that will become the brine in which your vegetables ferment. Before moving on to the next quarter of cabbage, work the salt you’ve sprinkled atop the cabbage into what’s in the bowl by rubbing and kneading the strips well to evenly distribute salt.
Move on to your next quarter of cabbage, slicing on the bias and salting as you drop into bowl. Work salt in. Repeat with third and fourth quarters of cabbage. Make your hand into a ball and use the broad end of your fist to pound the cabbage, turning the bowl as you do, so that you pound everything in the bowl. Pause and switch to kneading. Use some force! Alternate between kneading and pounding motion for a few minutes. At this point, the cabbage should look shiny and start releasing juices. Take a handful of cabbage and squeeze it tightly. If liquid falls from your fist into the bowl, you’re on the right track. If not, keep kneading and pounding until it does.
Next, move on to the other vegetables. Remove stems, then use your knife or a grater to slice everything into 1/4 inch pieces. Salt as you add to the bowl of cabbage, pausing to work the salt in, as above. Grate ginger, combine with garlic and add to bowl along with your spice of choice. Mix everything together with your hands. Spend a few minutes kneading and pounding to work in the salt and get the vegetables to release their juices.
Using a clean fork, taste what you’ve made. Add more spices to your taste, keeping in mind that the flavors will meld and become more intense as the kraut ferments. Grab your large jar and pack the kraut into the jar. Using you fist, press the vegetables down until the brine rises above them. Keep working handfuls of kraut into the jar in this way until the jar is packed and covered by brine.
Weighted pressure on the vegetables will keep them covered in brine and prevent mold from forming. Fill your smaller jar with water, put the lid on it and fit it inside your larger jar, pressing down until brine rises above the level of the vegetables. Cover the entire setup with a clean cloth to prevent insects from flying in it. Place somewhere in your kitchen that is out of direct sunlight but visible, such as the corner of the kitchen counter.
Inevitably, veggies will float and come to the surface of the brine. Each day, after washing your hands, press any vegetables that have risen this way under the brine, rearranging the weight if necessary. Using clean hands or a clean fork, you can start tasting the veggies on day two.
Let kraut ferment until you are happy with the taste. The longer it ferments, the softer and more sour the vegetables will become. I tend to ferment my kraut for ten to fourteen days. When you are satisfied with the flavor of your kraut, arrest the fermentation process by packing your kraut into a clean jar with lid. Store in the refrigerator.
ways to eat and use sauerkraut
You can combine sauerkraut with absolutely anything. I like to drop a couple spoonfuls on my eggs in the morning, mix a bit into my salad or grain bowl at lunch and enjoy alongside whatever I have for dinner. For a yummy, unexpectedly delicious snack, try peanut butter and sauerkraut on toast. Sauerkraut brine makes an amazing probiotic drink. Sip it straight or combine with seltzer for a yummy, tummy-supporting beverage.
In addition to the uses above, sauerkraut juice is an excellent starter for ferments! I started a batch of fermented hot sauce recently that wasn’t fermenting as quickly as I wanted, so I added a couple of tablespoons of kraut juice to my pepper blend. Sure enough, the next day the peppers were bubbling along happily, proof that the organisms were at work.
more thoughts on fermentation
I tend to focus my kraut-making in the winter, because I have more time on my hands in the colder months and I like to use it as the main squeeze in my winter immune-building strategy. I challenge myself to eat kraut, or something else home-fermented, with every meal. Why home fermented? The fermentation process is sacred. Our ancestors relied on preserved foodstuffs to get them through to the next growing season, make foods more nutritious and provide themselves safe drinking water. There is deep lore and ritual around fermented foods. Engaging in this practice today helps us honor our ancestral lines while bringing us into deeper relationship with our bodies, our food and those who grow it.
Fermented foods produced at commercial-scale are pasteurized, a process which kills off both pathogenic bacteria and the beneficial bacteria we are after when we ferment. Bacteria outnumber human cells in the body at a ratio of more than100:1. Fermenting ourselves and eating foods fermented by local artisans is about building intimacy with one another. It’s about cultivating kinship with the more-than-human. It can be a portal to deeper care of the self. It helps us expand the bounds of “self” beyond the borders of our physical bodies, stretching our consciousness to encompass many more beings, even the tiniest ones we can only observe with a microscope.
In what ways have fermented foods impacted your life? How are these recipes interwoven with your ancestors’? Please share in the comments!