What is Sauerkraut Anyways? (and other FAQs) A) Sauerkraut is pickled cabbage. To make it, cabbage is shredded, salted and left to ferment in a de-oxygenated environment for 4-6 weeks. The salt, via osmosis, pulls water out of the cabbage to form brine that helps protect the kraut while it is fermenting. Some modern recipes use vinegar, but the traditional method just uses salt and occasionally water to add brine volume. Three phases of microbial activity produce lactic acid and improve vitamin content while converting sugars in the cabbage. The enzymes break the cabbage down into smaller, more digestible molecules and the lactic acid kills unwanted organisms. The term “lacto-ferment” comes from the lactic acid secreting bacteria present in a batch. Read more fun sauerkraut facts below! Who invented sauerkraut? A) Earliest recordings of fermented vegetables come from NE China (Manchuria); some estimates are 4,000+ years ago. It is said the Genghis Khan brought the art of lacto fermenting vegetables from central Asia to W. Russia when the Mongols were conquering. This would be around 1237. It most likely trickled from there westward. Pliny the Elder wrote a couple lines describing the craft 2,000 years ago in Rome. East Asian trade routes could have carried these ideas to the Mediterranean basin whenever they started. Probably how olives came to be fermented into edible fruit. There are lacto-fermenting and yeast fermenting traditions for both food and beverage, all over the world. How is yours different from the nasty stuff in a can? A)Modern food manufacturers can or jar their kraut using heat in order to extend shelf life, some use vinegar instead of fermentation to sour it, and some that do ferment don’t ferment it as long. Pickled Planet sauerkraut is packaged into jars with it’s own brine solution, then refrigerated to preserve the vitamins, enzymes, and beneficial bacteria without any heat. Live sauerkraut also has a distinctive flavor very different from the canned version. We also make our kraut in many delicious flavors. Why is this good for me? A) Well to begin with, what you buy is your vote, and this shapes the world systemically. If you buy to support healthy ecosystems and human scale food systems, eventually the world (meaning the entire web of ecosystems both physical and cultural) is healthier on the whole, which improves your health as well. As for your individual health, have a seat the list is extensive. Sauerkraut is good for you because it is a potent source of vitamins, including C, and several B vitamins for sure. It is good roughage. The lactic acid improves internal conditions for beneficial intestinal flora, balances stomach Ph both directions, and helps break down proteins. The enzymes break molecules down into building blocks, easily absorbed and used by your body. Not just the cabbage in the jar, but they keep going to work in your digestive tract breaking down the food you ate with the kraut. This in turn gives your body more nutrition with less digestive effort and increases your over all store house of enzymes and energy for other projects. The easy nutrition increases your body’s availability to both purify and build various systems as needed. This means your muscles are less sore, you experience less heartburn, your liver works better, your joints are more lubricated. All body systems benefit from this nutritional equation and you have a net gain in over all vitality. Your immune system also benefits because beneficial micro-organisms, such as lacto-bacillus plantera and brevis populate your stomach. With a ready crew of micro-defenders protecting the main entrance of your body, many harmful organisms that enter your stomach, never make it into your blood stream. This gives the lymphocytes in charge of lung patrol better chances of defending that other major area of infection because they don’t have to mess with the stomach intrusions. You get sick less. pickledplanet/faqs
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 20:07:17 +0000
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