by Maddie Elling, Owner, Hosta Hill
The Wild World of Fermented Foods
Whether you are new to fermentation or have been making your own beer and sourdough, you may not realize how plentiful are the benefits of fermented foods! It’s not just great to have a preservation method that keeps your food from going bad while adding to the complexity of its flavor. There are health benefits too.
What is fermentation?
Let’s begin at the beginning. Food preservation practices date to prehistoric times, and among the oldest methods of preservation is fermentation. During fermentation, bacteria and other microorganisms convert starches and sugars in vegetables to lactic acid, and that acid works as a natural preservative.
Fermentation has been used for thousands of years to keep vegetables from going bad. For example, the fermented superfood we call sauerkraut actually originated in China, where cabbage was fermented with rice wine 2,000 years ago to preserve it for the winter.
There are thousands of different fermented foods enjoyed around the world. Traditional foods like sauerkraut (usually associated with German cuisine) and kimchi, a beloved traditional Korean dish, are becoming much more common and easy to access in the United States. Yogurt is a familiar fermented food found in its own dedicated aisle at the supermarket. And drinks like kombucha and kefir are becoming popular as well. All of these 5 fermented foods are chock-full of benefits because they are all full of live microorganisms.
Gut-Feeling: the benefits of fermented foods
According to Dr. David S. Ludwig, a professor of nutrition at Harvard, the digestive tract is populated with 100 trillion bacteria and other microorganisms. A lot of new research is focused on the importance of a healthy gut microbiome.
Why? Because it contributes so much to our health and well-being, including playing a big role in our immune system and keeping damaging inflammation at bay.
And, it’s generally understood that fermented foods can help the gut microbiome by adding to a healthy diversity of microbes in your body. Modern Americans just don’t seem to have the complex gut microbiome of past generations. Partly this may be because of our reliance on processed foods. Other contributing factors may be that we have less access to diverse microbes because of better hygiene, or our higher use of antibiotics that kill good and bad bacteria alike. A huge benefit of fermented food is getting your gut back in balance.
But it’s so important to remember: not all fermented foods are equal. The health benefits of fermented foods are all about those living microorganisms. Beer and sourdough, for example, don’t hold up to foods like yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut, which contain living microbes when you eat them.
Practical benefits of fermented foods
The research is new but fermentation is old. Before there were refrigerators, foods could be preserved through the ancient tradition of fermentation.
So you could say there’s a real benefit of fermentation in its simple function as a preservative! Goodbye, rotting cabbage on the counter, and hello, crunchy, complex, delicious, and healthful sauerkraut or kimchi!
Plus let’s not forget that the key ingredient in delicious fermented vegetables is...vegetables. Whether you’re enjoying vitamin-rich veggies or healthful, nutritive yogurt, the benefits of fermented foods are not to be underestimated!
About/update on Hosta Hill:
Hosta Hill is a women owned, Berkshire based business. You may have noticed changes this past year, indeed, this is true! 2023 was a big year for us. The kitchen we operated out of for 5 years went up for sale, we weren’t in a position to purchase the building so sought alternative homes for Hosta Hill. With not many options to accommodate our process we moved to a co-packer who now produces our products using our original recipes. This has been an adjustment with many wins and losses. As the business coasts along we are taking this time to recalibrate after running the business for the past 13 years. We thank you for your enthusiastic support and hope you continue to enjoy our fermented goods!