Kimchi And Fermented Vegetables How To And Why

I'm pretty serious about making some fermented vegetables and I've watched a few videos of the process.

Give me your recipes. Post your pics. And talk to me about the benefits of this food.

Go!

 

Look in the what did you cook today thread

 

I know they are in there, Rollin. I don't want to dig through and find them. People should still have their pics and can add their recipes here.

It needs to be separated out from the other recipes.

 

I never actually made kimchi. You can buy it already made, though.

 

Relationship between gut bacteria and unhealthy eating





How your gut microbiome may control you

• The diverse community of microbes, collectively known as the gut microbiome, influence human eating behavior and dietary choices to favor consumption of the particular nutrients they grow best on, rather than simply passively living off whatever nutrients we choose to send their way.
• Some bacterial species prefer fat, and others sugar, for instance. They vie with each other for food and to retain a niche within their ecosystem — your digestive tract — and they also often have different aims than you do when it comes to your own actions.
• Bacteria may influence your decisions by releasing signaling molecules into your gut. Because the gut is linked to the immune system, the endocrine system, and the nervous system, those signals could influence your physiologic and behavioral responses — and health.
• Bacteria may be acting through the vagus nerve, which connects 100 million nerve cells from the digestive tract to the base of the brain, changing taste receptors, producing toxins to make you feel bad, and releasing chemical rewards to make you feel good.
• Certain strains of bacteria increase anxious behavior (in mice).
• Some strains of bacteria cause stomach cancer and perhaps other cancers.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/do-gut-bacteria-control-your-mind

 

There is a growing body of evidence showing a relationship between gut health and overall health. 80-90% of the immune system lies in the gut. When you have unhealthy gut flora, the rest of your body is going to suffer. There is a lot of new research showing a direct correlation between poor gut health and obesity. It almost seems like gut health is directly linked to a lot of the ailments people suffer from.

 

Simplest Kimchi recipe; Chop up some organic cabbage (you can add garlic, chili peppers, or whatever veggie or flavoring herb you might desire) put it in a jar or crock with water and salt (to taste) find a way to hold the cabbage under the surface of the liquid, like a plate with a weight on it, a cup or something. Cover the opening to the vessel to keep bugs and dirt out but don't seal it completely, gasses need to escape during fermentation. Alternately, get some of those mason jar lids fitted with airlocks.

Let it sit at room temperature for two or three days and watch for bubbles to rise. How long to ferment is personal preference, but your nose and tastebuds are the best judge of when it's done. It's a stinky endeavor, but don't be put off by your first wiff of fermenting cabbage, lol you'll learn to love it!

Edit; when you think it's fermented enough, put it in the fridge to stop the fermentation. Well, it actually just puts the bacteria to sleep. it's still fermenting, just very slowly

 

Even depression, studies are now showing.

 

I'm going to make some tonight, probably.

I bought cabbage, carrots, turnips, garlic, ginger, apples, sea salt, and spring water.

 

I love kimchi...eat it daily. But I don't make it. Please take some pics Aerianne

 

Yes, I will charge my camera battery now.

Thanks for reminding me.

 

Kimchi is Pretty nice. There's a resteraunt here that does KimChi and called KimChi and I believe it refers to the style of cabbage and how it's flavored or cooked. Generally here when I specifically order KimChi sides, it will be cabbage mixed with a red sauce, not spicy but has a kick to it but in sure it's just the mixture of the cabbage and this sauce that creates the kick. KimChi also comes with other cabbage sides altered with different oil and sauces.

My favorite dish was the crispy chicken and spicy pork but they took the chicken off the menu. They have different chicken now, much more hot and spicy and they warn me it's hot but I can handle it hehe.

 

My process has been slowed down because I stored food jars without removing the labels so I had to do that. My oven is broken so I'm having to boil the jars to sterilize them.

 

You don't have to go through all that, it's good enough to just wash them normally.

 

Too late now. The videos I watched had sterilized jars but they did it the easy way, in the oven.

Then they kept saying "with your very clean hands" do blah, blah blah.

 

It refers to fermented cabbage. Asian kimchi is usually spicy hot. Sometimes Kimchi is used (cooked) in certain dishes, but it's still fermented cabbage and or other veggies.

Traditionally fermented sauerkraut is the same thing. If it's not been pasteurized in the canning process, (like most of the stuff you see on store shelves)it will still contain the same live bacteria as Kimchi. If it has active bacteria, it has to be stored in the refrigerated section, or the jars would explode!

 

Yeah some people get freaky about that stuff.
As long as you practice normal cleanliness, you're fine. Once the culture gets going, they fight off most other things that try to grow in the brine. Those beasties protect their territory! If you get a little scum growing on the surface of the liquid, and this usually only happens if some of the cabbage is above the surface, just skim it off. No biggie

 

I thought all the good stuff growing should kill out anything bad.

I'll follow sterile procedures until hubby gets better. He's had two back to back bouts of infectious colitis.

 

In that case, maybe not a bad idea!

 

Here are the pics of my first batch of Kimchi/fermented vegetables. I'm tired so I'll add in some commentary about how I made the brine, etc. tomorrow.