Fermented and Live-Culture Foods
Fermented foods are those that have been transformed by microbial action. Many very common foods are products of fermentation, including bread, cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, chocolate, coffee, almost all condiments, and much more. In Hawai’i, poi is a traditional staple that many people prefer after it has fermented for several days. By some estimates, as much as one-third of all food consumed by humans has been subjected to fermentation.
There is a certain inevitability to fermentation, in that microbes are present on all the foods we eat and as soon as plants or animals are no longer alive microbes begin to digest them. As a matter of survival, human cultures around the world had to find strategies to work with microbes or else their food would become “spoiled” or “rotten.” The transformational power of microorganisms has been harnessed to help preserve food (sauerkraut, cheese), to create strong and compelling flavors (cheese, chocolate), to detoxify food (cassava, phytic acid), and to make foods more digestible (soy ferments, yogurt).
Fermented foods offer a few distinct health benefits: predigestion, nutrient enhancement, detoxification, and the live cultures themselves. Predigestion breaks down nutrients into simpler forms before we eat the food, frequently making nutrients more accessible to us. For instance, soybeans contain more protein than any other plant-source food, but without fermentation it is impossible for our human digestive tracts to extract it; in fermented soy foods (the most famous being soy sauce, miso, tempeh, and natto), the protein is broken down into amino acids that we can easily assimilate. Fermentation creates nutrients, B-vitamins and some very special micronutrients that are anti-carcinogenic or confer other health benefits. Detoxification removes compounds that can be toxic or that inhibit effective utilization of nutrients.
These benefits persist in ferments even if they are cooked. But the live culture benefit derives only from raw ferments, which have not been cooked after fermentation. It is the lactic acid bacteria, in particular, that are beneficial to humans. They replenish bacterial populations and genetics that are critical for our effective functioning, but which are under attack in modern times from antibiotics, chlorine, antibacterial cleansers, and other common chemicals.
Until the mid-20th century, fermentation was practiced in most households and certainly in most communities. It was simply part of the fabric of life, like agriculture. But as food production moved out of our communities to factory farms and processing factories, many fermentation traditions—ancient rituals passed down from generation to generation through the millennia—have disappeared. Concurrently, our culture declared war on bacteria, and most of us have been thoroughly indoctrinated into the idea that bacteria are enemies and should be destroyed. Many people in the 21st century approach the idea of fermenting at home with fear: How will I know I have the right bacteria growing? How will I know that I am not accidently growing something that could make my family sick, or even kill someone?
In fact, fermentation is extremely safe. In the United States, there has never been a single reported case of food poisoning from fermented vegetables, meaning that fermented vegetables are safer than raw vegetables. I have devoted myself for the last decade to demystifying fermentation for people and helping empower them with information and techniques to reclaim fermentation in their homes. I have done this through books (Wild Fermentation and my forthcoming The Art of Fermentation), and by teaching workshops. I also have a website www.wildfermentation.com with lots of information and resources.
I’m coming to teach on the island of Hawai‘i in January (see Live-Culture Foods Workshop event). Come learn and become part of the fermentation revival!
Sandor Ellix Katz is a self-taught fermentation experimentalist who wrote the book Wild Fermentation in order to share the fermentation wisdom he had learned, and demystify home fermentation. Since the book's publication in 2003, Katz has taught hundreds of fermentation workshops across North America and beyond, taking on a role he describes as a "fermentation revivalist." Through these workshops, Katz met many different food activists—varied in their specific projects but united by a passion to bring food back to earth—who inspired him to write The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. Newsweek called Wild Fermentation “the fermenting bible,” while the New Yorker wrote that Katz’s books “have become manifestos and how-to manuals for a generation of underground food activists.” His new book, The Art of Fermentation, is due out from Chelsea Green in Spring 2012. For more information on fermentation and Katz's workshops, visit www.wildfermentation.com.