As you age, your healthy gut flora diminishes and your stomach becomes less acidic, which may set you up for gastrointestinal dysbiosis, and a number of serious health problems that follow from it including dementia. Beneficial gut bacteria play important roles in vitamin production, mineral absorption, detoxification, and helping prevent diabetes, digestive issues, neurological problems, cardiovascular disease, and even acne. Your microbiota also plays a large role in your metabolism; sugar, refined carbohydrates and junk foods cause certain bacteria to release endotoxins, which drive inflammation and cause metabolic changes that result in overproduction of insulin, increased appetite, increased fat storage and obesity.
One of the best ways to protect your health is by keeping your gut flora healthy with naturally fermented foods; one-quarter to one-half cup of fermented veggies with each meal is ideal, but you may need to work up to this gradually; instructions are given for how to make your own naturally fermented vegetables at home with just a few simple tools.
This is an extra suggestion we have added to Dr. Mercola's list! You can find one at Amazon here.
Canning Funnel: To help fit the veggies into the canning jar without having to use your hands.
1. Vegetable and Herb Selection: The first step is gathering up your veggies. Make sure they are all organic. Cabbage (red or green) should be the "backbone" of your blend, comprising about 80 percent (I use green.) Choose dense, tightly packed heads. Five or six medium-sized cabbages will yield 10 to 14 quart jars of fermented vegetables. Remember to reserve some cabbage leaves for the jar tops. Add in hard root vegetables of your liking, such as carrots, golden beets, radishes and turnips. Peel your veggies as the skins can impart a bitter flavor. I also enjoy adding red bell pepper, granny smith apples, and even a hot pepper, like a habanero (make sure you wear gloves!). One pepper for the entire batch is plenty. Aromatics can be added in small quantities — a little goes a long way, as fermenting concentrates the pungent flavors. Tasty additions include peeled garlic, peeled ginger, and herbs such as basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, or oregano. Onions tend to overpower the mix, no matter how little are used, so I avoid them. Finally, you can add sea vegetables or seaweed to increase the mineral, vitamin, and fiber content. You can add pieces of whole dulse, or use flakes. Wakame and sea palm do not have any kind of fishy flavor but need to be presoaked and diced into the desired size. Arame and hijaki DO have a fishy flavor.
2. Culture and Brine: For your brine, I recommend using a starter culture dissolved in celery juice. One quart of celery juice is adequate for 10 to 14 quarts of fermented veggies. While you can do wild fermentation (allowing whatever is naturally on the vegetable to take hold), this method is more time consuming, and the end product is less certain. Inoculating the food with a starter culture speeds up the fermentation process. I currently recommend using two of our Complete Probiotics as the starter culture until we get our refined version which will make more vitamin K2.
3. High Vitamin K2 Starter Culture: I recommend using two of our Complete Probiotic Capsules for every quart of fermented vegetables as that is very close to what our final culture will be.
4. Packing the Jars: Once you have your shredded veggies and brine mixture combined in your large bowl, tightly pack the mixture into each Mason jar, and compress using a masher to remove any air pockets. Top with a cabbage leaf, tucking it down the sides. Make sure the veggies are completely covered with brine and that the brine is all the way to the top of the jar, to eliminate trapped air. Put the lids on the jars loosely, as they will expand due to the gases produced in fermentation.
5. Fermentation: Allow the jars to sit in a relatively warm place for several days, ideally around 72 degrees Fahrenheit. During the summer, veggies are typically done in three or four days. In the winter, they may need seven days. The only way to tell when they're done is to open up a jar and have a taste. Once you're happy with the flavor and consistency, move the jars into your refrigerator.
6. Storage: Refrigerating your vegetables drastically slows down the fermentation. They will keep for many months this way, continuing to mature very slowly over time.