Fermented Foods – Why you should eat more

Kimchi, saurkraut, other fermented vegetables, wine and beer: all of these are fermented foods. Fermenting is the process of changing the carbohydrates (natural sugars in the vegetables) into alcohol (ethanol), naturally. The process creates natural, healthy microorganisms that are SO good for your body. According to a blog post I found at Firefly Kitchens fermented foods also help balance your PH, I highly recommend you check it out! Here are some other health benefits of fermented food (from Cheeseslave.com)

• They increase digestion
• They help restore the proper balance of of bacteria in the gut
• They are rich in enzymes
• The process increases the vitamin content of the food that is fermented
• The foods help us absorb the nutrients we’re consuming

Fermented foods have been popular in other countries for millions and millions of years. Yes they are stinky. Yes they make you burp horrendous burps. But who cares? They make your body healthy and we really should try to get more fermented foods into our diets!  I am a HUGE kimchi fan – when I went from being a very content bachelorette who ate her kimchi daily to moving in with my boyfriend my mother asked me: “What are you going to do about your kimchi habit?” Knowing the odor of kimchi is not very attractive. Hey, he eats menudo and I deal with that smell, we love each other and will put up with a little bit of funkiness if it keeps the other person healthy. We also grew up eating saurkraut and having kraut making parties with my cousins. Great times and a wonderful tradition I hope to carry on with my family as well.

Firefly Kitchens, in Seattle, makes amazing fermented foods. I had the pleasure of listening to one of owners, Julie,  at a conference on sustainable business practices a couple of weeks ago. She really inspired me and we also had the opportunity to try some of her products. They were delicious, I tried them all. Firefly Kitchens has a great website with a blog about the healthy benefits of fermented foods and great recipes. I saw a recipe for saurkraut cake that I can’t wait to try! I have had it before and you wouldn’t know it had saurkraut in it. 

I urge you to try to incorporate it into your daily life in any way you can, keep trying until you find some you love!

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