The Clever Guts Diet by Michael Mosley

Author:Michael Mosley [Mosley, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reference
ISBN: 9781925596045
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2017-05-29T14:00:00+00:00

Fermented foods

Sauerkraut, kefir and kimchi

Wine, cheese, yoghurt and chocolate are all fermented foods. That simply means they’ve been created by microbes converting sugars, such as glucose, into other compounds. The unique flavours and textures you get with different fermented foods are due to the different species of bacteria and yeast involved. I’ve noticed that sourdough bread made in San Francisco has a completely different taste from sourdough bread made in London and that has to be because the microbes in London are very different from those in San Francisco.

Fermentation has become increasingly popular, because it not only adds flavour and texture, but also adds lots of ‘good’ bacteria to your diet. Manufacturers have, of course, jumped on the bandwagon and started selling all sorts of fermented foods. The problem is that many of them have been pasteurised, so there’s nothing living in them. I was recently involved in a study in which we sent off a number of shop-bought fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi, to a university to be tested. Sixty per cent of the samples we sent grew nothing. You need to buy the products fresh and preferably with some guarantee on the label that they really do contain living bacteria. Or, of course, you could make them yourself.

I’m not familiar with the whole fermenting scene, so I met up with a group of people who are. They’re based near London and call themselves The Fermentarium. They are on a mission to spread the word about the joys of making your own fermented food.

When I met Gaba, who is originally from Poland, she was busy making sauerkraut. This is traditionally made from finely shredded cabbage covered in salty water and left to ferment. It is popular in Europe, where it is eaten with sausages or as a side dish.

Gaba learnt how to make it from her mother. ‘My mum, 82, still makes sauerkraut,’ she told me. ‘When we were children, living in Poland, she would make a huge vat of sauerkraut in November and put it outside on the balcony, where it was well below freezing. When it came to mealtimes she would take a bowel, crack the ice, scoop up some sauerkraut, carry it inside and warm it up. And that vat of sauerkraut would see us through until the spring.’

Gaba said that while most people, particularly at first, tend to stick to fermenting milk or vegetables, you can ferment almost anything, including pork fat and raw fish.

At this point I had a flashback of one of the most revolting foods I have ever eaten, and that was fermented shark. I was in Iceland and because it is something of a tradition there I thought I would give it a go. Big mistake. I got one mouthful down before I started to gag. This is strictly for hardcore fermenters, though at least the fermented shark they eat these days is produced more hygienically than it used to be. In the good old days, I was told,

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