I'm starting a new series of posts....they are all written by my newest guest blogger, Veronica. I actually don't really know Veronica--I've known OF her for many years though. We mostly know each other through mutual friends. And its amazing what you can learn about a person by being "friends" on Facebook or following them on Pinterest! In several recent conversations with some mutual friends, though, her name kept coming up something like this..."Well, Veronica told me about all the paocai they have added to their diet and I think it sounds interesting to look into...." I'll stop here for those of you that don't speak Chinese--"pao" is a Chinese word that covers a wide range of meanings. You "pao" tea leaves (brew), you "pao" cucumbers to make pickles, you "pao" your feet before a foot massage or pedicure (soak). Paocai is going to refer to pickled or fermented vegetables. So I wrote Veronica and asked to know more about what she's doing. She was quick to offer some guest posts sharing her methods and recipes if it would help others. Over the next few months there will be 6-10 posts from her. To start with, I asked her to write a little blurb about why they have added pickled, fermented and cultured foods to their diet.
My name is Veronica Stringer. I have lived in China for 14 years. We spent the first 10 years being sick quite a bit. Possibly because we lived in a pretty poor part of China where not much attention was paid to good hygiene and clean food prep. We've now moved to a different part of China. It's cleaner, the people are more educated, there are definitley higher standards as far as hygiene goes. And, on top of that we have added fermented foods to our diet. I am thankful that we have barely been sick at all. Knowing what I know about the scientific method, I am afraid I cannot say with all certainty that our change in diet is the reason we have been sick less. The move is also a variable. But, I would say to you - it's worth a try!
Making fermented foods is not difficult. For example, to make sauerkraut all you really need is cabbage, salt and a glass container to put it in. Have fun! Play with it. It's best to have the mindset of trying to add one fermented food to your diet at a time rather than making a lot of drastic changes all at once. That can be overwhelming. For our family, pickled radish and carrot and kimchi were the two foods we started with. We did milk kefir for a while and then moved to water kefir. In the end, we liked kombucha the best. It is for sure the most low maintenance of all the ferminted drinks. It can literally steep for months with no attention needed. Then, when you are ready to enjoy drinking it again, you just empty out and bottle up what has become "vinegar", add new sweet tea to it, let it steep a while then it is ready to drink again. No disadvantages to having not used it in a while, in fact the advantage is that now you have yummy, good for you homemade vinegar. Yogurt is another one that we added right away. So easy, cheap and good for you and you can use it many different ways.
Fermented food is not a new concept. Traditional cultures all over the world incorporated fermented foods in their diets regularly for thousands of years. Fermented vegetables and fruits are prepared via lacto-fermentation, which is a traditional method of preserving food that was used before we had the luxury of refrigerators and for the purpose of making fruitful crops last well into the winter months. This process not only prevents food from decaying, but enhances nutrient content and provides the body with beneficial microbes and enzymes. This process enhances B vitamin content, vitamin K2 and many life-giving enzymes. Lacto-fermentation involves submerging a vegetable in a salt-water brine that kills “bad” bacteria and allows “good” bacteria to proliferate. Chemical reactions occur that involve the bacteria, lactobacilli, to break down the starches and sugars of the vegetable and produce lactic acid, which is the medium that preserves the food and prevents spoilage. The end result creates a nutrient-dense, therapeutic food that is best eaten in small quantities as a condiment. Adding a couple spoonfuls daily to your meals will help with digestibility of your food, as well as an accumulation of health-promoting benefits over time. Fermented foods help to nourish, balance and heal the gut, and optimize immunity.
A great starter website to gain information on pickled and cultured foods and methods is Cultures for Health. If you sign up for their weekly newsletter (which is very informational), you also get access to some eBooks.
Do some research, try a few out, see what you think. Happy Pao'ing!
My name is Veronica Stringer. I have lived in China for 14 years. We spent the first 10 years being sick quite a bit. Possibly because we lived in a pretty poor part of China where not much attention was paid to good hygiene and clean food prep. We've now moved to a different part of China. It's cleaner, the people are more educated, there are definitley higher standards as far as hygiene goes. And, on top of that we have added fermented foods to our diet. I am thankful that we have barely been sick at all. Knowing what I know about the scientific method, I am afraid I cannot say with all certainty that our change in diet is the reason we have been sick less. The move is also a variable. But, I would say to you - it's worth a try!
Making fermented foods is not difficult. For example, to make sauerkraut all you really need is cabbage, salt and a glass container to put it in. Have fun! Play with it. It's best to have the mindset of trying to add one fermented food to your diet at a time rather than making a lot of drastic changes all at once. That can be overwhelming. For our family, pickled radish and carrot and kimchi were the two foods we started with. We did milk kefir for a while and then moved to water kefir. In the end, we liked kombucha the best. It is for sure the most low maintenance of all the ferminted drinks. It can literally steep for months with no attention needed. Then, when you are ready to enjoy drinking it again, you just empty out and bottle up what has become "vinegar", add new sweet tea to it, let it steep a while then it is ready to drink again. No disadvantages to having not used it in a while, in fact the advantage is that now you have yummy, good for you homemade vinegar. Yogurt is another one that we added right away. So easy, cheap and good for you and you can use it many different ways.
Fermented food is not a new concept. Traditional cultures all over the world incorporated fermented foods in their diets regularly for thousands of years. Fermented vegetables and fruits are prepared via lacto-fermentation, which is a traditional method of preserving food that was used before we had the luxury of refrigerators and for the purpose of making fruitful crops last well into the winter months. This process not only prevents food from decaying, but enhances nutrient content and provides the body with beneficial microbes and enzymes. This process enhances B vitamin content, vitamin K2 and many life-giving enzymes. Lacto-fermentation involves submerging a vegetable in a salt-water brine that kills “bad” bacteria and allows “good” bacteria to proliferate. Chemical reactions occur that involve the bacteria, lactobacilli, to break down the starches and sugars of the vegetable and produce lactic acid, which is the medium that preserves the food and prevents spoilage. The end result creates a nutrient-dense, therapeutic food that is best eaten in small quantities as a condiment. Adding a couple spoonfuls daily to your meals will help with digestibility of your food, as well as an accumulation of health-promoting benefits over time. Fermented foods help to nourish, balance and heal the gut, and optimize immunity.
A great starter website to gain information on pickled and cultured foods and methods is Cultures for Health. If you sign up for their weekly newsletter (which is very informational), you also get access to some eBooks.
Do some research, try a few out, see what you think. Happy Pao'ing!
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