Why You Should Consider
NOT Using Salt to Ferment Your Foods
Choose your vegetables - and your cultured vegetables - carefully.
Cultured vegetables fermented with salt are lacking in key health benefits.
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All cultures traditionally had their own versions of fermented foods, which
were staples in their diet.
Not only do fermented foods have the ability to exponentially improve
nutrients from the foods we eat, they also energetically bring us back
to nature - connecting us to ancient healing wisdom.
Fermented foods originated in times when there was no refrigeration. In fact,
they were believed to be the food of Noah's ark, when the world was covered
with water. They were certainly included in the diets of American Indians,
who preserved food by fermenting and smoking meat and burying vegetables in
earthenware containers.
In the United States alone, the natural foods industry is growing rapidly.
In 2004, The Organic Trade Association reported expected sales of $30 Billion
by 2007.
Fermented foods will surely be the new stars of the revolution in the natural
foods world. In Japan, they are leading sales, spurred on by the tremendous
amount of research by doctors, food companies, Universities and medical schools.
Surely, the more we learn about the benefits of fermented foods, the more
they will be incorporated in our diets as well.
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Sea salt can add much-needed
minerals to your diet, but only use it after you've fermented
your vegetables.
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Fermented Foods - How to Buy or Make Them The Healthy Way
Sour-tasting fermented foods and drinks, rich in microflora and active enzymes,
are an ancient curative and one of the keys to health and healing in the Body
Ecology program.
You are probably familiar with commercial foods like sauerkraut and pickles,
but these are not the same as traditional fermented foods. Modern
sauerkraut and pickles are pasteurized to kill bacteria (including the beneficial
bacteria your body needs), and they have added vinegar and unhealthy refined
salt (stay tuned for our upcoming article comparing refined salt with the
much healthier sea
salt !).
Long before refrigeration, salt was a common preservative. Salt draws moisture
out of food, creating an environment where pathogenic bacteria are inhibited
-- but unfortunately with salt some of the good bacteria are also prevented
from growing in the early stages of fermentation.
While salt preserves some things like salt-cured ham and beef jerky, when
it is used in the fermentation process to ferment vegetables (into what we
often refer to as "cultured vegetables"), salt also reduces some
of the potential health benefits!
To get the most from your fermented foods, Body Ecology recommends that
you do not use salt, even healthy sea salt, in the fermentation process.
When salt is used, it inhibits the growth of the beneficial bacteria (microflora)
-- a key reason we are eating the cultured vegetables. We need to establish
and maintain a healthy inner ecosystem. Of course, we also eat them because
we know the vegetables are easier to digest when fermented and therefore
we absorb many more of the nutrients in the vegetables. We also love
their great tastefully sour taste. They keep us away from sugary, damaging
high-carb foods, and they help us restore our immunity.
Until the word spreads about the importance of cultured vegetables, it is
currently very difficult to find commercially available cultured vegetables,
especially those that do not use salt in the fermentation process. To solve
this problem we created a line of Body
Ecology Starters that you can use right at home to make
your own fermented foods, teeming with healthy microflora.
We do recommend using a small amount of EcoBloom
to feed the starter and wake up the healthy microflora. The microflora appreciate
having this pre-biotic sweetener and use it as a food source during the fermentation
process. It makes really potent and healthy cultured vegetables.
We also suggest putting extra minerals like the fulvic
minerals into the mixture to feed the microflora. It duplicates the extra
minerals you'd ideally find in ancient soils.
Making your own fermented foods and drinks saves money and provides you
with the most abundant source of healthy microflora. Save 20% when you
buy all three Body
Ecology Starters! |
Sea Salt for Flavor and Medicinal Properties
Cultured vegetables are excellent right out of the jar as is. But many people
find them to be even better when you add medicinal Celtic
Sea Salt for flavoring -but after they are fermented and just before
you eat them.
Celtic Sea salt provides minerals and stimulates digestion. In fact, sea
salt is the most alkalizing of all foods. Combined with cultured vegetables,
it's a useful tool to help correct an overly-acid condition in the body.
Fermented foods and drinks can be the cornerstone of a healthy new diet
and a new you. So pass on the salt when you prepare fermented foods,
but pass the sea salt shaker around the dinner table to add to already-fermented
foods. Bon appetit!
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