If you think of fermented foods and immediately think of sauerkraut then you may be surprised to find out that some of your favorite foods are really forms of fermentation. I imagine that the germans used cabbage because thats what they had and were trying to preserve. Every culture has foods that they ferment going all the way back thousands of years. The list is huge but here are a few foods from all over the globe: miso, soy sauce, sake, tempeh, beer, wine, sour dough, cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, pickles, kraut, vinegar, creme fraiche, worcestorshire, curtido, kefir, kimchi, kombucha, poi, scoby, shrimp paste, black garlic. Thats really just a small sample to show the list of varied fermented foods. There are books devoted to fermenting and some focus on just one form or another.
The beauty of fermenting foods is that it creates a food that is alive and because of that it is constantly changing and almost never spoils. Its also believed that staying healthy is linked to having healthy bacteria and enzymes in our gut. When everything is working properly our system creates an environment that isn't sterile which many people mistakenly believe is good. Actually, a healthy gut in humans and animals is not flushed clean but contains all kinds of live activity. When we take things like antibiotics it tends to kill not just the bad bacteria but the good bacterias as well and we end up with a struggling immune system. That is where probiotics come in. The easiest way to get those probiotics are through eating fermented foods.
By learning to ferment our own foods we are able to preserve food which can be kept without refrigeration. It will change in flavor as it continues to ferment but it shouldn't spoil. Milk doesn't ever spoil. It just changes form to things like yogurt, cheese and sour cream. The same is true of fruit if it changes to wine and then continues changing to vinegar.
It doesn't require fancy equipment to ferment food. Usually the bacteria or yeasts are already on the vegetables and we just create the proper environment for fermenting by adding salt or in some cases sugar. Some forms of fermentation require a starter but in most cases that is just a matter of saving a starter from the prior batch to add to the new batch. Any crock or jar can be used to ferment. It takes very little to learn to do it and the most time consuming is just the wait while the food changes on its own.
There are already posts on the blog about making vinegar, wine and sour dough. I won't include directions for fermenting here because there are so many foods out there that can be fermented. Don't stop at cabbage when making kraut. Ferment other vegetables too. Radishes, turnips, wild greens, carrots and many other foods can be fermented. Its just a matter of a little salt and vegetables to be able to ferment and preserve in the process. Its a good skill to learn for a time when electricity may not be available to Pressure can foods. It has the added benefit of promoting good health.
Southern Wood Elf