Fermentation...

How many of us even know what fermentation is?  Do we turn our nose up at this word?  Do we see it as something smelly and sour?  Well you would be right about that....it can be very aromatic and it can be sour, in a good way.  But there is a new rage on the horizon that is about to sweep all in it's path, making pro-biotics at home in your own kitchen.  Who needs to purchase pills and liquids that may a only have half their original number still alive?  and it has been found over and over that getting our nutrition through food serves our bodies far better than getting it through pills or other man made forms.  So be prepared, fermentation is here.

Fermentation is an old and time honored way to preserve food.  Long before any form of refrigeration existed, salt and drying was the way to keep food for long, long periods of time.  Then through the making of mead and ale other forms were discovered, kind of.  Sauerkraut is simply salt and chopped up cabbage; but put together and left alone well a sour, savory, sweet and salty glob is created that taste great with brats and Ruben sandwiches. While that cabbage and salt are making friends, others come and join the party.  Those others make up what we call today pro-biotics.....and guess what they keep us healthy...very healthy.  They give our immune system a huge boost....better than anything else we can take.
But the trick is to get it through food and not a plastic bottle that said's it has five hundred million live bugs, but in reality most of them die on their way to you.

So, fermentation...the new/old health benefit that we left and are now returning to in our search for longevity. Almost anything can be fermented...some are more tasty than others, that is a matter of personal choice.  Some may take time to develop a taste for others you may never like.  But the options are many in the forms of fermented food that you will find a couple that you do like.

Yogurt is the most common fermented food that we are familiar with.  Yogurt made from raw milk has even more healthy benefits because nothing has been cooked out and destroyed.  If you want learn more about raw milk head over to your local undercover dairy and take a look at how it is collected, stored, processed and is sold, all under the dark, stern face of big brother.  I am all about safety but really now!

I am reading my fist book on this whole process, I am fairly ignorant and I am trying to learn me some information.  The first book I am starting with is "Real Food Fermentation; Preserving whole fresh food wit live cultures in your home".  I have just started it and am actually understanding it what it is talking about, so far.