Fermented Vegetables Promote a Healthy Body

Fermented vegetables promote a healthy body. They provide probiotics and good bacteria in the gut. We should all bow to these fermented vegetables. Also, they may  help remove toxins like heavy metals, and even help to prevent cancer. 

We have worrisome additives in our food: preservatives, odor enhancers, colorings, flavorings, emulsifiers’, pesticides, genetic engineering and artificial sweeteners.

Making Fermented Vegetables

You can make this low-salt health food in your own kitchen without special equipment. I will show you how. The complete fermentation period at room temperature, (all 4 stages) takes about 28 days, but some recipes hurry it along and let you do the job in one week.

Twenty eight days is what I use. This delicious medley is made the same way as my homemade sauerkraut. This ancient method of preserving food is still good today.

Instructions:

• To begin the batch, save all your extra salad vegetables. Any time you have too many vegetables, put them into a bag and freeze them: carrots, celery, onions, peppers of all kinds, garlic, even cucumbers and potatoes. I don’t advocate too many potatoes, or things that might dissolve. I use lots of carrots because they are cheap and hold their texture well. Tomatoes turn to mush and are too much water, but they are OK.
• I have learned to leave everything in big pieces and not mash them into a pulp. That way I can enjoy whole garlic cloves, hot peppers and large pieces of onion—this keeps folks at arm’s length—with their colds and germs.
• When you have saved enough to make a quart or a gallon—or however much you care to contend with—thaw them. Now mix in a level teaspoon or less of salt (not a heaping one) I like to use good, pure sea salt. Pack them into a jar, jug, bowl stainless steel pot or crock. Avoid aluminum as the metals may react negatively.
• Also, I like to add some ginger root—to give it some extra impact.
• About once a day press it all down under the water to prevent molding.

You can start eating this after about one week. The longer it stays at room temperature the more tart is becomes. It will keep for months in the refrigerator.

How To Go The Full 28 Days Without Touching It

• Place a clean cloth directly on top of the critters. Be sure to completely encapsulate all the available space along the edges. The whole needs kept under water. If need be, add enough water to submerge everything.
• Fill a couple of freezer bags half-full of water to set on top and hold them down. Add a teaspoon of salt to each bag just in case one might leak so it doesn’t dilute the batch.
• Cover the container with a cloth to keep out the flying critters—and the cat.

An important note:

We are fermenting, not pickling this food. Too much salt will prevent fermenting.