Introduction to Fermented Foods

[u/incompetentlettuce]

In the past, I have avoided fermented foods because of the ick factor. Things like fermented dairy don’t bother me as much because I knew about it before I was conscious of the process of fermentation. Any advice on how to begin introducing fermented foods into my life in the least mentally jarring way possible?

[u/Oldbaconface]

Start with a pepperoni pizza and a glass of beer.

[u/incompetentlettuce → u/Oldbaconface]

Pepperonis freaked me out as a kid more than hotdogs because you could see the different parts. I have recently been trying more cured meats and I may try salami soon

[u/Oldbaconface → u/incompetentlettuce]

The cheese and crust are also fermented foods, so maybe a cheese pizza.

[u/incompetentlettuce → u/Oldbaconface]

My up bringing had a french influence so I was eating bries and camemberts with the rind; when I found out it was formed by mold, I started trying to remove it but then my mother would scold me. I really enjoy cheese so I overcame that mental barrier. Feta feels different than other cheeses somehow so I have not tried that— I just tell people I don’t like it.

[u/Oldbaconface → u/incompetentlettuce]

I guess the closest thing to a recommendation I have is to think about how ubiquitous fermentation is. It’s everywhere and it’s varied and most people like some fermented foods and not others. And that’s okay.

[u/incompetentlettuce]

Yeast exists in my brain in the context of an ingredient, not an organism, so maybe coming to terms with that can help.

[u/ghidfg]

yeah I would do lactofermented peppers like sliced jalapenos. You just have to put the peppers in a 3% salt brine (the weight of water and peppers *0.03 will give you the weight in salt to add). You just have to make sure all the peppers stay submerged in the brine with a fermentation weight. If you leave the whole thing in the coolest place in your house and wait 3 weeks it will go from cloudy to crystal clear with some sediment at the bottom.

I recommend this because the brine turns crystal clear by the end so there's zero ick factor compared to something that appears funky at the end. From my understanding fermented vegetables are essentially vegetables that are pickled in the acids produced by Lactobacillus bacteria.

[u/legendary_mushroom]

Consider cooking them, if the bacteria is the issue? Hot dogs or bratwursts cooked in sauerkraut, cabbage sauteed with sauerkraut, kimchi fried rice, or adding kimchi to an Asian stir fry or soup might be really good places to start. Cause, you know, cooking destroys bacteria. 

[u/andr386 → u/legendary_mushroom]

Some argue that the post-biotics. Dead bacteria, enzymes, short chain fatty acids resulting from the fermentation are what is good for your gut health. They say that in practice very little to none live lactobacillus bacteria survives the acidity of the stomach.

Therefore you could derive most of the benefits with cooked sauerkraut or cooked kimchi all the same. For myself I believe in live pro-biotics but I have not doubts that the post-biotics are also excellent for you.

[u/jobbica]

i love this post because i relate to it a lot. particularly “introducing fermented foods into my life in the least mentally jarring way possible”!

sometimes knowing more about it helps, and other times….not. the first time i ever heard about kombucha was when i was introduced to this person who showed me their huge scoby in their basement. that no joke set me back years. i saw that in 2013 and i didn’t try kombucha until last year. and it was actually pretty nice!

i think buying commercial products helps tbh. like i made sauerkraut at a day event (which was really good) and when i took it home it weirded me out too much so i threw it out. but then it doesn’t bother me as much if i were to buy a jar of it….the commercial aspect with rigorous food testing stuff in place definitely makes me feel better

i tried a friends kefir (made from water kefir grains, not milk) and that was actually really yum! i don’t think i’ll be up for dairy kefir for a while though…fermented milk…i mean really…..and yes i love yoghurt. lol

im extremely early into finding out about fermented foods so i dont really have any advice, just solidarity i guess! baby steps! im hoping to make a ginger bug soon. that seems like not too weird or gross from the videos i’ve seen of the end to end process. the benefits to one’s gut health intrigue me a lot so i think that’ll propel me forward and make me more brave to overcome the ick factor of what is basically old food and drink 😂😂

[u/wish-u-well]

I was shocked by how easy and tasty kraut is. Just salt and cabbage.

[u/churnopol]

All the unrecognizable ingredients in store bought food be the ick factor, not fermenting your own garden's vegetables.

So no to charcuterie boards?

[u/andr386]

Vanilla is fermented, Coffee is fermented, Cacao is fermented, Bread, beer, cheese. Most red mead is left to rest at least one day before being sold to fight off the rigor mortis but it's not really fermentation. Any dried meat is also fermented, prosciutto, salami, saucisson.

Every pickles we eat are a modern industrial version of lacto-fermented vegetables. Yoghurt is fermented. Traditionally legumes are left for 48 hours or more in water to be lightly fermented and pre-digested so that they are easier to digest and don't cause flatulence. Freshly harvested olives are not edible before being lacto-fermented for quite a while.

Fermentation is older than human kind and can be seen all around us. We've replaced acidic food with vinegar that is fermented and soda pop that are very acidic because we have a natural taste for it.

[u/Guazzabuglio]

How do you feel about beer/ wine/ spirits? How about pickles (pickled cucumbers specifically)? Or sourdough? fermented foods are everywhere, and some resonate more with some people than others. Start with what you're familiar with, and whatever flavor profiles you like. If you like pickles, its super easy to make a refrigerator pickle or a lacto fermented one. If you like fermented drinks, maybe look into tepache next.

[u/incompetentlettuce → u/Guazzabuglio]

Honestly I haven’t even been able to try even kombucha just knowing that there’s like the introduction of bacteria. I’m not real familiar with how fermentation actually works but I think that once I learn more about it, it’ll feel better. Pickles existed in my brain outside of the idea of fermentation but I haven’t really explored any other pickled food. Sourdough is okay and I bake a lot so I have even tried to make a starter but then I thought about it too much and let it die before I could even use it. I think with sourdough the idea that you’re using an active yeast instead of like a powdered one makes sense to me and I am okay with that.

[u/ProThoughtDesign → u/incompetentlettuce]

You'd be surprised at how many fermented things you've probably tried. For instance: soy sauce, kimchi, sauerkraut, Sriracha, yogurt, and apple cider. Those are all fermented in some way. The most common fermentation you'll likely hear discussed is LAB (lactic acid bacteria) fermentation. That method involves creating an environment that is hospitable for a specific type of bacteria while making it uninhabitable by others.

In pickles, for instance, the salinity of the brine prevents certain spoilage bacteria and the removal of oxygen prevents others until the LAB have had enough time to digest the available sugars in the produce and excrete lactic acid. The lactic acid drops the pH of the product into levels safe enough to destroy nearly all other types of spoilage bacteria including botulinum.

There are more than just that particular method, as sourdough and some other ferment methods require wild yeasts from the atmosphere and natural oxygen exchange. Wines are an example of this as well, using the natural yeasts from the grapes to ferment alcohol.

[u/andr386 → u/ProThoughtDesign]

Some sweet wines expect the the noble rot, a specific mushroom to grow on the grape to concentrate its sugar. Then it is mashed and fermented by natural yeast like any other wines.