Copyright © 2011 All Rights Reserved. First Edition Assistant Editors: Jason Jeffers (www.thirdhorizonmedia.com) and Lisa Miller (www.LisaMillerWellness.com) Renegade Health 2490 5th Street Berkeley, CA 94710 This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors’ rights is appreciated. Gianni, Kevin M. Cultured: 70+ of the world’s best fermented food recipes / edited by Kevin Gianni. -- 1st ed. p. cm. Includes index. LCCN: 2011916531 ISBN-13: 978-0-9788123-9-3 PRINTED IN THE USA www.RenegadeHealth.com/cultured Medical Warning and Disclaimer The information in this book is not intended as medical advice or to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Kevin Gianni and the contributing authors. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. You may not be familiar with many of the ingredients listed herein. To help, we’ve included some basic information for many of the more unusual items. However, please note that some of the ingredients are considered medicinal in nature. So, before consuming large quantities of anything you’re not familiar with (or, if you have any special medical condition or are taking any prescription medication), please do a bit of research and/or talk to a medical professional when in doubt. Table of Contents Introduction Welcome to the World of Fermented Foods i PART I: ALL ABOUT FERMENTED FOODS The History of Fermented Foods 3 The Health Benefits of Fermented Foods 11 Getting Ready for Your 1st Ferment - Tips, Tricks & Troubleshooting 21 PART II: FERMENTED FOODS RECIPES Cultured Vegetables & Sauerkraut 31 Kimchi 57 Pickles 63 Kefir 69 Yogurt 77 Cheese & Sour Cream (Vegan and Non-vegan) 83 Miso & Tempeh 93 Beverages 99 Gluten-Free Breads 117 Snacks 121 PART III: BIOS & INDEXES Our Awesome Contributors 131 Index by Subject 150 by Recipe Name 159 by Contributor Name 162 Introduction A FERMENTED FOODS Q & A WITH KEVIN GIANNI What’s the Big Deal About Fermented Foods Anyway? Since you’re reading this book, you’ve probably heard some amazing stuff about fermented foods. Every year, it seems as if there’s some new health food craze that’s hyped up in lifestyle magazines, shows up all over the web and is a hit at your local health food store. After a few months however, the buzz dies down and it gradually fades away, a questionable quick-fix that never quite did what it was supposed to, leaving you on a desperate hunt for answers all over again. Sound familiar? Thankfully, I’m thrilled to inform you that this is most certainly not the case with fermented foods. Far from being a wishy-washy, not-quite-holistic food fad, the preparation of fermented foods is one of the oldest culinary traditions in existence, bringing with it a wealth of history, numerous health benefits and all kinds of ways to incorporate them into your diet. Perhaps best of all, they’re easy to prepare and cost next to nothing. On my website, RenegadeHealth.com, we present information on how you can take your health into your own hands and radically transform your life in the process. Rather than present worn out, recycled remedies to your health problems that only mask your symptoms temporarily, we seek the root cause of so many of the health issues that plague people today. The goal? Helping you to understand just how your body works so you don’t have to struggle with unresolved sickness; instead, you can eliminate what’s causing it in the first place. We’ve made it our mission to share what we’ve personally learned about exercise, raw foods, stress relief, and everything we’ve explored to completely overhaul our lives. It’s not just about feeling better; it’s about feeling as absolutely awesome as you possibly can! We take the studies and science of modern medicine into account, but at the end of the day, we use personal experience as our barometer. If we’re sharing something with you, it’s because it worked wonders for us. In fact, that’s exactly why this book exists. We’ve shared our experiences with fermented foods on the website before, and I’ve been consistently amazed at how much it captivated people and left them wanting to know more; with each new post, we’ve been thoroughly bombarded by more and more questions! It’s clear that many people are eager to start fermenting foods at home and reaping all of the possible benefits they have to offer. Although it’s not possible to pin down exactly why so many people are suddenly clamoring to know more about fermented foods, I think this explosion of interest sprung from the resurgent popularity of kombucha tea, a tangy, fizzy tonic that has been consistently taking up more refrigerated shelf space in supermarkets and health food stores in recent years. Like most other fermented foods, kombucha works wonders on your digestive system, and many people who regularly drink it report that it has positively affected their struggles with conditions as varied as acne, constipation and acid reflux, among others. As I mentioned, these kinds of effects aren’t just limited to kombucha, however, and there’s been a gradual, spreading awareness that these incredible benefits are largely attributable to the fermentation process; because of this, so many people have started looking into what fermented foods can do for them. Over the course of this book, as we delve deeper into the history and science of fermentation, you’ll see that this kind of enthusiasm for all kinds of fermented foods has been common throughout history, in every corner of the world. It’s a welcome and exciting assurance as you embark on the grand adventure that is fermentation. So, How Exactly Does Fermentation Work? You may not realize it, but many of the foods you eat and drink are actually fermented: • Yogurt and cheese are the products of fermented milk. • Beer and many breads (such as sourdough) are made from fermented grains. • Wine is the delicious result of fermented grapes. • Miso and tempeh are made from fermented soy beans. Beyond those you’re familiar with, there are literally hundreds of delicious fermented foods and drinks you’ve probably never heard of. In simple terms, we refer to foods as fermented when they have been aged with bacteria and/ or yeast. In ancient cultures across this globe, this was one of the foremost ways to preserve foods beyond their usual lifespan so they could be consumed for months, even years on end. In the process of preparing and eating these foods, it was discovered that this method not only preserved the nutritional content of the food, but also unlocked all kinds of new flavors and textures to delight the palate. Better yet, many of them were now enhanced with amazing health benefits. With this knowledge, people across so many of the world’s great cultures worked to experiment with and perfect their methods of fermentation, documenting their processes and effects along the way. The magic of fermentation lies in how the process breaks down the food being fermented. With time, fermentation creates and releases an array of nutrients, amino acids, vitamins and more. The key to this is bacteria. Wait… what? Who’s Afraid of a Little Bacteria? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is: almost everybody! Bacteria has gotten quite a bad iii rap in our modern world as a scourge to be eliminated through the use of antibacterial soaps, sanitizers and all kinds of clinical means. Of course, this is sometimes necessary due to the havoc caused by bad bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, which have become notorious to the public through dozens of outbreaks in everything from spinach to peanut butter. What most people don’t realize is that there are also healthy, helpful strains of bacteria, which we rely on to survive. In fact, we’re filled with them, with the amount of bacteria in your body outnumbering your cells by 10 to 1. We’re more bacteria than anything else! [1] Your digestive system is home to billions of strains of friendly bacteria called microflora. Their job is to break down the foods you eat into a form that can be absorbed by your body. That’s the process we know as digestion. As such, if you’re not filled with these bacteria, you’re not getting all of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals you need from your food, and that’s the start of a whole host of health issues - food allergies, skin problems, you name it. There’s even evidence emerging that compromised gut health may play a role in degenerative diseases such as autism and Alzheimer’s disease. Unbelievably, many of us deal with this predicament every day with nary a clue. For example, have you ever: • Taken antibiotics? • Dealt with a significant amount of stress that has left you feeling worn down? • Had chlorinated tap water to drink? • Eaten a diet laden with processed and fried foods without balancing it with fresh vegetables and fruits? • Dealt with a food allergy? Most of us would answer yes to at least two or three of these questions, and that presents a bit of a problem: all of these experiences have been proven to have a negative impact on the amount of microflora in our gut.