Gut Heath

This is how I felt when I first tasted kimchi at a Chinese restaurant, @Shirley Martin . My daughter, Robin , likes it, and I thought that since it was so healthy, I just needed to develop a taste for the stuff.
Several tries later, I still didn’t like it, but Robin was enjoying my trials with making it.
Finally, I read something that said to keep tasting it every day until you liked how it tastes, so that is what I did. Mine tastes more like sauerkraut, but with the added spices and veggies that go into kimchi.
It depends on the temperature as to how long it needs to ferment, but the daily tasting helps a lot with knowing when to put in the refrigerator.

I just found a book on Amazon about making kimchi, fresh and fermented, spicy and not spicy, and started reading that last night. I have Kindle Unlimited; so I can usually read the books that I want to , for free.

 

There is a good possibility that your carrots were too fermented. When I first tried kimchi at a Chinese restaurant, I thought it was the most awful stuff I had ever eaten !
Trying some from our local Korean market was no better, and I sent it home with Robin, who likes the stuff.
This time, I didn’t put nearly as much of that hot red pepper flakes in it, and I tasted it every day, and then put it in the refrigerator before it got too fermented.
This is more like a sauerkraut taste, but with more veggies and spicy. If you like sauerkraut, you would probably like kimchi if not fermented too long.
It is great with some steamed rice and cabbage !
It is slowly fermenting in the refrigerator, but I will have it eaten before it gets really fermented. Also, adding the apple really seemed to help the flavor as well.

 

Kefir: I tried it and I didn’t throw up, but I considered it.
Fermented Carrots: Sounds gross.
Sauerkraut: I do like sauerkraut, though, and eat it fairly often. It's best with hot dogs or sausage though, so that might defeat the purpose, healthwise.
Yogurt: I like the regular Yoplait or Dannon kind, but hate the Greek stuff.

For the most part though, when things start to grow on your food, it’s past time to compost it.

 

If you like sauerkraut, @Ken Anderson , there is a good chance that you would also like kimchi, especially if you make it yourself so you can tell what stage of ferment, and amount of heat (red pepper) is best for your taste buds.
The real reason for having kimchi is not just because it tastes good, but because of how much it helps our body. If we don’t have the good bacteria, our body can’t fight off the bad bacteria, and when we have an over-abundance of the wrong kind, all sorts of digestive problems can happen.
One probiotic capsule will give you about a billion of the probiotic bacteria, but 2 tablespoons of kimchi will give you about 10 billion........ big difference !
And since cabbage is pretty cheap, it costs next to nothing to make your own kimchi.
I am not big on cooking; but I do like making kimchi and sauerkraut. No cooking, just chop everything up, put it in a jar, and watch it change from a jar full of cabbage and veggies into a jar of probiotics.
The salt in the brine keeps the bad bacteria from growing, and the lactic acid bacteria grow just fine in the salt brine.
I have actually found that a bowl with some steamed brown rice and some kimchi makes a pretty good meal.

 

So, I have been reading the Kimchi book, and all of the ways that probiotics can help protect our body’s natural defenses. We can get good probiotics from things like yogurt and kefir, but apparently, kimchi, and sauerkraut have a lot more probiotics and types of probiotics. Since kimchi is also usually made with hot red peppers, that also helps to protect us from sickness that is spread by bacteria and a virus.
With all of the hype about the corona virus, I just wanted to share this one page from the book that talks about the SARS virus, and kimchi.

 

There is a total difference between fermented foods like pickles and sauerkraut, than with something that has sat in the back of the refrigerator and grown green fuzzy hair.
Fermenting in a salt brine has been a way of preserving vegetables for centuries, and it has helped people to stay healthy by eating it. The brine kills the bad bacteria, but does not hurt the good ones that cause it to ferment and have the probiotics that we all need to stay healthy.

As for having the hot dogs with your sauerkraut, that is not going to defeat the purpose of getting probiotics into your digestive system. The main thing to consider is that probiotics are living organisms, and they can be killed by too much heat.
Boiling the sauerkraut would kill all of the living probiotics, but if you gently heat it just until it is warm, that should be fine.
What I do , is stir fry/steam my chopped cabbage/veggies along with some pre-cooked rice, and once it is done, then I stir in my kimchi, so it is not cold but not cooked either.

If you like salsa, you would probably really like the fermented salsa, too !

 

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What about regular cabbage, @Shirley Martin , do you like that ?
I had a cabbage burrito for breakfast this morning , and was then checking online to see what special benefits there is to eating just fresh, unfermented cabbage.
I was happily surprised to see that it also has some great benefits for our digestive system/gut health. Cabbage has a lot of other benefits as well, plus it is low calorie and low carb.
Lots of goodness in a veggie that is both versatile and inexpensive.

 

I believe that I have mentioned the book, “Fiber Fueled” in other threads on the health forums here. It is written by a gastroenterologist, Will Bulsiewicz, MD, and he explains everything about how our digestive system works, what it needs, and how to fix it when it is not functioning properly.
I have been reading the book, and learning a lot.
Today, I got an email that he is going to be doing a free live webinar on January 12, 2022. I am posting the link to the registration page for anyone who is interested and wants to listen to the webinar.
https://www.forksoverknives.com/webinar-healthy-gut-healthy-weight-the-plant-foods-connection/

I definitely recommend reading the book also, and it is available for the kindle ebook, which is what i have.

 

I'm the same way, except for having it with pork chops every once in a while. Since I've not read anything to the contrary, I'm assuming that the beer and brown sugar I add fortify the sauerkraut.

 

@Yvonne Smith Do you know if cooking the sauerkraut kills the probiotics?

And have you posted directions/recipe here for a kimchi that you like?

edit to add: I've made an easy cabbage side dish that is merely chopped cabbage you simmer until tender, then add salt & butter and mash with a hand potato masher. It is surprisingly sweet and very tasty.

 

Has anyone here used one of the yeast probiotics? I've taken probiotic capsules off & on, and due to a mild case of diverticulitis and the antibiotic regime, I've been taking them again and have also been looking into prebiotics. Anyway, I came across a yeast (not bacterial) probiotic called saccharomyces boulardii. Much of what I read says it is recommended for the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Some sites recommend this as a daily supplement to regulate the gut, while most reviews seem to be from folks who take it when they get diarrhea, so I'm not certain if this would make a beneficial addition to my regime.

I'm also interested in getting input on prebiotics. I've read of some that are nothing more than indigestible material that goes to your intestines and stays there as food for existing bacteria to multiply, but most of the prebiotic supplements I've seen don't seem to fit that description.