Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The... (31 page)

PICKLED CUCUMBERS

Makes 1 quart

4-5 pickling cucumbers or 15-20 gherkins

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

2 tablespoons fresh dill, snipped

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey (
Whey and Cream Cheese
) (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)

1 cup filtered water

Wash cucumbers well and place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover the cucumbers. The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

Variation: Pickled Cucumber Slices

Wash cucumbers well and slice at ¼ inch intervals. Proceed with recipe. Pickles will be ready for cold storage after about 2 days at room temperature.

Lacto-fermented cucumbers and
cornichons
[small cucumbers] are very refreshing and far less acid than pickles conserved in vinegar—one never grows tired of them. In classic cooking, these cornichons always go with meat courses and with sausages and preserved meats; a wise habit since this vegetable is able to dissolve precipitates of uric acid and thus prevents the formation of stones, often caused by meats and sausages, foods rich in uric acid. Claude Aubert
Les Aliments Fermentes Traditionnels

A 1999 study published in the
Lancet
found that consumption of lacto-fermented vegetables was positively associated with low rates of asthma, skin problems and autoimmune disorders in Swedish children attending a Waldorf school. The same study found that use of raw milk and avoidance of vaccinations added to the protective effects. SWF

PICKLED BEETS

Makes 1 quart

12 medium beets

seeds from 2 cardamom pods (optional)

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey (
Whey and Cream Cheese
) (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)

1 cup filtered water

Prick beets in several places, place on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for about 3 hours, or until soft. Peel and cut into a ¼-inch julienne. (Do not grate or cut the beets with a food processor—this releases too much juice and the fermentation process will proceed too quickly, so that it favors formation of alcohol rather than lactic acid.) Place beets in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down lightly with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over beets, adding more water if necessary to cover the beets. The top of the beets should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

Almanzo felt a little better when he sat down to the good Sunday dinner. Mother sliced the hot rye'n'injun bread on the breadboard by her plate. Father's spoon cut deep into the chicken pie; he scooped out big pieces of thick crust and turned up their fluffy yellow undersides on the plate. He poured gravy over them; he dipped up big pieces of tender chicken, dark meat and white meat sliding from the bones. He added a mound of baked beans and topped it with a quivering slice of fat pork. At the edge of the plate he piled dark-red beet pickles. And he handed the plate to Almanzo. Laura Ingalls Wilder
Farmer Boy

PICKLED DAIKON RADISH

Makes 1 quart

3 pounds daikon radish, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey (
Whey and Cream Cheese
) (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)

Place all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and pound with wooden pounder or meat hammer to release juices. Place radish mixture in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down lightly with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer until juices come to the top of the radish mixture. The top of the radish mixture should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

The daikon radish is greatly prized as a digestive aid in the Orient where it is eaten in a great variety of ways—fresh or preserved, dried, salted and added to soup or meat dishes. Fermented daikon radish, or
takuan
, is commonly served with macrobiotic food. Tests have shown it to be especially high in
lactobacilli
. It is also valued as a diuretic, as a decongestant and as a source of substances that inhibit cancer. Folk wisdom claims the daikon rids the body of accumulated fats. The root is an excellent source of vitamin C. SWF

PICKLED TURNIPS

Makes 1 quart

2½ cups turnips, peeled, quartered and sliced

¾ cup beets, peeled, quartered and sliced

1 medium onion, peeled, quartered and sliced

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey (
Whey and Cream Cheese
) (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt)

1 cup filtered water

Mix vegetables and place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. Press down lightly with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer. Mix water with salt and whey and pour over vegetables, adding more water if necessary to cover the turnip mixture. The top of the vegetables should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

When we buy vegetables, we are often deceived by their color and appearance whereas their aroma, taste and consistency tell us more about their quality. And quality is of paramount importance if we want to preserve these vegetables through lacto-fermentation; lactic-acid-producing bacteria need a great many vitamins and minerals that only vegetables rich in these elements can supply. This is why when foods are successfully lacto-fermented, we can be assured of their inherent nutritional quality. Annelies Schoneck
Des Crudites Toute L'Annee

PICKLED RED PEPPERS

Makes 1 quart

about 12 thick red bell peppers, seeded and cut into quarters

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey (
Whey and Cream Cheese
) (if not available, use an additional 2 teaspoons salt)

½-1 cup filtered water

Place peppers skin side up in oiled pyrex dishes and bake at 450 degrees about 10 minutes. Turn pepper pieces over and bake another 10 minutes or so until skins are browned and begin to buckle. Remove pepper pieces to a platter and cover with a plastic bag. Let cool about 10 minutes and carefully remove skin. Pack the peppers into a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar. Mix whey and salt with water and pour into jar, adding more water if necessary to cover the peppers. The top of the peppers should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

PICKLED GINGER

Makes 1 quart

about 3 pounds fresh ginger root

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons whey (
Whey and Cream Cheese
) (if not available, use an additional 1 tablespoon sea salt)

1 cup filtered water

Peel ginger and slice very thinly. Place in a large bowl and pound lightly with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer to release juices. Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down lightly with a pounder or meat hammer. Mix water with salt and whey and pour into jar, adding more water if necessary to cover the ginger. The top of the ginger should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

The digestive process has two distinct features: one is the breaking down of ingested foods; the other is the building up of nutrients needed by the body. If the breaking down is incomplete, the building up cannot proceed correctly. In reality we nourish ourselves not by what we eat but by what we are capable of breaking down and transforming into nutrients the body can use. Of great importance in this process is the role played by the aromatic substances that are formed during lacto-fermentation. The aroma of lacto-fermented foods is the by-product of certain substances present in infinitesimal amounts but essential for the ultimate assimilation of the food to the body. Hippocrates expressed this principle with the words
Suavia nutriunt
—that which smells good nourishes and promotes healing and health. Thus, the role of these substances that make fermented foods taste good goes far beyond that of gustatory pleasure and the stimulation of digestion to our general well being.

What is astonishing is that lactic acid contributes to both processes—that of decomposition and that of reconstruction. On the one hand it supplies digestive juices in the form of organic acids that help break down the foods we eat, and on the other it activates the metabolic processes whereby these foods are transformed into new living substances.