Nothing makes me feel better as a Kitchen Goddess than getting my fermenting jars out. Maybe it's my Nordic-viking roots (my sister is a flaming redhead) or maybe just the memory of endless yummy meals with potato salad, new season north sea herring and fresh pickles. You can take the girl out of Holland but.... :)
And so here I am in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Considering the @eco-train challenge of red-fire foods and medicinal cooking. You only have to follow me on facebook (Pure Thai Naturals or Marike van Breugel ) or instagram ( Pure Thai Naturals ) to know that "foodismedicine" is a favourite and oft-used hashtag.
Beets feature a lot in our diet. Why? Brain health, cognitive performance, blood pressure, immune response, reducing inflammation, boosting blood, enhancing exercise performance and optimizing immune response. You can read more here: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/277432.php and here:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/25/beets-health-benefits.aspx
Did you know that although beetroot does not necessarily prevent anemia, it can increase oxygen uptake in your red blood cells by about 400%? AMAZING stuff.
How do we eat them? Often simply grated raw in salads. Sometimes lightly boiled and dressed in a Dutch style summer salad with raw apple cider vinegar or yoghurt. But very, very often as a natural lacto-fermented raw pickle. Probiotic. Amazingly yum. Amazing in what it does for both your brain and your blood. Yummy on the side, with just about anything from a New York hot dog to a Thai-fusion black bean salad.
So. Let's get started. You will NEED an apron when working with beets.
The basic ingredients are, well, basic. Organic beets. Organic red onions. Himalayan salt.
Step 1. Slice up the onions and break them up with your hands - you want maximum surface area exposed for optimal fermentation. Cry as you need. Purge out your grief and your unrequited loves. Make a note to go and rewatch Babette's Feast. Cry a bit more, just to be sure.
Step 2. Scrub the beets (I prefer not to peel them - so much of the beneficial bacteria live on the skin) and cut off any icky bits.
Step 3. Grab a sharp knife and julienne your beets. I prefer my pickle to have some crunch and texture, so I don't take the lazy grate option, which makes a sloppy wet pickle. I chop and chop my way through the pile. Stained hands? A badge of honour. I prefer not to contaminate my foods with so-called sterile rubber gloves.
Step 4. I add Himalayan Salt - about 2 dessert spoons for a large bowl. Be careful not to make it too salty! And I also usually add mustard seeds, fennel seeds, corriander seeds, some whole black peppercorns and a sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper.
Add a cup of water (no yucky chemical tap water please - it interferes with fermentation), mix it all together and cover with cotton cloth for about 8 hours. The lacto-fermentation process is fascinating. You can read more about what actually happens here: https://www.olivemypickle.com/blogs/news/the-3-phases-that-create-probiotics-during-lacto-fermentation
What happens in the 8 hours? The salty water extracts the natural liquor from the beets and onions, and also nixxes any bad bacteria which might be present. You want to have enough liquid drawn out to be able to totally cover the beets so they can ferment in a totally oxygen free environment.
Sidenote: this traditional red cotton dishcloth (we call it a 'theedoek' in Dutch) came from the kitchen of my friend, Martijn (Tino), who passed from this earth-school not very long ago. Today I felt his presence - he was a great fermenter! - and simply want to honour his memory and his ongoing presence in my life and my kitchen. You can read more about him here: @artemislives/dying-is-rarely-convenient-creating-space
After anywhere from 8-12 hours, pack the beets tightly in your fermenting jar, weight it down with a saucer to keep the beets submerged, and make sure the liquor completely covers everything. I cover with a cotton cloth to keep bugs and dust away.
And then I set it to rest for 5-7 days in my kitchen.
Yes, we have a traditional Thai-style open-to-the-elements kitchen. In the cool winter months (Dec-Jan-Feb) I literally wrap my fermenting jars in towels to keep the temperatures constant. Most of the year, it's warm and steady and nothing needs doing except enjoy watching it.
It will gently bubble for 5-7 days.
After 7 days (or when the bubbling stops), pack it into jars, make sure the beets are covered by the liquor, and store in the fridge. Keeps for months and months. We often have a small dish on the side with our lunch or dinner. The juice? YUM. Which leads to the second and extra probiotic beet recipe: Marike's Magic Salad Dressing.
Take half to one cup of probiotic fermented liquor and put in a glass screw top jar. Add a tablespoon of white tahini. Shake vigorously and pour over your favourite salad. Too easy!! Delicious. And FULL of great healthy probiotics for better health and more happy hormones.
So get your fermenting jar sorted. I use a big straight-sided glass flower vase and an odd saucer. Find some organic beetroot and enjoy this healthy red-fire medicine-food.
Be your own doctor. Food is medicine. BlissednBlessed.
Eco-Green-Sustainable content on Steemit
Supporting People Who Help Make The World A Better Place
Discover previous ecoTrain magazines at @ecoTrain or read more here: @ecotrain/what-is-the-ecotrain-in-a-nut-shell If you are new to Steemit, love to write, and would like to join the ecoTrain community as an official passenger, please email to [email protected]
Proud member of the SMG – supporting quality steem content & cutting edge community initiatives on the blockchain. You can find us on discord