SO! I am super-jazzed about my latest batch of kimchi and let me tell you why. I walked into the French Broad Food Co-op and what did I see. WHAM! Local daikon radish, local hot peppers, local napa cabbage, local beets, local carrots, local garlic, and local ginger. Local ginger??! That's right, ginger grown right here in NC. I had a blast examining the produce and letting it speak to me in order to pick the perfect amounts of everything, the shapes that felt right in my hand, the colors that grasped my eyes the most, I practically danced up to the checkout with my goodies. Before I get into my recipe, a few words on why the thought of fermented foods makes me want to dance.
Several years ago when I was hip deep in my battle with migraines and chronic fatigue I did lots of reading and research about foods that would help me and almost everything I read instructed me to adopt a mostly raw foods diet. This was not a dramatic transition as I had already adopted a 90% vegan diet, it was summertime, my garden was in full swing and my roommate had a Juiceman juicer he was willing to share with me and even inspired him to juice more too.
That summer I was landscaping and the hours were long and hot, I was coming home to practice yoga and keep up with daily house chores and garden. Because of my active lifestyle I was burning many many calories and with my new raw food approach I was not taking many in. Sure I was incorporating oils, nuts and seeds, coconut products and lots of other good fats, but the amount of calories I was burning was extreme. After a super-long day in 115 degree heat index, after a super-long week, I went home on Friday dizzy with a firework migraine. I collapsed in bed and didn't return for nearly a month. My body completely shut down. I had no health insurance and was tested repeatedly for lymes, lupus, mono, HIV; getting these tests without insurance has been the only debt I have had in my life, which I am still paying for, seven years later. All were negative. For three weeks I could not hardly get out of bed. I quit my landscaping job, slept all day, read Haruki Murikami and Gabriel Garcia Marquez novels; stories that would take me out of my universe and guide me in completely forgetting about my life. How could this have happened? How could I start over? WHERE would I start over?? This is the healthiest possible diet I had ever adopted in my life and made me the sickest I have ever been. I was in major debt being out of work and having had all of that testing done and had absolutely nowhere to turn. My body craved soups, potatoes, root vegetables, stews and teas; healing to the core, comforting foods. I slowly rebuilt, and started over.
What I have learned over time, through more education and research, and that great hindsight 20/20 vision, is that yes, I was not taking in enough calories. But second, that my personal nature is very cool. I am the type of person that always has chilly hands and feet no matter how warm the weather is. When most are sporting a t-shirt, I have a little pullover on top. Drinking water with lots of ice in it makes me feel like my throat is closing up. I can drink hot tea and enjoy soup during the most brutal heat wave, and I can lay out in the sun without shade and be happy as a clam.
So, let us examine an analogy. Imagine that your belly is a cauldron, a vessel for the food you've been eating. Since I am a cool-natured person, my cauldron tends to run on the chilly side, like a gazpacho. If you are a hot natured person, your cauldron would be hot and bubbly. Ideally, our cauldrons would be at a gentle simmer most of the time we are digesting food. So for me, since my nature is so cool, I have to work to keep the heat up on my cauldron by eating warm foods and beverages, perhaps with spices. Cold (raw) foods, tend to exacerbate my chilliness and slow down my digestion in a shocking way, that is not healthy for me. If you are a hot- natured person, you may notice that when you eat spicy Mexican or Thai food you might feel impatient afterward, sweaty, on a “short fuse” (think George Costanza after the Kung Pao). If you are a cold-natured person and you've just had a big salad for lunch with a glass of ice water, you may find yourself craving that 3pm cup of coffee or sugar jolt. This is the delicate balance.
As far as my experience, I was basically starting at square one. The many benefits of raw food are undeniable and I am a firm believer that everyone should incorporate some raw foods into their diets no matter what your constitution, on account of live enzymes and nutrients that simply disappear once cooked and cannot be attained elsewhere. However, this should be balanced delicately according to your nature. This is where the beauty of fermented foods comes in: Enter Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation and person who changed my life and thoughts about food. In the foreward of Wild Fermentation, Sally Fallon writes:
“The science and art of fermentation is, in fact, the basis of human culture: without culturing, there is no culture. Nations that still consume cultured foods, such as France with its wine and cheeses, and Japan with its pickles and miso, are recognized as nations that have culture. Culture begins at the farm, not in the opera house, and binds a people to its land and its artisans. Many commentators have observed that America is a nation lacking culture- how can we be cultured when we only eat food that is canned, pasteurized, and embalmed? How ironic that the road to culture in our germophobic technological society requires, first and foremost, that we enter into an alchemical relationship with bacteria and fungi, and that we bring to our tables foods and beverages prepared by the magicians, not machines”. (Fallon, Wild Fermentation, pp xii)
Fermentation is a beautiful process of the transformation of microorganisms. Just like the transformation from sorrow to joy, fermentation allowed me to reincorporate raw food into my belly and life in a new and joyful way. When food ferments, its enzymes, fungi, and healthy bacteria are pre-digesting the food. Fermented food like kimchi or saurkraut is so alive, that it has already been working hard to digest itself, before it even touches my lips. Therefore my digestive system reaps all the benefits of the raw food, live enzymes and nutrients, healthy bacteria for strong intestinal flora, and really amazing flavor; without having to do much breaking down or digesting at all. The less hard your body has to work to digest your food, the more energy your food will give you in return.
Fermented food is the perfect compliment to any meal aiding in digestion and bringing joy to the palate. Ancient cultures have been fermenting food since the beginning of time, and it has been something lacking in our Western culture for a long time. Now that people are becoming more aware of the benefits, it has actually become a bit of a trend. Anyone who shops at a natural food store and hasn't noticed the kombucha craze has not been paying attention. Many dairy products like yogurt now tout the label “Contains Probiotics!!”. I believe one of the reasons for this sudden trend is that Americans have been tragically over prescribed antibiotics that kill our instestinal flora. By the time our course of antibiotics is over, we are left with no healthy gut bacteria to defend ourselves from the next disease. And it starts all over again. Americans are (no pun intended) starving for fermented foods.
Kimchi is similar to saurkraut, but with other healing vegetables and herbs besides cabbage. I love beets and the color they turn the kimchi so I improvised and threw some in, if you love snow peas and have access to them, incorporate, whatever you love!
So without further digression, here is my variation of Sandor Katz's kimchi recipe:
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons (or more) of sea salt
1 liter of filtered water
1 Napa cabbage
1 daikon radish
1-2 carrots
1-2 beets
1 bunch of scallions (you can use leeks, onions, or shallots, have fun!)
3-4 cloves of garlic (I'll admit right now to using A LOT more than that, about double ;)
3-4 hot chilies (or more, whatever you can handle, this is a good amount for me)
3 tablespoons (or more!) fresh grated ginger
First mix a brine of one liter of filtered water and and 4 tablespoons of sea salt. Stir well to dissolve salt, the brine should be very salty.
For now, set aside garlic, ginger, scallions and chilies.
After washing the rest of your produce coarsely chop into chunks. Save yourself lots of time by then moving your veggies to the food processor. Pulse a few times, remove the top of the processor, scrape the sides of the processor bowl and repeat. Do this until you have a good blend of veggies, some tiny and grated and some more chunky. That's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it. Add the veggies to the brine and place a plate or other weighted object on top of it, keeping vegetables submerged in the brine. Leave for a few hours or overnight, until the vegetables are soft.
When ready, mince garlic and chilies, and grate fresh ginger. Combine to make a pasty consistency. If you hate to chop, you can throw the whole chilies into the final project, the kimchi will absorb the spice and you can remove them as a last step.
When veggies are ready drain the brine off, reserving the liquid. Taste vegetables for saltiness. “You want them to be decidedly salty, but not unpleasantly so”. If they are too salty rinse them. If you cannot taste the salt, sprinkle with a few teaspoons, mix and taste. Adjust accordingly.
Mix the vegetables with garlic, ginger, scallion, chilie paste. Mix everything thoroughly and stuff into a clean quart sized jar. I used a giant cabbage and giant daikon radish so it made more than I expected, and I divided into two quart sized jars. Pack it tightly into jar or jars using clean fingers to press down until brine rises up. Add more brine if necessary. Weight the vegetables down with a smaller jar or some other type of weight.
Ferment in kitchen or another warm place. I like on top of the fridge. Taste the kimchi every day with clean fingers and push back down to submerge in brine. You can cover with cheesecloth or saran wrap to keep away dust and flies.
After about a week of fermentation when it tastes ripe, get ready! At this point, I divide into smaller jars so I can give some away to friends or freeze some. Enjoy with meals as a condiment or side dish. Feel those digestive enzymes doing their thing and keeping your cauldron at a gentle simmer!
Other fermented food reccomendations that I love are miso, coconut kefir (in a smoothie, yum!), sprouted grains and beans, tempeh, kombucha, and of course...beer. Happy digesting!
