Boost your probiotics … a quick and easy way
We’ve all heard about probiotics, the wonderfully good bacteria that live in your gut. The fastest way to boost your gut health is to eat more fermented foods like kombucha, sourdough, kimchi, pickles, miso, yoghurt and sauerkraut. Of course you can these days buy all these products but there’s also something amazingly satisfying about going the DIY route and making your own. If you are going to start somewhere we recommend starting with making your own sauerkraut. It is crunchy, sour and delicious and cheap and easy to make.
You will need a few basic ingredients:
- Vegetables – obviously cabbage is an essential but you can add other veggies like carrot, apple, red capsicum, pears, kale, and onions.
- Salt
- Water
- Aromatics – try things like peppercorns, fennel seed, chilli, garlic, horseradish, ginger, star anise, coriander seeds.
To make sauerkraut toss together grated or thinly sliced vegetables with the salt. You need to have a ratio of 1 ½ tablespoons of salt for every kilo of vegetables. Use your hands to rub the salt into the vegetables so that they release their liquid.
Then put the bowl aside for a few minutes, the repeat the rubbing and resting again a few times over the next hour. You are aiming for enough liquid (brine) to cover the vegetables. Next add in any aromatics that you want and then put into a cleaned and sterilised jar. Fill the jar to the top with some salted water using one teaspoon of salt for every cup of water. Use a clean piece of cloth to cover the top of the jar and it is a good idea to weigh down the sauerkraut so that the small pieces don’t float to the top. Put the jar in a spot at room-temperature for 4 days. Remove the cloth and cover with a lid and then place in the fridge where it will keep for six months.
