For The Love of All Things Fermented!
A few years ago while sitting in the kitchen of a friend’s Korean mother, while she was feeding me a variety of fermented foods, I asked her to teach me how to make kimchi. That launched a two day kimchi extravaganza!
A trip to the Korean supermarket, an evening of prep work, and a day of washing, chopping, mixing, slathering cabbage and these enormous daikon radishes with a special mixture of ingredients (some of which were written only in Korean). At the end of the weekend, I came home with an enormous amount (seriously, it was a lot) of winter kimchi and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) – for a single woman to eat! A few short months later, the pandemic started and my house was full again. It didn’t take long before the seemingly endless supply of kimchi was shrinking into smaller and smaller containers and then it was gone. This weekend, my son and I followed the photo diary recipe that my friend and I made with her mother to make another (smaller) batch of kimchi and kkakdugi. Follow us on Instagram to see the reel we made of our adventure (@excitari).
Why go through the trouble of making it ourselves? My son and I are foodies… and have an appreciation of food that is both good and good for us. According to the Journal of Medicinal Food, kimchi contains probiotic lactic acid bacteria that have health benefits that range from reducing constipation and cholesterol to promoting colorectal health, healthy weight and immunity protection. It also has antioxidative and anti-aging properties.
If you are interested in trying your hand at making some fermented goodies for yourself, check out this article from the February issue of Natural Awakenings South Jersey Magazine, which features the health benefits of fermented foods and several recipes (https://naturalawakeningsnnj.com/blog/2022/01/31/fermenting-for-foodies-preserving-food-and-traditions/).
We would love your feedback. Send us your favorite fermented food, and if you have a recipe, please share! (info@excitariwellness.com).
Video link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaivNx1gpDt/