Fermented Foods: The Benefits and Risks
Do you know what fermented foods are and why they are good for the body? Today we explain the benefits and risks of fermented foods. Maybe you have never thought about it, but you have certainly eaten yogurt and bread or drank beer at least once in your life. Here these are fermented foods.
So these are foods that are part of our daily life and not that belong to other cultures or culinary traditions. Are you curious to find out more?
Why do we need to eat more fermented foods?
Eat fermented foods regularly it is good for health because it improves the general well-being of our body. They favor the digestion, improve the immune system, and prevent intestinal disorders.
They contain a charge of probiotics that serve our intestine to function regularly and allow good bacteria to proliferate. But what are the fermented foods we should eat more of? Let’s find out together.
What are fermented foods?
Surely throughout your life you have eaten fermented foods without knowing that they were fermented, for example sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, milk, brewer’s yeast, miso and fermented vegetables.
The fermentation was born in ancient times as conservation system of foods. Since refrigerators and modern techniques for pasteurization do not exist, the only alternative to preserving food for longer was to ferment it. Fermenting means removing oxygen from a food and macerating it in vinegar (acetic fermentation) or adding salt (lactic fermentation).
From Japan to Italy: here’s where to find fermented foods
Have you ever tasted the sauerkraut? This food, so famous in Germany, but also in Trentino Alto Adige and northern Italy, is fermented. Moving to the East there is the famous kombucha soil, for centuries considered a powerful panacea for man, or the miso, widely used in Japan and Food and obtained from the fermentation of soy. You can use miso in numerous vegetable preparations instead of stock cubes.
Have you ever tried the kimchi? It is a typical dish of Korean cuisine prepared 50% with fermented vegetables (cucumbers, cabbage, radishes, and spring onions), and 50% spices (garlic, ginger and chili), not counting water and salt.
Then there is the kefir which is not a food but a fermented drink made with fermented milk and water. Rich in active probiotics as well as lactic ferments, despite being a typical product of Caucasian areas, it can now be purchased in any supermarket.
However, probably the most well-known and consumed fermented food product in Italy is lo yogurt, obtained from the fermentation of the two bacteria Lactobacillus bulgaricus and it Streptococcus thermophilus.
The fermented drink most loved by Italians is beer, obtained from the fermentation of barley malt and flavored with hops.
Fermented foods are not only delicious but also provide numerous health benefits. Perhaps it’s time to add a little more sauerkraut, kefir, and miso to our diets.