Fermented foods are trending now! Good bacteria can boost immunity, improve digestion, and even help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Here are 6 fermented foods you can easily make at home.
1. Kefir
If you love yogurt but have never tried kefir, you’re missing out. It’s creamy, spicy and wholesome, and contrary to popular belief, it’s really easy to make. You will only need kefir grains and milk. From there, you simply put the granules in a cup of milk, cover and let it sit at room temperature for about 24 hours. Then strain and you can reuse the kefir grains.
Ingredients:
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1 glass of milk, preferably whole
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1 teaspoon of active kefir grains
2. Kimchi
Kimchi is delicious and amazing for your gut, but many people think it’s very difficult to make, so they only eat it at Asian restaurants. Here’s how you can do it at home. Cabbage just needs to be cut, salted and massaged so that the cabbage becomes soft, left for a couple of hours. Then prepare the paste with spices, chop the rest of the vegetables. Thoroughly wash and dry the cabbage, mix with vegetables and spices, pack in a jar and leave in the refrigerator for about 5 days. Your kimchi should be done by the end of the week.
Ingredients:
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1 medium head of white cabbage
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1/4 cup sea or kosher salt
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1 tablespoon of grated garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
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1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
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1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
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2 tablespoons fish sauce or brine shrimp paste, or 3 tablespoons water
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1 to 5 tablespoons of Korean red pepper flakes
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8 ounces Korean radish or daikon radish, peeled and cut into matchsticks
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4 medium scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
3. Tea mushroom
Kombucha is not only a trendy hipster drink that tastes great, it’s also a great fermented beverage that will quench your thirst on a hot day and give you a variety of health benefits and good probiotics. All you need to make your own kombucha is to purchase some SCOBY (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) and brew (leftover kombucha). And, of course, just brew sweetened tea. You just need to connect it and leave it for a couple of days. It’s that simple.
Ingredients:
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3 1/2 liters of water
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1 cup granulated sugar
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8 tea bags (your choice of black or green tea)
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2 cups starter from the latest batch of kombucha or store-bought kombucha
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1 scrap per jar for fermentation
4. Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is ridiculously easy to prepare. All you really need to do is chop up some cabbage, salt it and rub the salt in, then weigh it out and let it ferment for 3 to 10 days. Cabbage will release liquid during salting and it will ferment in it.
Ingredients:
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1 medium head of green cabbage
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1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
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1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
5. Fermented carrots
These fermented carrots are delicious. And very easy to do. Simply mix the salt with water until it is completely dissolved to make a brine. It is best to heat it so that it dissolves better, and then cool it. Place the remaining ingredients in a jar, fill with brine until only about an inch remains, cover with cheesecloth and leave in a warm place for about a week. Make sure to remove any white mold that forms on the top, this is part of the process, but you should check and remove it daily. After a week it is done and ready to use.
Ingredients:
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1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
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1 tablespoon peeled and finely chopped galangal or fresh ginger
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1 tablespoon of grated lime peel
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2 teaspoons of salt
6. Sparkling cider
You’ll be amazed how you can turn apple juice into sparkling cider within 24 hours. Warm the apple juice slightly, it should be at room temperature, not cold. Then dissolve the yeast in about ½ cup of apple juice and pour this solution into the rest of the apple juice. Pour into bottles, close the lid and leave in a dark but warm place for 24 hours. Voila – you have sparkling cider.
Ingredients:
