Making your own fermented foods (aka cultured foods) is super easy and, if done properly, will be really delicious!

We recommend waiting until you've done the Supersafe and Safe diets and have done the 'Testing' for food chemical sensitivities in the Adventurous diet before getting started with fermented foods.

If you've discovered that you do not have histamine intolerance, then you should be able to tolerate some fermented foods. But, we still recommend starting off slowly to test your tolerance.

However, if you do have histamine intolerance, then you'll want to be super careful. For example, some people start off by taking 1 dropper full or a 1/2 teaspoon of the cultured vegetable juice or young coconut water kefir and then very gradually increase this amount as their health improves.

It's also important to understand that depending on the community of bacteria in your gut, your genes, and many other factors, fermented foods might never agree with you or feel good in your body... and that's okay! Some people just don't do well on them and it's usually best not to force your body to have something it doesn't like. You do not have to eat fermented foods to have a healthy gut! Remember every body is different... and it's all about you and your uniqueness.

But fermented foods can be great for some people, which is why we have included them here.

We have provided you with a good variety of recipes to get you started, but once you get the idea, you can ferment pretty much anything you want.

Cultured/fermented foods are a very cost effective way to get a good variety of probiotics in your gut. You can also store cultured/fermented foods in the fridge for a long time, for 6 months or more.

WAYS TO START FERMENTS

1. Wild ferment (including Kombucha Scoby and Kefir grains). You simply let nature do its thing. This works well for sauerkraut, as cabbage already has a lot of natural probiotics. Although wild ferments can be great, there are two main issues with it. The first one is that your results might not be consistent, which can be very frustrating, especially if you're a beginner. The second one is that you don't know what is growing in your ferment... and when you've had a sensitive gut, this might not be the best thing for you.
2. Use a starter. This will give much more consistent results than wild fermentation and it's the best method as you start experimenting. You'll also know what you're ingesting! The L. plantarum in both of the Body Ecology starters can degrade histamine and oxalates if taken in very small and controlled amounts (as mentioned above). We've found that these starters can help some people tolerate small amounts of cultured/fermented foods better.
3. Use your favourite probiotic. This is a great way to save money and get the benefits from a probiotic. You can simply add a capsule of it in your ferment... and it will magically multiply, making your probiotic go further. This might not work with every ferment. For instance, yoghurt is a bit tricky and might not set with certain strains of probiotics. You will need to experiment a bit with this method. L.plantarum and L Rhamnosus will work well with vegetables and kefir, L.Reuterii has been used to make yoghurt, but it's a bit tricky! A multistrain probiotic might also work well.
4. Use whey as a starter (from homemade yoghurt). You can use whey as a starter for pretty much any ferment. You'll see we've used this method with the Blueberry Jam recipe.
5. Use an existing ferment. You can use the juices of anything that has been fermented as a starter for a new ferment. If you like the taste of a particular ferment, this might be a good way to get a similar taste again. For example you could use the juice from a previous batch of cultured carrots to make a new batch of cultured carrots. You could also use kefir to ferment cultured vegetables.

Basically, have some fun experimenting. The worse that can happen is that you'll have a bad batch... just throw this one in the bin and try again!

TIPS & TRICKS

Here's a few other tips and tricks for best results, especially as you get started:

• Start small - make 1-2 small jars only to begin with. Once you get consitently good results, then you can make larger batches.
• Keep things clean. Start off with a nice clean kitchen and then you can simply sterilise your equipment and jars by pouring fresh boiling water over everything.
• We like to use Mason Jars, but you can use any recycled jar or bottle in your collection (just as long as it has a lid & has been sterilised). Once you get excited about fermentation, you can invest in some more specialised equipment.
• Make sure everything is submerged. Fermentation is an anaerobic process and when fermented foods are exposed to air, they run a very real risk of being contaminated by stray microbes, yeasts and moulds. Creating a true anaerobic environment results in better ferments, less contamination and fewer failed batches. Making sure that all the ingredients are fully submerged and covered with 'brine' is very important. You can use a tightly rolled outer cabbage leaf as a 'topper' to keep your ingredients submerged when making sauerkraut. You can also use a Ziploc bag filled with water or brine as a 'weight'. You can also get rocks that are specifically designed for this, but we have found that the Ziploc bag works a lot better. Jars fitted with airlock lids can also be very helpful. You can invest in one of those once you get really excited about fermentation!
• If you see mould or anything that doesn't look right growing on your ferment, throw it away... it's not worth trying to 'rescue' it! Mould is NOT a part of a healthy ferment. Following the tips above should prevent this issue.
• Experiment with the amount of time you let things ferment to get the best results. This is best done by tasting every day towards the end of the recommended fermentation time and will differ depending on seasons - the process will be much faster in summer and slower in winter. It also depends on your personal tastes.

RECIPES

Click here to download the recipes.