Perhaps the connection between food and health was never so discussed as it is today. So many trends, regimes, diets, food intolerances, allergies and sick people. So many sick and diagnosed people and many with a bunch of hard to connect symptoms which are still making it hard to define a person who has them as in good health. Constipation or diarrhea, insomnia or somnolence, chronic fatigue оr overexcitement, lack of appetite or unusually big appetite and many more. So many extremities between which we are hanging. Then the majority of the people take the step to medications – one per symptom. Well, this article suggests a way to help ourselves – not symptom by symptom, but by taking it holistically.

This article is for fermenting food and drinks and their consumption. Of course, it does not claim that fermentation is the solution to all health issues or that as soon as we start consuming fermented food or drinks our symptoms will disappear. The aim of the article is to give an idea and to inform about the essence of fermentation, its types and its benefits. Yet, if we start preparing and consuming (or if we already are) food and drinks with fermentation, then we have made a step to improve our health. On the other hand, we underline that there are always other factors, which influence our health and we need to be aware of them.

We call fermentation the process of the chemical breakdown of carbs and proteins. It needs certain conditions such as temperature, length and bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms. In this way, the fermented drinks and food get rich in probiotics (living microorganisms) and this eases the process of microelements assimilation. The probiotics create alkaline environment and are responsible for the balanced micro flora. By consuming living food and drinks we help the good bacteria in our digestive system, we give them good conditions to develop and respectively we eliminate the chances of the not so good bacteria which are in our bodies anyway to reproduce and get more and more.

This wonderful process of fermenting can be observed at home, if we decide to give it a try. The most common types of fermentation are spontaneous fermentation and fermentation which uses an agent.

The most popular examples of spontaneous fermentation are sour cabbage (Sauerkraut), pickles and bread. This process is led by the water, the particular bacteria which is in the vegetables, the flour and the air. The recipe for sour cabbage and pickles contains salt as sault controls the population of bad bacteria and also keeps the vegetables hard and gives them flavor. Despite the fact that today the sour cabbage (Sauerkraut) is still highly appreciated, the development of the chemical industry at the end of XX century and its benefits such as time and labor saving, as well as its capability of taste imitation, has dramatically changed the tradition of preparing homemade pickles and bread. The recipes for pickles have changed and have started to include vinegar and aspirin as ingredients, which often requires heat treatment. Indeed, this method conserves the product and its flavor quality, but it does not preserve the quantity of useful microelements in the food. Pickles prepared in this way do not contain probiotics and their Ph is acid.

The bread in stores nowadays is full of different kinds of chemical elements, stabilising, raising and improving agents. Even if we have a bread-making machine at home and control over the ingredients, still if we use the widely produced yeast, we should keep in mind that it makes the bread hard for digestion. Instead, at home, we can prepare our own sourdough, made of flour and water. This will ensure that our bread has probiotics and is easily digested.

When it comes to fermentation by using a starting agent, the most popular product for us is yoghurt. In addition, we can also mention the famous Bulgarian drink boza (made of baked flower), kefir, as well as other interesting drinks, such as lemonade, ginger beer and many more. The starting agent for home fermenting can be whey, types of yeast, the juice of the sour cabbage (Sauerkraut) and many more.

Whichever type of fermentation we do and no matter the type of the product, the most important part remains theorigin and quality of the product. It is good to pick sustainably grown vegetables, fruits, grains and homemade milk.

The taste of the fermented food and drinks is authentic, their nutrient quality is undoubted and when we add personal work and care, we get the most of it as satisfaction.

If you are interested in this topic and you wish to start fermenting at home, we kindly invite you to join us during the weekend 16-18 April 2021, in the village of Nadarevo, with a workshop on fermenting drinks.