The ferment culture is in full swing and rightly so. Fermented foods like sauerkraut not only act as a powerful aid for digestion but keep your gut humming with health. We will explore the amazing health benefits of fermented foods in this post...
Did you know our bodies are 90 per cent microbial? Not by weight but by numbers of cells. As humans, we are inclined to believe we’re the most superior and complex species on Earth, but we’re more bacteria than anything else. In fact, we’re all just big bags of bugs walking around sharing bugs with each other in a thriving bug-topia.
According to comprehensive research conducted by the National Institute of Health in the US, the average human has over 100 trillion microbes in and on their body, with 80 per cent of these microbes living in the gastrointestinal system. From there, the “good” bacteria help to digest and break down food, strengthen our immune systems and keep our mood stable. Just how bacteria do this remains unknown, as gut health research is still in its infancy.
“I couldn’t find a store-bought sauerkraut that had everything we needed, so I said to my husband, ‘We’ll just start making and selling it and if no one buys it we’ll just eat it ourselves!’”, she shares with a laugh. In 2013, Gutsy Ferments was established in Brisbane, Queensland, with one goal: to make simple organic sauerkraut that’s childfriendly. With four kids of her own, Higgs believes that a healthy gut makes for a healthy child.
“We created our sauerkraut to nourish the second generation. For parents, it’s easy to reach for fast or packaged foods. We wanted to create something that is just as easy to serve, yet much healthier. When I see kids enjoying fermented foods, I think that in 10 years’ time we’ll see a generation of healthy kids coming up,” she explains.
“We wanted to make long-fermented sauerkraut because time creates the best-tasting sauerkraut and strongest probiotics. But long fermentation in plastic, even though it might be BPA-approved, has the possibility of leaching different toxins and chemicals from the plastic into the sauerkraut,” she explains.
No starter cultures are added to their sauerkraut, as Higgs says this skips the important fermentation process and misses out on a bunch of gut-friendly bacteria.
Once the sauerkraut has been added to the barrels, they’re sealed air-tight and left to wildly-ferment for four to six weeks, depending on the seasonal temperature. With more than 2050 litres of sauerkraut being fermented in the oak barrels at any given time, however, Higgs explains it’s a lot of extra work. “We love our oak barrels but they’re heavy, clunky, require a lot of cleaning and are hard to stack. But for us, the flavour and the health benefits of using oak barrels are more important,” Higgs adds.
With the oak flavour coming out in their crunchy sauerkraut, which comes in three main flavours carrot, ginger and turmeric; pepperberry; and smoked garlic it’s no wonder they keep this ancient process going.
Kehoe, a keen foodie, studied structural engineering and applies those skills to her Brisbane-based family-run business. “Although I never went back to engineering after my children were born, sauerkraut making in Australia is definitely engineering. There’s nowhere you can go to get all the answers or buy all the equipment; we’re engineering it as we go,” she explains. Although Kehoe’s Kitchen is one of the largest makers of sauerkraut in Australia, producing tonnes of sauerkraut a day, it comes from very humble beginnings.
“My husband was about to take three months long service leave to look after our children so I could write my cookbook. One day, I took him to lunch and presented him with plans to renovate the lower storey of our house into a commercial kitchen. He said OK and a month later we had our food business licence and were selling our sauerkraut and many other things at the organic markets.
“We started getting requests from retailers to stock our products, so my husband left his job and we moved into a bigger facility and became a certified organic producer of probiotics foods. Since then, we’ve moved our facility a second time and now have got close to 1000 square metres,” she says.
“Then, we wash and cool the cabbage and mix it with Australian natural sea salt. Depending on the flavour, beetroot, ginger or any other ingredients might be added. Next, it’s compacted into our stainless-steel tanks the largest tank being 600L then sealed and left to ferment for three to five weeks depending on the flavour. Then we get it out of the tank, jar it by hand a nd place it in the cold room to wait,” she explains.
Kehoe’s Kitchen makes sauerkraut in winter because that’s when the cabbage is best. Although this decision makes for a better-tasting and more consistent final product, it means a lot of organising and planning ahead. “Winter keeps the bugs and grubs off the cabbage. Cabbage is a slow-growing vegetable, so it needs to be cooled. If sauerkraut ferments in an environment that’s too hot, it ends up really fizzy and yeasty. When it’s fermented in cool temperatures, it’s perfect and full of healthy gut-loving bacteria,” Kehoe explains.
Despite more competitors jumping onboard the fermented food train, Kehoe’s Kitchen and Gutsy Ferments believe this can only be a good thing. “Sauerkraut is becoming more mainstream. Nowadays, most cafes or restaurants offer something fermented on the menu and it’s great that the gut-health message is getting out there. For us, the end goal is to make sauerkraut more affordable for everybody. More awareness will only do that,” Kehoe says.
• Use as a condiment with all meals.
• Toss into salads.
• Add to wraps, sandwiches and burgers.
• Eat straight out of the jar.
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| Benefits of Fermented Foods |
Did you know our bodies are 90 per cent microbial? Not by weight but by numbers of cells. As humans, we are inclined to believe we’re the most superior and complex species on Earth, but we’re more bacteria than anything else. In fact, we’re all just big bags of bugs walking around sharing bugs with each other in a thriving bug-topia.
According to comprehensive research conducted by the National Institute of Health in the US, the average human has over 100 trillion microbes in and on their body, with 80 per cent of these microbes living in the gastrointestinal system. From there, the “good” bacteria help to digest and break down food, strengthen our immune systems and keep our mood stable. Just how bacteria do this remains unknown, as gut health research is still in its infancy.
Health Benefits of Fermented Foods: Loved by the gut
The process of fermenting foods is as old as humanity. Cultures the world over have long been fermenting food for preservation, digestibility and nutrition. Much to the detriment of our health, fermented foods have largely disappeared from the Western diet. But, as we learn more about the impact different strains of bacteria have on our physical, emotional and mental health, ferments like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha and miso have taken centre stage. With a South-east Asian background, Wei’er Higgs, from Gutsy Ferments, is very accustomed to fermented foods. “When I moved to Australia from Singapore, my husband Josh and I ate the typical Australian diet of meat and three veg. This was a novelty to me because Western food is more expensive in Singapore, but I quickly realised my body needed more and wasn’t working as well without probiotics,” she explains.“I couldn’t find a store-bought sauerkraut that had everything we needed, so I said to my husband, ‘We’ll just start making and selling it and if no one buys it we’ll just eat it ourselves!’”, she shares with a laugh. In 2013, Gutsy Ferments was established in Brisbane, Queensland, with one goal: to make simple organic sauerkraut that’s childfriendly. With four kids of her own, Higgs believes that a healthy gut makes for a healthy child.
“We created our sauerkraut to nourish the second generation. For parents, it’s easy to reach for fast or packaged foods. We wanted to create something that is just as easy to serve, yet much healthier. When I see kids enjoying fermented foods, I think that in 10 years’ time we’ll see a generation of healthy kids coming up,” she explains.
Wild-ferment in oak barrels
Gutsy ferments their sauerkraut in secondhand oak barrels sourced from Australian wineries, a process that’s unique to them here in Australia. In Korean culture, sauerkraut was traditionally fermented in ceramic crocks in the ground, but it was the Germans who first fermented in oak barrels. Higgs, who heavily researched different fermenters, decided oak barrels were the best choice, not only for flavour but also for health and wellbeing.“We wanted to make long-fermented sauerkraut because time creates the best-tasting sauerkraut and strongest probiotics. But long fermentation in plastic, even though it might be BPA-approved, has the possibility of leaching different toxins and chemicals from the plastic into the sauerkraut,” she explains.
No starter cultures are added to their sauerkraut, as Higgs says this skips the important fermentation process and misses out on a bunch of gut-friendly bacteria.
Once the sauerkraut has been added to the barrels, they’re sealed air-tight and left to wildly-ferment for four to six weeks, depending on the seasonal temperature. With more than 2050 litres of sauerkraut being fermented in the oak barrels at any given time, however, Higgs explains it’s a lot of extra work. “We love our oak barrels but they’re heavy, clunky, require a lot of cleaning and are hard to stack. But for us, the flavour and the health benefits of using oak barrels are more important,” Higgs adds.
With the oak flavour coming out in their crunchy sauerkraut, which comes in three main flavours carrot, ginger and turmeric; pepperberry; and smoked garlic it’s no wonder they keep this ancient process going.
Engineering sauerkraut
Katrina Kehoe is very familiar with sauerkraut’s rich source of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes and probiotics. She and her husband Brenden started Kehoe’s Kitchen in 2013, after the success of her blog and cookbook. On the blog, Kehoe was sharing the recipes she was making to heal herself and her family. “I’ve had Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and gut issues in the past, so the most evident thing for me about sauerkraut is that it’s a wonderful digestive enzyme. People are always writing to us and thanking us because our sauerkraut prevented their reflux or the IBS they usually get after eating a certain meal,” she explains.Kehoe, a keen foodie, studied structural engineering and applies those skills to her Brisbane-based family-run business. “Although I never went back to engineering after my children were born, sauerkraut making in Australia is definitely engineering. There’s nowhere you can go to get all the answers or buy all the equipment; we’re engineering it as we go,” she explains. Although Kehoe’s Kitchen is one of the largest makers of sauerkraut in Australia, producing tonnes of sauerkraut a day, it comes from very humble beginnings.
“My husband was about to take three months long service leave to look after our children so I could write my cookbook. One day, I took him to lunch and presented him with plans to renovate the lower storey of our house into a commercial kitchen. He said OK and a month later we had our food business licence and were selling our sauerkraut and many other things at the organic markets.
“We started getting requests from retailers to stock our products, so my husband left his job and we moved into a bigger facility and became a certified organic producer of probiotics foods. Since then, we’ve moved our facility a second time and now have got close to 1000 square metres,” she says.
A simple process
Sauerkraut is a very simple process for Kehoe’s Kitchen because, like Gutsy, they also don’t use starter cultures. “We source the best certified organic cabbage available, which comes with the bacteria culture on it naturally, coming from the garden. That ensures us a good variety of species of probiotics,” says Kehoe.“Then, we wash and cool the cabbage and mix it with Australian natural sea salt. Depending on the flavour, beetroot, ginger or any other ingredients might be added. Next, it’s compacted into our stainless-steel tanks the largest tank being 600L then sealed and left to ferment for three to five weeks depending on the flavour. Then we get it out of the tank, jar it by hand a nd place it in the cold room to wait,” she explains.
Kehoe’s Kitchen makes sauerkraut in winter because that’s when the cabbage is best. Although this decision makes for a better-tasting and more consistent final product, it means a lot of organising and planning ahead. “Winter keeps the bugs and grubs off the cabbage. Cabbage is a slow-growing vegetable, so it needs to be cooled. If sauerkraut ferments in an environment that’s too hot, it ends up really fizzy and yeasty. When it’s fermented in cool temperatures, it’s perfect and full of healthy gut-loving bacteria,” Kehoe explains.
Despite more competitors jumping onboard the fermented food train, Kehoe’s Kitchen and Gutsy Ferments believe this can only be a good thing. “Sauerkraut is becoming more mainstream. Nowadays, most cafes or restaurants offer something fermented on the menu and it’s great that the gut-health message is getting out there. For us, the end goal is to make sauerkraut more affordable for everybody. More awareness will only do that,” Kehoe says.
Health Benefits of Fermented Foods: Eating sauerkraut
Wei’er Higgs’ favourite ways to use sauerkraut:• Use as a condiment with all meals.
• Toss into salads.
• Add to wraps, sandwiches and burgers.
• Eat straight out of the jar.
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