Get to know your ferments and their core benefits

- from our friends at London Fermentary

Gut health is a hot topic lately, and quite rightly, it deserves our attention. Our gut is a home for a complex community of over 100 trillion microbial cells which influence our physiology, metabolism, nutrition and immune function.

Nothing else is more important than our Microbiome's condition. The Gut-Brain Axis is steadily becoming a mainstream term. With the latest multiple research and the help of gut doctors, nutritionists and scientists, we begin to uncover and understand how crucial this ecosystem is for overall well-being and physical & mental health. Now we know that disruptions in the gut-brain axis could lead to all sorts of disorders, such as stress, IBS, autism, anxiety and others because the brain and the gut are connected through hundreds of millions of nerves. Just think about it; most of our immune cells inhabit in the gut! It is our immune system that makes our body resilient and able to fight colds & flues. So, if our gut is unhappy, we are not thriving either!

Gut health is complex and individual for everyone, but at the same time, it is easy to support your well-being in a delicious & convenient way every day.

The microbes that inhabit out gut need appropriate foods to eat to stay balanced and help us humans thrive. A gut-supportive diet with prebiotics, fibre and probiotics is an answer. Here it comes fermentation, an ancient preservation technique used by our ancestors for over 10 thousand years, well before refrigeration was invented. We are talking about raw, unpasteurised lacto-fermented vegetables, one of the easiest sources of predigested fibre, prebiotics and probiotics in the most natural powerful form. In the past and even now, cultures that heavily consume raw fermented foods would ferment after a harvest in large batches and consume ferments for a whole year or longer. So a, proper raw fermented food is a slow food with a very long shelf life that is very hard to spoil. As powerful lactic acid bacteria look after the vegetables and protect them from spoilage. Very smart!

London Fermentary is a leading fermentation specialist producing premium quality ferments and water kefirs. Fermentary is one of the very first that started the fermented food movement in the UK in 2017. Inherited knowledge of fermentation combined with a deep understanding of food chain supply and the UK fine food&drink industry allowed Elena, the founder of the fermentary, to create a beautiful brand with gut-beneficial products to elevate the human body & mind.

Fermented food is a trend, a good trend; it is here to stay to help us.

A spoonful of raw kraut daily goes a long way, and ferments are the perfect addition to freshly cooked dishes, frozen or ready meals. It is a relatable and powerful source of prebiotics and probiotics, loaded with digestive fibre, all those essential elements needed for our Microbiome to keep it healthy & happy.  We have learned over the years that processed food is not great for our health or for the planet. Ferments are almost non-processed, a natural form of food.
Fermentation transforms vegetables, adding addictive umami flavours, billions of lactic acid bacteria, vitamins, and minerals and making them much more bioavailable to the human body to absorb. Sounds like a perfect addition to your everyday diet, right?

Let's talk about the qualities of kimchis and saurkrauts. They are delicious in any shape or form, freshly made or fermented for quite a long time. However, if you consume your ferments for health reasons, particularly to help digestive issues, it is good to know in this case, fermented food should be properly fermented and unpasteurised. There is nothing good in lively, half fermented, popping out of the jar Kimchi for a struggling inflamed digestive system. It might behave the same in your digestive tract, causing bloating and discomfort even though it is delicious. For example, certain types of beneficial lactic acid bacteria ( like Lactobacillus Sakei, which can potentially help with chronic sinusitis and skin conditions) can only occur in the products after longer fermentation periods.

Lacto fermentation is mainly plant fibre; however, London Fermentary went a bit further and added sprouted quinoa into their Kale & Quinoa Kraut; the idea was to add plant protein to fermented fibre to make it more like a complete meal, a salad in the jar if you like.

Nutritionists suggest consuming different varieties of vegetables. The same rule applies to raw fermented foods; the more ingredients in the jar, the broader and more complex bacterial diversity in the product—the better for your gut microbes and you. London Fermentary Vegan Kimchi and Kale&Quinoa Kraut are great examples of that. The LAB test we made a few years ago revealed that our Vegan Kimchi oozes with different species of lactic acid bacteria the most.

Certain anti-inflammatory ingredients, such as Garlic, Fresh Turmeric or Ginger, transform ordinary ferments and make them superfoods to elevate well-being and make our tastebuds happy. Pineapple & Turmeric Kraut, Carrot Kraut are those kinds of products for you to explore!

Live well, and thrive from the inside, make ferments your wellness lifestyle!

Elena
London Fermentary