Fermented food: everything you need to know for

your health
What is fermentation and why is it good for us? Gareth May explores
the appeal of fermented food, from kimchi to sauerkraut and miso to
koji

Good for your gut: kimchi is one of the most famous fermented foods Photo: Andrew
Crowley
By Gareth May
12:00PM BST 11 Jun 2015
With research from a recent physcological study suggesting that fermented
foods including yogurt and pickled vegetables could help to treat anxiety, it
is clear that, for our health interests alone, fermentation is here to stay.
• Beat the bloat forever: best recipes for healthy digestion
Don’t believe me? Take a trip to contemporary Japanese restaurant Aqua
Kyoto and sample the food of former microbiologist and head chef Paul
Greening. Or drop into Jinjuu, American Korean chef Judy Joo’s church of
kimchi.
Not into your Asian flavours? Try some hipster-friendly sauerkraut at Anglo-
Austrian restaurant Boopshi’s or swing by award-winning bar Artesian at The
Langham hotel for a cocktail with gin, carrot and kombucha (fermented tea).
Funky foods aren’t just a fad, they’re fast becoming a staple of London’s food
scene - not to mention in homes all over the country; crossing cultures and
cuisines without a care in the world. If you need to know your koji from your
kimchi, here’s our ferments guide.
• Food trends of 2015: get ready for 'souping' and coconut sugar

Why now?
Fermentation is a natural process. In that sense, it’s always been about as it’s
constantly happening all around us. But when we speak of fermented foods
what we’re really talking about is how humankind – for the best part of 9000
years – has taken this process and manhandled it for our own ends - to
preserve foodstuffs, and create flavours.
Bread, yogurt, wine, beer – they all go through a fermentation stage on their
road to deliciousness. What is new about the current crop of ferments
however is the dedication to the fermentation of vegetables and fruits in
particular. And, of course, to exciting and innovative flavours.
Bacteria bliss: yogurt goes through a fermentation stage

What is fermentation?
At its simplest, the fermentation of vegetables works as follows: vegetables
are soaked in salt water or preferably their own juice; this allows for the
growth of bacteria; these bacteria eat the vegetable’s sugars; as a result, they
produce lactic acid which has a sour/tart/funky taste, depending on pH levels
and palate.
This is called lacto-fermentation and is the most common type of
fermentation. “We’re talking about lactic acid not lactose,” explains Paul
Greening, aqua kyoto head chef and a master of fermentation after studying
microbiology at University. He also has a specialist lab dedicated to the study
of ferments in Kent.
“Lactobacillus bacteria is natural forming, it’s even on your hands,” he says.
“When you submerge your vegetable in pure water or its own juice, what
happens is this bacteria starts eating into the vegetable, the pH levels drop,
the lactic acid levels go up, the bad bacteria can’t survive and you’re left with
these beautiful, tart flavours.”

Turning Japanese
Paul Greening uses a range of different techniques throughout the dishes on
offer at aqua kyoto. He uses lacto-fermentation on everything from mango,
carrot, damsons, fennel, seaweed, and even Japanese rose. But that’s just
the tip of the funky iceberg; his latest floral-themed menu will showcase many
lesser known Japanese fermentation processes.

A spicy egg rice dish with fermented vegetables at aqua koyoto

A few examples are nukamiso, which is made from the husk or bran of milled
rice; koji, a bacteria similar to a wine yeast which Greening has inoculated into
rice and used as a flavour enhancer for soy sauce; sake kasu which uses the
lees left over from the production of sake combined with the asazuke method
(translated as ‘quick pickling’) to create kasu-zuke, a dish of pickled fish. In
the past, Greening has even made a soy sauce out of fermented grass
hoppers and a miso from English acorns.

The kimchi craze

When it comes to in vogue ferments, however, nothing beats kimchi. A
traditional Korean side dish of fermented vegetables (often cabbage), kimchi
is so popular in its homeland that people even throw kimchi parties to
celebrate when the lid is popped on the kimchi Tupperware. We might be a
long way off that, but kimchi has played a key role in Britain’s latest food love
affair.
“Like a funky goat cheese, kimchi is not for everyone, but it can be love at first
bite.” These are words of Judy Joo, of the recently opened Jinjuu restaurant.
Kimchi is pretty easy to make, although everyone has their own take on it.
According to Joo, it’s “a flavour bomb”. It’s certainly pungent, vibrant and an
acquired taste.
Kimchi carnitas fries at Jinjuu
But kimchi isn't the only fermented thing on the menu at Jinjuu. Gochujang
and dwengjang are both fermented soybean pastes. Joo uses them for her
Korean version of moules mariniere – Gochujang Hong-hab, or spicy
mussels. It’s this kind of innovation in the kitchen that is finally putting
ferments firmly on the foodie map.

A chef’s playground
The appeal of fermentation to chefs is the fact that it creates new dimensions
to known foods – after fermentation, typical textures become distorted and
flavours go into flux. The funky, sour tastes of ferments allows for the use of
bold flavours and, as a result, even traditional, old hat side dishes are revived.
Ben Robson from Boopshi’s says their modern take on sauerkraut – souped-
up with bay leaf, juniper, caraway and a liberal splash of Camden Town
Brewery Pale Ale – is one of their star dishes.
“Sauerkraut used to be our Austrian version of Brussel sprouts as kids,
always relegated to the side of our plates. Now our customers, ranging from
hipsters to Viennese 100-year-olds, can’t get enough of it."
It’s not just making waves on our plates either. The Kimchi Spiced Mary
cocktail at Jinjuu – Judy Joo’s version of a bloody Mary – blends tomato juice
with soju and, of course, kimchi.
Top tipple: the Kimchi Spiced Mary cocktail
Meanwhile, over at the Artesian at The Langham Hotel (winner of the ‘World’s
Best Bar’ for three consecutive years, as voted by Drinks International)
ferments are making their way into the shakers. Camouflage features gin,
carrot and kombucha (fermented tea) and head bartender Alex Kratena is
currently playing around with fermented pineapple (pay a visit and ask him
nicely and he might whip you up an off-the-menu fizzy, funky affair).
In short, fermented ingredients offer literally endless opportunities to chefs
and mixologists alike.

Gut feeling
As for eaters, why are they lapping up fermented food? Two words: health
benefits. Judy Joo says kimchi certainly lives up to its super food tag. “Kimchi
is packed full of antioxidants and has 1000 times more lactobacillus than
yogurt so it’s amazing for your gut and digestion,” Joo says, adding that many
Koreans credit kimchi for their long lives and that statistically, Koreans boast
one of the lowest cancer rates in the world.
The live bacteria or probiotics contained in fermented foods are certainly great
for our digestive tracts – they restore the proper balance of bacteria in gut
(diminished from years of gobbling antibiotic drugs and chlorine-laced tap
water); are rich in enzymes, vitamins and nutrients; and because they’re
already breaking down, ferments are easier to digest and help the digestive
system run much more smoothly. In that respect, eating fermented foods is a
bit like having an oil change for your stomach.
• How to take care of your digestive system: an expert guide
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It’s not just the gut that benefits from ferments. Meat-free ETHOS launched
earlier this year with a huge detox menu – and, oh yes, ferments featured
prominently.
Their Russian dish beet kvass with beetroot slices with salt is said to purify
the blood and improve liver function; their sauerkraut is pitched as "perfect for
brain health and a combatant of depression and anxiety"; and they describe
their coconut yogurt and mango salsa as a non-dairy alternative yogurt
packed with minerals and live cultures. It's marketed at the lactose intolerant –
proving ferments break even more barriers.
Paul Greening throws one more reason into the mix. He believes the current
revival of fermentation is down to us all having lived in a world where
everything is processed for a very long time. He says there's a demand for
more natural produce and that fermentation offers the ultimate alternative –
microbes munching on sugars and humans eating the leftovers. It’s quite the
departure from Pot Noodles, that’s for sure.