I love asparagus. Whether or not you join me in this enjoyment of asparagus, what I am about to say about asparagus applies to other fresh produce as well.
At this time of year asparagus is local and fresh. Check out your local farmer’s market to get some. Unfortunately it has a short season. If you have ever travelled to Europe at this time of year, you may have had the chance to visit a restaurant that takes advantage of asparagus’s short season by offering all sorts of menu items, from soups and salads, to asparagus accompanying a meat dish. European countries have a stronger tradition of eating fresh and local than we do here, though the movement is growing here as well.
While I try to follow Europe’s lead and cook a variety of asparagus dishes during it’s short season, I will also be fermenting it this year to be able to enjoy it for longer.
Traditional fermentation of vegetables is a process where vegetables are sealed in a jar with a brine solution and a culture. You can add a variety of herbs and spices to create a wide variety of flavours. Fermenting foods has some important health benefits.
The culture used to ferment foods is where the real health benefit lies. These cultures contain a variety of probiotics. Consuming fermented foods regularly contributes to the probiotics that are part of our gut flora. The flora in our guts has a variety of functions including regulating and modulation our immune system, which leads to reduced inflammation in our bodies. Reducing inflammation has implications for a large variety of health concerns. The research being done into our microbiome (gut flora) has flourished in recent years, and maintaining a balanced healthy flora has staggering implications for health conditions ranging from autism and ADHD, to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, to osteoarthritis and other chronic pain conditions.
Making your own ferments can be very easy. I’m a busy mom and nutritionist, so I strive for easy. Here is my basic formula for fermenting vegetables:
– 1 tablespoon of Himalayan sea salt or sea salt
– 1 cup filtered water
– ¼ cup of whey or 1 packet of Caldwell’s culture starter (available at the Light Cellar in Bowness)
– enough vegetables to tightly pack into a 1 litre wide mouth mason jar
To get your own whey, simply put some yogurt or kefir into a sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth, and place it over a bowl to catch drippings. I use a cheese bag that came with my yogurt maker. The whey will drip into the bowl and should be transparent with a slightly yellowish colour to it.
- Place the salt, whey or starter and water into a sterile 1 litre mason jar. Gently mix until the salt is dissolved.
- Pack in the vegetables as tightly as you can and press down so that all the air bubbles are removed and the liquid starts to rise over the vegetables. For asparagus, wash and cut them to the correct height of the jar and pack them head down into the jar.
- Add more water as necessary and leave an inch of space at the top of the jar for expansion. If vegetables rise above the surface of the water you may need to weigh them down. Place a small glass jar or bowl on top of the vegetables to weight them down. They need to be completely submerged to avoid mold forming.
- Place them in a cool, dark place such as a basement cupboard for 10-14 days. For firmer vegetables like cabbage (sauerkraut) and carrots, I like to ferment them for a month.
For variety try adding onions, garlic, dill, or peppercorns… be creative.
Enjoy your asparagus well into winter!
Tracey Reed is a Calgary-based Holistic Nutritionist, former special education teacher and mother of 3 children, including one child recovering from neurological and autoimmune conditions. She specializes in dietary approaches for digestive, neurological and autoimmune conditions, and is a GAPS certified practitioner.
Leave a Reply