LivingTheCRWay loves to feature extraordinary achievers on its Expert Teleconferences for members. One such person is Dr. Jenifer Fenton whose perceptive research on fish oil changed the way many of us think about it.
She changed our thinking about gut health too. In response to a member’s questions about probiotics and their effect on the gut, Dr. Fenton recommended fermented products – noting that they have been part of our culture for thousands of years: The human microbiome evolved synergistically with them. This echoed the sentiments of another LivingTheCRWay Expert, Dr. Rob McKnight, who suggested that eating fermented foods is one of the best way to influence gut microbiota positively.
The challenge is to find safe and delicious fermented foods that really do contain beneficial microbes that improve the gut microbiome. So we spent days studying fermentation, how it works, then going to the fermented foods section of our local organic market and looking at products. We read label after label and picked several products to experiment with. One of these products was Real Pickles Sauerkraut. Out of all the products we considered, the Real Pickles products stood out. They were clearly and intelligently labeled, so it was easy to understand what was in them.
The Real Pickles products seemed very fresh and quite varied – kimchi, red-cabbage and white-cabbage sauerkraut, garlic kraut, beets, carrots, and cucumbers, for example. We chose the cucumber pickles, which contain less salt than many of the other brands, and the red-cabbage sauerkraut since cabbage is one of the vegetables that is most easily fermented and it is known to be beneficial to the colon.
When we tasted them, we knew we had made good choices. The pickles did not have that high-salt, vinegary taste that can make them almost hard to eat. Rather, they were mild and refreshing. And the sauerkraut was a beautiful red color with a lightly salty, fresh taste.
So we began to experiment and create new CR Way recipes – delicious combinations of other ingredients with pickles or sauerkraut that would work symbiotically with the beneficial lactic acid bacteria of these fermented foods. Visit the Foods & Recipes – Cooked and Raw Forum on LivingTheCRWay.com to get some ideas for fermented foods recipes.
We became so impressed with Real Pickles that we invited its founder, Dan Rosenberg, to appear on a LivingTheCRWay Expert Teleconference. When Dan spoke, the reason that the Real Pickles products are so good became clear immediately. Dan shared Real Pickles’ beautiful mission: “We are committed to promoting human health and ecological benefits by providing people with delicious, nourishing food products and working toward a regional organic food system.”
Dan and the other folks at Real Pickles are masters of natural lactic acid fermentation. This is vastly different from industrialized “fermentation” where a few probiotic strains have been added to force the process. The art of natural lactic acid fermentation takes patience, love, and a focus on quality versus quantity.
Real Pickles starts by selecting the best organic vegetables from local farmers. The high quality organic foods that Real Pickles uses are free of pesticides and growth hormones and are not genetically engineered.
Then the veggies are packed tightly and given time to ferment with just the right amount of moisture, salt, and warmth. Real Pickles does not use vinegar or “starter strains” to ferment their pickles, nor do they pasteurize them – which would destroy the good microbes along with the bad. Rather, they rely on natural fermentation, which produces a broad spectrum of beneficial microbes that may improve intestinal health.
Real Pickles – the Pied Piper to a Better Microbiome
The potential for improving health through gut microbiota is great. Already studies have demonstrated life extension though beneficial bacteria.
But how? With myriads of probiotics, fiber products, and other “instant” ways to change gut microbiota, how can you decide on the right way to improve your gut? Could it be best to follow the way the human gut microbiota evolved? We are doing this with fermented products from Real Pickles, which may be the pied piper that leads us all to better gut health and improves the world while doing it.
We feel lucky to have found a company that provides old school benefits in their foods. Their intention to work toward a regional organic food system at the same time works in our favor since we are in the Northeast U.S. region. We know that other people in other regions are producing pickled foods through traditional natural fermentation. If you know of such a source in your region, please share it in the Foods & Recipes, Cooked and Raw forum on LivingTheCRWay.com, where the most people will see it.
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