Fermented Spinach and the benefits of fermented vegetables
Hello :)
As I promise in this post I will give the recipe of my fermented spinach, plus I will talk a bit about fermented vegetables in general.
The fermented food has been disappeared since years from the diet of many people, although I believe that Turkey is an exception because in any lunch or dinner you can eat turşu, pickled vegetables that you can buy anywhere (like from local markets, or from shops that are specialized to make them) and you can also make them.
Last year I started to become passionate about fermenting things, I did many experiments, with both fruits (yes fruits...I tried to make Thailand’s fermented fruits, which appear to be a great remedy for basically anything, but I failed!) and vegetables.
This is because I like them a lot, of course, and also I learnt that fermented food is in exceptional thing for gain and maintain the general health of our body.
We need to consume just few fermented food every day and this would be enough.
The fermentation process enriches the food of enzymes, vitamins (of the group B and C) antioxidants, acid lactic and lactobacillus.
Those substances have a great effect of the flora of our stomach, they make it stronger and more vital, plus they put under control the rotting of food and the proliferation of bad bacteria in our stomach.
The fermented vegetables are:
Disinfectant
Digestive
Detoxifing
The have positive effect on the micro circulation of the body
They help curing some skin disease
And they can be useful in case of allergy, inflammation, fungus and candida.
Not bad I guess!
Ok here there is the recipe, I hope you will like it :
I took the recipe form this book : ‘Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes’ by K. and C. Shockey, which I really love and I suggest to read, in case you are interested in becoming a ‘fermentista’, as thy defined themselves in the book (yes, they are really pro about fermentation!!).
Virginia
Ingredients, to make two medium jars of fermented spinach
Time required: 30 minutes to prepare them, 4 to 10 day to ferment them.
1 kg of spinach
3 small onions
2 tablespoons of unrefined sea salt
1 tablespoon of dried oregano
2 tablespoon of lemon juice
Process
Take the leaves of the spinach, wash them and then chop them.
Slice the onions
In a big bowl (it should contain all the ingredients) put the sliced onion, the oregano, the lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of salt, work everything with your hands like if you are making the pizza dough :)
Some onion juice is starting to come. Add the spinach and some more salt. Work more with your hands for ten minutes, and some water from the spinach is coming, too.
Push now everything in the jars , cover the top side of the spinach with backing sheet (see pic number 3), and then push down the spinach with a smaller jar full of water (see pic number 4): the spinach should be covered in their own brine (see pic number number 5). Don’t let them show up form the brine: you need to check it every day.
Now is time for the to ferment: find a cool place without direct sun light. Check every day if they are under the brine, you can start to taste them after the 4th day.
After they reach the perfect flavour according to you can store them in the fridge, and keep them for 6 moths.