I’m a huge fan of fermented foods, so I was excited to learn that my friend Ryan Neveu wanted to share this blog post with us. Ryan truly embraces the benefits of fermented foods. He’s very passionate about gut health and has developed several of his own fermented food recipes.- Elly
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Sauerkraut, my good, tasty friend
Another leisurely lazy Sunday rolls around. I have my coffee and start cooking up a tasty breakfast of eggs, avocado and sourdough toast. The real star of the show however, is sitting in a dark corner of the pantry, amidst the other fermenting jars that I use for my fermented food recipes.
I grab my and give myself a generous helping. The color of the red cabbage I used is vibrant. A tangy, delicious sourness and hints of earthy anise from the caraway seeds that I added. Tasty flavors on the tongue, good bacteria for the tum!

Something of an obscurity in the past, fermented foods such as sauerkraut and other fermented food recipes have been thrust into the limelight in recent years. I believe the recent rediscovery and renaissance in fermented food recipes is mostly due to a broader general interest in artisan food products and the recent interest in health and nutrition.
I have been interested in fitness and nutrition for many years. Fermented recipes are really the icing on the cake when it comes to a healthy, nourishing diet.
Fermented food recipes: DIY sauerkraut
Check out the video below to find out how to make your own sauerkraut at home!
Homemade probiotics
I am a massive advocate of fermented food recipes. This is not only because of their interesting flavors and the satisfaction of making them but also because of their health benefits. When we ferment foods at home, such as cabbage or lacto-fermented pickles, we create an environment for millions of beneficial microorganisms that live in unison with us.
The thought that these tiny bugs are living in their trillions on and in us is enough to make anyone’s skin crawl! But these little critters are vital for our survival. They perform a variety of tasks for us, such as breaking down difficult-to-digest plant fibers. They also produce vitamins for us, such as vitamin K, and keep out harmful pathogenic microorganisms.

Nutrients from real food
I’m not a huge fan of capsules; I prefer to get my nutrients from food. Don’t get me wrong; I do take a multivitamin to cover my bases. Apart from that, my priorities are eating the whole rainbow of fruit and vegetable colors and ensuring I get good protein and healthy fats from sardines and nuts. Probiotic food tops it off.
The market for probiotic capsules is huge now, mostly due to the many emerging studies and data suggesting their health benefits. But if we can get them from tasty, easy-to-make food, shouldn’t this be the more obvious route?
As with anything, fermented food recipes are not for everybody. But if you have bad memories of sauerkraut when you were a kid, or if you’ve read a sensationalized story about a bad batch of kombucha on the internet, I would still encourage you to persevere. You see, there are so many different fermented food recipes. So you’re bound to find one you like, and they are well worth it for the health benefits. I’ll cover a couple in this post.
Metal juice, anyone?
You may have already tried some of the more common fermented food recipes, such as sauerkraut, or you may have bought it from the store. What a lot of people don’t realize, however, is that store-bought sauerkraut is often pasteurized.
While we associate pasteurization with killing harmful bugs, it also kills the good ones. Not only is store-bought sauerkraut neutralized of its good bacteria, but there are concerns that the acidity of the sauerkraut may cause metal leaching from the can it is stored in. Metal juice is not so good for us.
Even if you haven’t tried sauerkraut, chances are that you are already consuming some other fermented foods anyway. Do you know that artisan chocolate, vinegar, yogurt, coffee, and cheese are fermented? Not to mention one of my favorites, beer!
Aside from the fermented food recipes we all know, such as the ones above, others, such as milk kefir, water kefir, and tempeh, have become more popular in recent times.
I have always loved the flavors of Asia, but it wasn’t until I was lucky enough to travel to South Korea that I experienced the fiery, pungent delicacy known as kimchi.
So, what else is there in this world of exotic taste sensations and fermented food recipes? Here are just a couple.

Kimchi, SAUERKRAUT’S fiery cousin
You may have tried sauerkraut, but have you tried ? Kimchi is made a little differently from sauerkraut, but the kimchi fermentation process is essentially very similar with a few tweaks. Kimchi is a fermented vegetable recipe with quite an impressive tradition. Eaten with most meals in South Korea, it is a national staple.
The first time I tried it, I was visiting a friend in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. He said we would go out for a Korean BBQ the first night. I didn’t even know that Korean BBQ was a thing, but I soon wondered why it wasn’t widely known.
We entered the Korean BBQ restaurant. It looked pretty normal, apart from the foil tubes hanging down from the ceiling to each table! What were these weird tubes for? Is this how the food is dispensed onto your plate?!

The tubes were not to dispense food onto your plate!
They are all for extracting smoke from the little BBQ rack inset into each table. It’s a very excellent idea. The food comes to your table, sliced into thin strips, and ready to go straight onto the hot BBQ. You get lettuce to wrap up your self-cooked morsels and various condiments.
There it was, bright red and pungent-smelling, the kimchi. My friend said I had to try it, so I wrapped my veggies and put a slice of kimchi on. I took a bite and savored the crunchy texture and pleasant sourness that I loved from sauerkraut.
Then came the heat! One of the ways kimchi differs from sauerkraut is that it gets its red color from the Korean chili that is mixed into it. It also has garlic, ginger, and other ingredients, depending on who makes it and where it is made.
After this trip, my interest was piqued. What other fermented food recipes could I find on this culinary adventure?
Natto, love it or hate it?
One of my best friends and ex-girlfriend is Japanese. The Japanese are famous for their meticulous craft skills and fantastic food. She showed me many tasty treats on a trip to visit her family. Her mum would whip up amazing dinners with many different little dishes to pick and choose from.
Not one to stick with the standard fare, I wanted to try a fermented bean dish I had heard of. The name of this condiment is . Popular among the older generation as a breakfast food, natto comes in a little pack with Japanese mustard and soy sauce.
You stir in the sauces, and you end up with a goopy, sticky consistency. It doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it? Not one to pass up a new flavor opportunity, though; I tried some.
It tasted a little cheesy, but I thought it was good—not too dissimilar from the taste and texture of the cheesy baked beans I used to love as a kid! I found out afterward that natto is one of the highest sources of vitamin K. Vitamin K is essential for bones and could benefit those suffering from osteoporosis. Check out my vlog below to find out what I mean by ‘goopy’!
While natto may not be everybody’s cup of fermented tea, there are a whole host of other fermented food recipes that are well worth the time trying. I spend a lot of time spreading the word about these fermented food recipes and showing people how to make all different kinds such as lacto-fermented vegetables and kombucha.
If you’re into ‘super’ foods, find out whether fermented foods can be considered superfoods. You can also check out the benefits of other plant-based superfoods, such as sacha inchi oil, cacao powder, golden berries, golden milk, sea moss powder, pili nuts, and ashwagandha.
Finally, if you want to learn more about gut health, check out this post about the gut-brain connection.
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Thank you for sharing healthy recipes. I love fermented foods and am happy with the health benefits they offer.
Thanks for putting together a wealth of info on fermented foods. Awesome.
You’re welcome Debra. Make sure you grab Ryan’s free video series if you’re interested in learning more:)
No worries Debra, more to come