Long before freezers and canning machines were available people in ancient times knew how to preserve fruits and vegetables in season for the long winters when food was scarce. These foods were often stored in caves, root cellars and sometimes even buried in the ground for years to come.The fermentation process was accomplished through lacto-fermentation, converting the sugars into lactic-acid and giving the fermented foods its characteristic sour taste. It is also a natural preservative and inhibits putrefying bacteria, preventing these foods from
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rotting. Vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by its many lactic acid producing bacteria. These lactobacilli are ubiquitous and are present on the surface of all living things and especially plentiful on all leaves and plants growing near the ground.
This makes some vegetables such as cabbage, cucumbers and beets ideal for the many digestive issues. Sauerkraut (sour white cabbage) or cabbage juice has a long history of providing benefits for a variety of health conditions.
This superfood is made from finely shredded cabbage and salt which preserves the cabbage for the first few days while the probiotic bacteria begin to grow. These probiotic bacteria are extremely beneficial to human digestion and are the mechanism that turns cabbage into a super nutritious food. Naturally fermented sauerkraut does not contain vinegar, the sour taste comes from the process of fermentation.
The cabbage has to be raw – naturally fermented – to contain lactic acid and the living probiotic micro-organisms that are essential for the fermentations process. Fully cooked sauerkraut or cabbage does not have the same healing benefit since most of the micro-organisms have been killed due to the exposure to high heat
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