On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 568
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sauerkrautandolivesincludeNorthAfrican
preservedlemons,thepickledplums,
radishes,andothervegetablesofJapan,and
thehighlyspiced,multifariouspickledfruits
andvegetablesofIndia.
The Nature of Fermentation Preserving
fruitsandvegetablesbyfermentationisbased
onthefactthatplantsarethenaturalhomeof
certain benign microbes which in the right
conditions — primarily the absence of air —
willflourishandsuppressthegrowthofother
microbes that cause spoilage and disease.
They accomplish this suppression by being
the first to consume the plant material’s
readilymetabolizedsugars,andbyproducing
a variety of antimicrobial substances,
including lactic and other acids, carbon
dioxide, and alcohol.At the same time, they
leave most of the plant material intact,
including its vitamin C (protected from
oxidation by the carbon dioxide they
generate); they often add significant amounts
ofBvitamins;andtheygeneratenewvolatile
substances that enrich the food’s aroma.
Thesebenign“lacticacidbacteria”apparently
evolved eons ago in oxygen-poor piles of
decaying vegetation, and now transform our
carefully gathered harvests into dozens of
different foods across the globe (see box, p.
308), as well as turning milk into yogurt and
cheeseandchoppedmeatintotangysausages
(pp.44and176).
FermentationConditionsandResultsWhile
some fruits and vegetables are fermented
aloneintightlycoveredpitsorjars,mostare
eitherdry-saltedorbrinedtohelpdrawwater,
sugars, and other nutrients out of the plant
tissues, and to provide a liquid to cover the
food and limit its exposure to oxygen. The
characteristicsofthepickledependonthesalt
concentration
and
the
fermentation
temperature,whichdeterminewhichmicrobes
