Pickled Cabbage Provide Probiotics for your Gut

Naturally fermented pickles use the bacteria in the air to ferment the veggies. They populate your gut flora and keep you local in the deepest way. During the winter, I make all the traditional Japanese pickles, but during the summer, the whole leaves of hakusai spoil before they ferment. Most traditional Japanese pickles are not cut up the way my “sauerkraut” is. Hakusai is never local during the summer because it is a delicate winter veggie. Cabbage is cheap and soft during the summer. While the fresh veggies are so delicious during the summer, every morning I use these “sauerkraut” pickels as the base for my salad dressing. This way, every day we eat naturally fermented pickles.

I made two jars two months ago and they are almost gone. Fall veggies are arriving but I will make another batch of these quick pickled. The hakusai pickles take longer to ferment.

Korean kimchi is so good in Korea, but not in Japan. Japanese kimchi is too sweet and expensive. So, I order the fish pickles (ami ) from Korean stores make a Korean version of the above pickels. (Look up on Amazon ami and korean cooking in English and on the Japanese Amazon あみ　韓国料理.) I add ami after lightly salting the cabbage. Ami is extremely salty, so certainly I will need to add daikon later. Anyway, the point is you need to reduce the salt if you add ami. Of course, add red peppers and garlic. If you do not like too much spice in your food, add red paprika peppers instead.