Fermented Herbs: Part 1 Make Your Own

 An herbal carrot kraut.  Can you guess the herbs? photo from The Resiliency Institute

There are two options for getting more fermented herbs in your life.  See some of the other articles on this blog for reasons why that might be a good idea.  Otherwise here is the first vehicle...

The first is to brew/ferment your own food or drink that contains the herbs you're interested in consuming.  This is a relatively simple option if you have some experience fermenting food.  If you don't,  then it's probably time to get started.  I do teach classes on fermenting foods so you'll either have to come visit Hawaii to take one,  or you'll need to invite me out to give a class in your town.  Or simply check out this video on fermenting veggies.  If you still want to know how much salt to add use 1.5 teaspoon per pound of vegetables. 

Fermented vegetables are usually what I recommend people begin with.  They are not only ridiculously healthy for a number of reasons,  they are fairly simple to make.  But fermented beverages are also simple to make.   If you want personalized help or coaching around either of these shoot me an email or leave a comment.

Adding fresh, dried, or powdered herbs to your vegetable of beverage ferments makes them a potent vehicle for ingesting those very herbs.  In previous posts  you've seen that fermentation increases the absorbability (also referred to as bioavailability: bio-avai-la-bility... what a wonderful word) of the antioxidants and other substances in medicinal herbs.  This is generally true for minerals as well.  Here is an example.  So maybe consuming a fermented food "enhanced" with a beneficial herb might just might be the fermented functional food you've been waiting for.  

In the next post I'll talk about some fermented herbal products on the market.  In the meantime,  get started making your own.  Here is my favorite video explaining how to do just that.  For more questions contact me via my Facebook page: Ferment To Be

Fermenting Turmeric Pt. 2

Curcumin, the yellow pigment of turmeric, has been shown to be effective against a whole slew of inflammation related diseases including cancer and Alzheimer's.  That much is clear.  But the question remains:  How should one consume curcumin, and in what form and manner, in order to reap the most benefits?  Many supplements exist, promising the most bio-available curcumin. They are full of curcumin extract in different concentrations.

Curcumin is recognized as the principle bio-active component of turmeric.  However, this not the entire story.  Curcumin is transformed through digestion into different forms known as metabolites.  It is the metabolites that are easily absorbed by the body, not the whole curcumin molecule.  Some of the known metabolites of Curcumin are curcumin glucuronides and sulfates.

The question then becomes are the metabolites of curcumin effective as an anti-inflammatory and canncer preventing agent?

The answer might just be yes according to these studies, which show the effectiveness of curcumin metabolites, especially tetrahydrocurcuminoid:

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/8/2090.short

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22156377

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22212488

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17569222


It is through microorganisms and enzymes in the human gut that curcumin is transformed.  In 2011, Japanese researchers isolated a microorganism and enzyme responsible for curcumin's transformation into the potent and easily absorbed metabolites. They identified a type of E. Coli as the responsible agent.  I wouldn't assume it is the sole transformative agent, but it's what they found.

In summary, curcumin is transformed into potent metabolites through enzymes and microbes in our digestive system.  So it is possible to "ferment" curcumin in vitro- outside the body, and perhaps in a mason jar, as the Japanese study displayed.  I wonder if any of the common microbes used in food processing like lactobacillus, aspergillus, and s. cerevisiae are capable of performing the transformation?

Before I end, it is important to acknowledge the risks of taking concentrated supplements- which curcumin is.  This well researched letter addresses the dark side of curcumin.  I tend to believe that natural medicine in  food and plant form is better than the extract form.  However, if you can't consume enough of the foods, then yes to the extracts with care.  But turmeric is widely available, so how best to prepare it?  Cooking in oil is suggested because curcumin is oil-soluble.  Curry's are prepared this way.  Daily consumption of low doses might be the way to go.  But what about fermenting turmeric to eat in food form?  That's what these posts are about.

Aloha.

Fermenting Turmeric Pt. 1

Turmeric

Do you recognize the plant in the picture?  It is fresh, ripe, juicy, turmeric. We are lucky in Hawaii to have fresh organic turmeric available most of the year.  Turmeric (curcuma longa) is a plant in the ginger family native to SE Asia.  Recently, it has received significant media coverage for it's ability to reduce inflammation.  Actually curcumin, a natural phenol responsible for the yellow color of the plant, is believed to be the principal agent in subduing inflammation.   Here is an exhaustive list of studies on the effects of turmeric and curcumin.

Curcumin is known to be soluble in oil, as well as alcohol (not necessarily combined together, but let me know if you experiment).  According to the FAO, it is insoluble in water, as well as acidic conditions.  The bio availability of straight turmeric (curcumin) is relatively low, thus the formulation and marketing of various concentrated curcuminoid supplements. Unless you eat foods like Indian currys made with a judicious amount of turmeric powder everyday, it is not likely you will receive adequate benefit from the turmeric diet.  In other words, eating or drinking it once a week will likely be as futile as boiling a pot of water with a lighter.

Regarding fermentation

Many plant based ferments are acidic in nature; a result of employing lactic acid bacteria.  The fermentation process can make certain nutrients and compounds more bio available, especially in the case of grains. But what about in the case of turmeric?   If one were to ferment fresh or powdered turmeric with lactic acid bacteria then they might ask this question:  Would fermenting turmeric increase the bio-availability of curcumin?  

  In fact, I experimented with this myself using fresh organic turmeric finely diced, water, and sugar.  My starter culture was a ginger bug- a bubbly concentrate of sugar, water, ginger, turmeric, and indigenous LAB bacteria.  Within the first week of fermentation the pH dropped below 4.  After another two weeks, an aroma of alcohol developed.  As you can see in the picture (week 3) the water menstrum has become yellow.  Yet, a majority of the pigment remained in the actual turmeric pieces, a sign to me that the water-based LAB extraction technique produced less than stellar results curcuminoid-wise.  Yet does this mean that fermentation does not enhance turmeric?  I'm not going to claim yay or nay on the issue.

Searching the Internet, I have found nothing reliable that conclusively states the benefits or downsides of fermenting turmeric.  However, an article published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research postulates that the beneficial effects of curcumin may be a result of the "bio-active degradation"  it undergoes in the digestive system.  In other words, perhaps the benefits of turmeric are from the by-products of  curcumin (and whatever the heck else)  as it is transformed in the body through the bacterial and enzymatic processes of digestion. If that is so,  perhaps fermentation outside the body mimics that process enough to create those beneficial compounds, cited as ferulic acid and vanillin in the study.  These beneficial compounds overcome the water solubility problem of curcumin.  They also confer beneficial effects, such as anti-cancer properties.  Is it possible that fermenting turmeric creates beneficial compounds?  It seems likely.  Though, because I am a very AMATEUR researcher, this article is really just an interesting thought.  Nevertheless, I am intrigued by the idea, and would like to know about any other research being done that negates or confirms anything in this article.  It is interesting that in Japan, fermented turmeric somewhat common as a supplement and tea.  In fact, I have some in my cabinet right now.  It was a gift from a Japanese friend.  

In Part 2, I will explore some of the fermented turmeric products on the market as well as some home-made recipes.