The Importance of Fermented Foods on a Keto Diet
How is your digestion doing?
Most likely if you are on a keto diet, it’s slowly improving.
You have removed most of the offending foods (hopefully) and the reflux is gone….
BUT
The journey to a truly healthy digestive system is a long one when you come from a SAD (standard american diet) background!
The number one problem with that kind of diet is the chronic lack of enzymes and probiotics.
Enzymes from raw and unprocessed foods are essential to replenish our body’s reserves. We can not properly digest foods without enzymes.
That is why mother nature created most foods already packaged with their own perfect enzyme content.
But then we have to go and mess that up, by cooking and processing.
Probiotics are almost more important than enzymes.
When you are on a Keto diet and not eating fruits and high carb veggies, fermented foods are the perfect vegetable!
They are extremely low carb, because the microorganisms from the fermentation have already eaten all the sugars!
They are full of nutrients made more available for absorption, and they teem with enzymes and beneficial bacteria!
Why are beneficial bacteria so important? (probiotics)
Didi you know that at all times we carry about 4 to 6 pounds of microorganisms in our digestive system?
Without those beneficial bacteria that lives in symbiosis with our body we would not be alive.
The gut has been recently been defined as an organ in it’s own right. And the little guys in there are part of it.
Gut flora is not called The Microbiota and it’s importance has become more and more relevant, not only for digestion but for mental health, immunity, and disease prevention.
One way we can cultivate a healthy Microbiota is though fermented foods.
Traditionally, most cultures have several fermented dishes that are made and regularly eaten with meals.
The German Sauerkraut, Korean Kimchi, Argentinian Cortido, Israeli Pickles, Japanese Miso and Natto….the list is very long
Daikon Kimchi: A Korean Delicacy for your Health
Daikon Kimchi (Ggaktoogi) is a very traditional ferment. Is is part of what is called “Ban Chan” a series of little dishes that accompany the main course as a sort of appetizer/ side dish in Korea. Several fermented dishes are part of it.
Daikon Kimchi is delicious and can be made spicy or mild depending on your taste. For best results use the traditional Korean Chili Flakes (Gochugaru) I recommend buyng a big bag of it and keeping it in your freezer, so any time the kimchi frenzy hits you have it availble.
I also used this original anchovy sauce, which is rich in sodium (great for us ketoers!) and wonderful anchovies but NO fillers or preservatives!
In this recipe I also used Resistant Starch. In traditional recipes rice powder is used or plain sugar to feed the beneficial bacteria.
Using resistant starch takes the ferment to the next level of potency, making it into a true superfood!
- 1 very large daikon root
- ¼ cup sea salt
- 4 green onions
- 1 bunch chives
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 piece of fresh ginger root (3” long) peeled and minced
- ⅓ cup Korean Red Chili
- ¼ cup Korean Anchovy Sauce
- 1 Tbs Resistant Starch
- Prepare the Daikon by washing, peeling then cutting it in ½ inch cubes.
- Put the cubes in a large ceramic bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Mix well, cover and let rest for 45 minutes.
- Rinse in cold water and drain in a colander, then return to the bowl.
- Now prepare the seasoning paste:
- In a food processor place ginger, garlic, anchovy sauce and resistant starch.
- Blend well until a paste is formed. You can add a bit of water if the paste is too thick. It should not be too runny but smooth.
- Now prepare the kimchi:
- Cut the spring onions and chives in 1 inch sections.
- Now a place the seasoning paste, the red chili, the onion and chives in the large ceramic bowl with the daikon, and mix all ingredient well.
- Transfer in quart sized mason jars, packing in tightly and leaving about 2 inches of space on top.
- Keep the jars at room temperature for 24 hours, then refrigerate.
- Can be eaten immediately or fermented longer for stronger flavor.
Hi, The daikon kimchi recipe you have on your website doesn’t state what to do as far as covering the jars after filling them. Are they supposed to be covered? How about storage after the 24 hr period? Covered then? Also, can you help me with the size of the radish? I am unfamiliar with daikon radishes, and have no idea what is a big one versus a small one.
THANKS!!
Peg
You can close the jars with their lids as normal. After 24 hours they go in the fridge! 🙂
A small Daikon is about 5 to 6 inches long and 1 inch thick. A large one is about 10 inches long and 2 inches thick.
I hope it helps 🙂
I would love to try this recipe but have several questions.
How big is a large Daikon that would fill up ‘quart jars’ plural?
How many quarts does it really make?
What is the correct measurement for the Korean Red Chili (you say 1/3 cup Tbs)?
Looking forward to trying this soon.
A large daikon is about 10 inches long and 2 in diameter. As they really vary in size it depends on how much you use.
I really wanted to try this recipe and am not trying to be difficult but, “depends on how much you use”? Will the other ingredients be in correct proportion if it makes 1 quart as opposed to ‘quarts’?
Ok, lets try this: your daikon should be at least 12 inches long and at the thickest part at least 2.5 inches in diameter. I hope this works better 🙂
PS I fixed the typo in the recipe!!