Pre and Probiotic Gut Friendly Kim Chi

Hopefully you’ve heard about the gut-brain connection and the importance of beneficial gut-bacteria for your immune system, mood, and overall vitality? Fermented foods such as kim-chi are excellent sources of probiotics including Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. In fact, one sample of kim-chi has isolated over 900 strains of lactic acid bacteria!

I like to call pro-biotics “pro-life” as they have a beneficial effect on our entire well-being. Lactobacillus plantarum has been shown to aid digestion, protect the gastrointestinal tract, reduce inflammation and build a healthy immune response. It is a powerful tool for adhering to the gastrointestinal wall and thus crowding out non-beneficial pathogens. It acts as an antioxidant with anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiobesity and antidiabetic properties.

Like a lot of nutritional science research, we continue to find that traditional, ancient recipes have beneficial outcomes for overall health. This Korean side-dish has evidence of use going all the way back to 37 BC.

You’ll Need

Fermenting vegetables:

• Half a wombok cabbage, chopped into 8 pieces
• 1 bunch of spring onions chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 4 carrots sliced into 1cm pieces
• 2 teaspoons of quality salt (celtic sea-salt or himalayan pink salt)

Paste:

• 2 Nashi Pears
• 1 small Chinese Radish
• 1 whole knob of Garlic
• 2 inch piece of Ginger
• 2 tsp of Chilli powder and/or Cayenne Pepper (to taste)
• Splash of fish sauce

Other:

• • 1 heaped tablespoon of ground Glutinous Rice Starch (or Corn Starch)
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • LPRA vegetable culture (starter culture probiotic)