Living in this age of processed foods grown with poisons and filled with chemical additives, it is very easy for kids to have their systems thrown out of balance. Introducing fermented foods, with their beneficial living microorganisms, into kids diets can bring the immune and digestive systems back on tract. These healthy fermented foods have fizzy, tart, savory flavors that add zip to meals.
Fermentation is a healthy way to preserve foods, like the veggie salad being fermented in the picture above. This process converts the starches to be more digestible and introduces living probiotic cultures into the guts to help absorb more of the food’s nutrients. Kids can use high quality sea salt to create a brine that draws water out of the veggies and destroys the bacteria that causes food spoilage. Kids can leave it on the counter top and allow the mixture to set for a couple of weeks.
For thousands of years, every cuisine on earth has had a tradition of fermentation. Foods that are fermented using traditional techniques and recipes have fantastic flavors with the herbs and spices that are added. Fermentation is a craft where each batch has its own character. Microbes decompose the food being fermented, and as they consume the sugars in the food, they produce alcohol and acids. These microbes make milk into cheese, grapes into wine, and cabbage into sauerkraut. Kids can create their own fermented vegetables and fruit once they get the simple basics and strengthen their immune and digestive systems with each taste.
Cooking Magic for Kids 