Why pickle food

Some limited research suggests that probiotics may offer other health benefits, including:. Research into these benefits is still in the early stages. Researchers have to conduct more, larger trials before there can be any certainty about the long-term health effects of probiotics. In addition to fermented pickles containing probiotics, pickles may offer these other health benefits:.

Electrolytes are salts that the body needs for healthy functioning. When a person experiences dehydration , they may also lose electrolytes. Pickles are high in sodium, and so they are also high in electrolytes. Theoretically, this suggests that pickle juice might be an option for restoring electrolytes to people who have a fever , are vomiting, or who are dehydrated.

Some athletes swear by pickle juice to restore their electrolytes following a workout. There is no evidence that drinking pickle juice is a better option than water or electrolyte drinks. However, for someone who enjoys pickle juice, a small amount may be a tasty alternative. Older research from suggests that pickles may help with muscle cramps. Researchers electrically induced muscle cramps in well-hydrated men once and then a week later. They found that participants who drank pickle juice rapidly gained relief from their cramps.

Deionized water did not offer the same benefits, which means that electrolytes and hydration status alone did not explain the result. This suggests that something else about pickles may help with muscle cramps rather than the water content or the electrolytes.

Pickles that use a vinegar-based brine may help control blood glucose. Stable blood glucose levels can help prevent feelings of intense hunger. Preventing blood glucose spikes is also critical to the health of people with diabetes.

A small study followed 14 healthy adults at risk of type 2 diabetes. Fruit, too, loves to be pickled. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall bottles cherries — stones, stalks and all — in a hot syrup ml water, ml white-wine or cider vinegar, g caster sugar, 6 black peppercorns, 3 bay leaves, 2 juniper berries, and 2 cloves and leaves for a month before using.

Conversely, these pickles are ready within three days. Which is to say: follow recipes carefully. For Kostian, lactic fermentation not only comes with reputed though unproved health benefits but flavour-wise is the most interesting place to start.

He recommends gooseberries, though any other fruit will do. And you need to use good filtered water no chlorine and good sea salt no caking agents.

Mix 1kg of fresh berries with 30g of salt in a large lidded glass jar, and lay clingfilm over the top of the produce, pressing it down with a small weight. Then put the lid on, loosely. Leave at room temperature C for 15 to 30 days. Taste after 15 days, and decide if you want to take the funky flavour further. Trust your senses. If anything smells off-putting, start again. If not, remove the top layer and carry on. One smelled rank, and she binned it.

The other smelled sweet, like traditional dark rye bread, so she fed it till it bubbled and is now baking with it.

Leave in the fridge for a couple of days, or longer, for a stronger flavour. Of course, the more time you have to make your preserves the better. For a proper sauerkraut, massage 1 tbsp salt into 1kg shredded cabbage until it releases its juices then pack tightly into a jar, pressing down until the liquid rises above the surface add a little filtered water if needed. Seal and leave at room temperature for at least four days, until bubbles appear.

The chef Tom Hunt says that at this point, you can continue fermenting at room temperature for months or even years. Putting it in the fridge will slow down the process, and temper the flavour. Kimchi is another wildly adaptable cabbage-based ferment. Food52, meanwhile, has an excellent how-to for making any kind of kimchi without a recipe.

Hall, Carl W. Marks, Gil Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Oakes, Elizabeth H. New York, N. Y: Facts On File. Smith, Andrew F. Oxford University Press, UK. Tori Avey is a food writer, recipe developer, and the creator of ToriAvey. Discover the History of Beets. What makes a pickle a pickle? On a most general level, pickles are foods soaked in solutions that help prevent spoilage. There are two basic categories of pickles.