Sat, Aug-09-08, 13:19
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Registered Member
Posts: 4,909
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Plan: Atkins,PP - wgt in %
Stats: 100/96.8/69
BF:DWTK/DDare/JEnuf
Progress: 10%
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by capmikee
Sauerkraut and brine pickles are both very high in lactic acid. It is actually the primary acid in most fermented vegetables. Have you ever noticed that many olive ingrendients lists include "lactic acid starter culture?" That's because olive curing involves lots of lactic acid too.
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I should have a look at more of the "natural" products on my next shopping trip (hunting for smoked tofu! yum!).
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Most fruit is very prone to yeast fermentation, producing alcohol, but under the right circumstances it can produce lactic acid too....
....I can't tell you for sure what these processes start with - sauerkraut for example has a complex sequence of organisms that starts with e. coli and proceeds to lactobacillus and other stuff. I wonder if a lot of lactobacillus acts on bigger starches as opposed little sugars like fructose.
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Ay, THERE'S the rub. Rather sounds as if one series or organisms dominates, cleans up and clears the way for the next....hmmm. If it really does start with e. coli and ends with lactobacillus et al, there's another indirect vote of support for probiotics in the GI tract!
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A vinegar mother is a very special thing; not all fermented things have one. From recent articles I think it's actually a "biofilm" - a colony of organisms that hold each other together with sticky chemicals they produce. Vinegar mother, kombucha mother, and kefir grains are all symbiotic colonies of bacteria and yeast - SCOBYs for short.
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So now I wonder what is the arbiter, the difference between biofilm colony ferments and "non-biofilm" (for lack of a better word yet) ferments, such as the pineapple "vinegar" ferment.
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To me the pineapple vinegar tastes like it has both acetic and lactic acid, but much more lactic acid than typical vinegar has.
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If you're really curious, find someone in your area who's studying microbiology. Making sauerkraut is actually a common class project in microbiology, and they identify the organisms involved.
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Well, yup. though the sauerkraut is quite well known already, and accessible, it's that fascinating and somewhat different pineapple ferment that interests me right now, and just what probiotics are active therein, and where are they coming from (from the "air" like the classical sourdough yeasts?), and why pineapple (what's the special thing in pineapple, the fruit sugars, the fruit acids?).
Thanks for engaging in this interesting discussion!
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