Probiotic weekly menu with 3 easy fermented recipes

Everyone talks about the microbiota, and with it about fermented foods and probiotics. And it is that we know more and more about the importance of our intestinal flora for health.

However, not everyone dares to ferment vegetables at home. Nor do we always know how to use fermented foods to incorporate them naturally into our menus. Below you will find several easy fermented recipes so you can add probiotics to your dishes without much difficulty:

You will find these recipes in this week’s healthy weekly menu, a menu specially designed to increase the presence of beneficial bacteria in the intestine and thus rebalance the intestinal flora. You will also find other ideas for fermented food dishes that you can make at home or easily find in stores.

Download the menu healthy weekly rich in probiotics here.

But before looking at the recipes, let’s see what exactly is a fermented product and what is a probiotic, which are the most common, and some tips for incorporating them into your diet.

The benefits of fermented foods

A fermented It is a food that results from a catabolic process of complete oxidation, anaerobic, carried out by some microorganisms, whether they are bacteria, molds or yeasts. Yogurt and sauerkraut are two examples of lactofermented foods.

You may be wondering if a lactofermented food is vegan. Lactofermented foods are those that have undergone a fermentation process by means of a bacterium, usually a Lactobacillus. What these bacteria do is convert part of the carbohydrates into lactic acid. The latter is a byproduct of fermentation and has nothing to do with dairy products of animal origin.

The vegetable cheeses and yogurts in which natural ferments are used, they also suffer this process, and it is for this reason that you will hear about vegetable dairy products. Although the result does not have to be the same in terms of flavor and texture, because the raw material is different, the process is exactly the same.

A probiotic food or probiotic supplement It is one that has live microorganisms that improve or maintain the microbiota. They should not be confused with prebiotic foods, which are those that feed our microbiota thanks to their content of certain types of fiber.

Are fermented and probiotic the same?

Not all probiotic foods are fermented and not all fermented foods can be considered probiotics. For example, fermented products that have been pasteurized do not contain live microorganisms. The same goes for bread. If the flour has risen, it is a leavened product, but after baking the yeasts are no longer alive.

What foods are considered probiotics It is also a matter that generates debate, since it is not enough for microorganisms to be alive; there must be evidence that live microorganisms arrive in sufficient numbers and are beneficial to our health.

Fermented to take care of the microbiota

We will not include in the category of healthy fermented drinks those that have alcohol, since alcohol is not considered healthy, and all the benefits attributed to alcoholic beverages can be achieved through a varied plant diet, because they are not due to its alcohol but to other of its ingredients. However, we will include the water kefirbased on sugar and fruit, or the kombuchaas long as its alcohol level is not significant.

Just as there are unpasteurized kombuchas, which we can also make at home, the same happens with vinegar. The mother of vinegar, which is nothing more than cellulose and a colony of acetic acid bacteria, is very similar to that of kombucha.

Other fermented foods, which we can find with more or less difficulty, in addition to vegetable milk, are:

3 easy fermented recipes for your healthy weekly menu

Fermented foods can be very easily incorporated into our weekly menu. Here are four simple ideas that you can put into practice that will allow you to increase your consumption of probiotic foods in a natural and pleasant way:

Ferment broccoli, carrots, garlic and radishes at home and add them to your salads and buddha bowls. Below you will find a recipe in which I will tell you how to ferment broccoli, although if you want to go deeper you can read this article on how to ferment vegetables at home without risks. add miso or umeboshis to your vinaigrettes.And, of course, dare with the fermented vegetable cheeses: not only are they rich, healthy and sustainable, they also provide you with probiotic bacteria.At breakfast and snacks remember that you have very practical probiotic foods to take as a snack: yogurts and vegetable cheeses.

Some of these ideas are taken into account in this week’s downloadable probiotic weekly menu. You will also find these three fermented recipes, very easy to incorporate into the menu and any other weekly proposal to which you want to add extra probiotics.

1. Pink Water Kefir Lemonade

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Water kefir combines very well with fruits and infusions. You can go further and make a pink lemonade, taking advantage of the basic water kefir recipe.

Ingredients:

½ liter of water kefir 400 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice 100 ml of natural cranberry or raspberry juice ice natural sweetener to taste.

Preparation:

if the juice of blueberries or raspberries is natural, strain it through a very fine mesh. Mix all the liquid ingredients with the sweetener.Chill it in the fridge or add ice and serve chilled.

2. Miso vinaigrette

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There are different types of miso and some are quite strong in flavor, so I recommend you always start with shiro miso, or white miso.

This type of Asian-style vinaigrettes they are usually made with soy sauce or tamari and rice vinegar. You can use a low-salt soy sauce, since the miso itself has a not inconsiderable amount. Also you can substitute rice vinegar for apple cider vinegaralthough I really recommend the rice one, because it does not add flavor to the dressing.

Ingredients (for several servings of salad):

1 tablespoon white miso 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari 1 tablespoon rice or apple cider vinegar 4 tablespoons mild olive or sesame oil 1 tablespoon ground sesame seeds 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Preparation:

We beat all the ingredients. We serve on top of the salad and mix well.

3. Fermented broccoli with dill

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Not only do our salads live on sauerkraut. fermented vegetables they can be made very easily at home. They help us to extend the life of the vegetables a little more and they will also brighten up many dishes, also serving us as a healthy snack.

Ingredients:

1 broccoli in little trees 1 garlic 1 onion dill to taste brine (water with dissolved salt)

Preparation:

We will prepare the brine with 20 grams of pure salt, (35 grams in summer) for a liter of water. The amount will depend on what the vegetables occupy in the jars.Wash the broccoli very well and cut into trees. Peel the garlic and leave it whole. Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Place the vegetables and the dill in a “fido” style jar, with a lid, and cover them with the brine. He has to be all covered and nothing floating. Fermentation usually starts in a few days, but they will taste better in a week or so.Once opened, you can keep them in the fridge. They will continue to ferment at a slower rate, but don’t leave them there forever.

use them on salads, appetizers and sandwiches.