“Are Atina Pickles Ayurvedic?” is a question that we get from customers who want to know more about our products. I hope this post will help readers to explain this.
WHAT IS A PICKLE?
The etymological origin of the word Pickle comes from the Dutch/ German and later English language expression, which in a very broad sense, is used for any food that is preserved in brine. The word Pickle was brought to India by the British during their colonial rule and was applied or used to a variety of foods, mainly preserved or fermented vegetables. In Indian languages, such fermented foods are known in various names such as Ooru kai in Tamil, Uppilittathu in Malayalam, Athaanu in Gujarathi, Lonache in Marathi, Achar in Gurmukhi etc. Among these, the Gurmukhi expression, Achar is the most popular name compared to others because this word was incorporated into the Hindi lexicon and became popular across the North Indian states.
What is common in all these linguistics expression is that, it points to a process in which uncooked vegetables, whole or parts of, are naturally fermented and preserved using salt as the main catalyst or fermenting agent with the help of heat from sun light and natural time. This method of food preservation known to many cultures across the world since time immemorial today is popularly known as lacto-fermentation. In India, the salt fermentation of vegetables, animal and fish meats are known to exist for thousands of years. In the process of lacto-fermentation of vegetables with salt and sunlight, useful bacteria breaks down the sugars in the foods to form lactic acid. In this fermentation technique, the uncooked vegetable is preserved in its own juice, retaining all its active components such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. intact or unspoiled and available in easily digestible forms for the body to absorb. The most important aspect of this food preservation is that such naturally fermented food is shelf stable for a long period of time provided the fermentation vessel used in the process is made of good quality fired clay or glass with a strict avoidance of water contamination during the process of fermentation..
The fermented food in India is very unique and extensive in its variety of processes and techniques. From simple yogurt to very popular staple food such as fermented rice and bean; steamed cakes: Idli, crepe: Dosa, the list of popular fermented food from India is pretty long. Also, like elsewhere in the world, there are fermented drinks made from rice, wheat, millet, corn, lentils, coconut, fruits and many more. Various kinds of spices such as fenugreek, cinnamon are used for fermentation as catalysts depending on the type of food.
FERMENTATION IN AYURVEDA
Since ancient times, fermentation has always been a part of natural preservation of food used by Indians. Based on the foundational principle of Ayurveda, that food is the medicine and medicine is the food, practitioners of Ayurveda have used various techniques, tools, and developed processing methods to preserve food naturally. Fermented food or medicine has always been part of Ayurveda pharmacology as many medicines are prepared using fermentation techniques. From classical Ayurvedic texts compiled by great seers like Charaka, Sushrutha, Vagbhata, Nagarjuna, to modern scholars and practitioners, have deeply delved into the subject and discussed extensively on various ingredients, processes, techniques, tools for fermentation or natural preservation of food / medicine. Bio Chemistry and Pharmacology principles and practices of Ayurveda describe this process extensively in many Indian languages. I would like to quote few web sites I have found useful in this regard at the end of the page.
Ayurveda emphasizes that each habitat has its own food and medicine and the practitioners have been taught to locate such in local environment to develop new food or develop appropriate techniques to naturally preserve food, following the fundamental theories of fermentation. As Ayurveda does NOT differentiate food from medicine and vice versa, the Ayurvedic practitioners for many thousand years have been advocating inclusion of medicinal herbs or spices in the regular food. Turmeric, Ginger, Garlic, Fennel, Asafoetida etc have been known to Indians since ancient times as “food” rather than medicine, though these wonderful spices are medicines in its action as many know now. The preservation of these useful spices/ herbs/ medicines for longer period of usage without losing its potency have always been an important part of Ayurvedic texts and practices.
When it comes to ordinary fermentation for house hold uses, the basic theory and practice employed in the process of fermentation is to cut the vegetables/ rhizomes/ fruits into smallest possible sizes as to increase the body area for fermentation. Then mix well with salt (non-iodized) and store in a clean ceramic/ glass/ finely fired clay pot, tightly sealed and keep it in a warm area for a specific period of time different for each produce. Once the fermentation achieves stability or when the vegetables stop emanating gases like methane and carbon dioxide and when the carbohydrate, starch, fat and protein became non reactive the fermentation vessel, it can be opened and processed further with bitter spices such as fenugreek, mustard, asafoetida, red pepper as in our Garlic Scape Pickle or aromatic herbs as in our Fennel Pickle. After spicing, the jars must be tightly closed to prevent entry of air / oxygen. At Atina, we do immerse the filled jars in boiling water for a specified time to protectively seal the jar.
ATINA PICKLES
Carrie and I use the word “pickles” for our naturally fermented foods, because of the easiness to communicate with our audience . We follow fermentation techniques and processes mainly prevalent in the South Indian state of Kerala where I, Suresh, am coming from. Carrie and I have directed our interest to develop local adaptations of traditional pickles. We feel that our Rhubarb Herbal Jam, Garlic Scape Pickle, Fennel Pickle, and other ‘Seasonal Ferments’, are results of such adaptations to the local conditions and habitat.
We do NOT add vinegar in any of our pickles and all our fermented foods are shelf stable for long periods of time if properly cared for. We always advice our customers to use clean dry spoon and avoid any contamination from water or saliva. To comply with the existing regulations on refrigeration, we market our Seasonal Ferments as refrigerated foods, though in India, these would be considered naturally shelf stable and not refrigerated.
In making all these naturally fermented and preserved food, lessons from Ayurvedic principles and practices have helped me tremendously and I am sure for Carrie too.
I will soon post more about the fermentation process and health benefits of each of our fermented food and our popular condiments .
Thank you for your continued support and wish you all a very warm winter
regards,
Suresh
A progressive review of Sandhana kalpana (Biomedical fermentation), Bhaishajya Kalpanaa - The Ayurvedic Pharmaceutics - An Overview,
A progressive review of Sandhana kalpana
In our present times, the lacto-fermentation process has been largely overtaken by industrialization of fermentation. For most Americans, pickle today means a cucumber soaked in a sea of vinegar. Some people cook, or keep raw, their vegetables and soak it in a brine of salt, vinegar and water to make a pickle. These processes have many disadvantages. Unlike the lacto-fermentation process, in the industrialized fermentation, cooked vegetables tend to lose many or most of the active components of the vegetable/ spices due to direct heat of cooking. Secondly, the ‘Quick pickles’ that are created using vinegar use the acidity of vinegar as the preservation mechanism rather than lactic acid. Without lactobacillus bacteria involved, vinegar pickles do not have the same gut beneficial properties that lacto-fermented foods have. Thirdly, adding vinegar or acetic acid not only increase the acidity of the fermented food but also kill many useful microbes. Adding plain or tap water for fermentation can make the fermented food unstable in normal conditions as tap water can facilitate the growth of unwanted microbes or begin to mold the fermented food. In these cases, ie: water brine pickles, in order to save such fermented food from going bad, it needs to be refrigerated.
As we know, the refrigeration technique is a recent arrival in our long food history which uses massive amount of electricity and employ a variety of ecologically dangerous chemicals to maintain its temperature, there are many studies which show refrigerated foods are generally not good for health. Refrigeration is also related to the cooler temperatures in Europe, and the subsequent refrigeration of their water brined pickles and krauts.
