We have a lot of fermented foods and seasonings in Japan. Soy sauce, Miso and Japanese pickles are very popular as souvenir. They are also known as healthy, but why? There are 3 good things to eat fermented foods followed by recommended Japanese ones.
- It makes digestion and absorption easier
Fermentation is a method of preserving food by the workings of microorganism, enzymes and useful bacteria. Through the process, nutrition like protein, sugar and starches are digested before we eat. As a result, it can promote the digestive absorption. - It raises our immune system
Fermented foods contain a lot of good bacteria like lactic acid bacteria. They are also intestinal bacteria living in the gut and play important roles. They can prevent the growth of toxic bacteria and activate immune cells. - It helps preventing disease
It is often said that our guts are our second brain. They affect each other through neurotransmitters (a chemical messenger used by nerve cells) like automatic nerves and hormones. When intestinal environment goes bad, our physical condition deteriorates. It is important to keep our guts healthy to get into shape and fermented foods help us a lot. - Japan is a paradise of traditional fermented foods!
There are many types of fermented foods in Japan. Let me introduce some of them.
Natto
Natto is made by boiled soybeans through a process of fermentation with special bacteria known as natto-kin. Amazingly, the amount of Vitamin B2 in Natto increase 10 times of boiled soybeans. Furthermore, Natto contains beneficial enzyme which can lower blood pressure and modulate our immune system.
Tsukemono
Tsukemono is Japanese pickles. We have more than 3,000 types of Tsukemo in Japan.
With its variety of seasonings and ingredients, Tsukemono is very popular side dish in our life. Most popular type is vegetable Tsukemono and we can take dietary fiber and vitamins easily.
Umeboshi
Umeboshi is made by dried Japanese plum through fermentation. Its sweet, sour, salty flavor is beloved by Japanese people. It also has bactericide effect and that is the reason why we can see it in lunchbox and rice ball.
How about some tips about Japanese fermented foods? If you are interested in them, please do challenge yourself to it.
Sources:
https://gurunavi.com/en/japanfoodie/2016/12/japanese-fermented-foods.html
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/c08002/
BY SI