Probiotic Vegetables with the Perfect Pickler & Giveaway

My new found love is the Perfect Pickler and I am so excited to give one away and share this amazing product!  See bottom of page for details and how to make my yummy probiotic carrots. There is also a video to watch that will show you how super easy they are to make.

I will be teaching two classes this month using the Perfect Pickler. These are hands-on classes where class members will be taking home their own Perfect Pickler filled with vegetables. I will be discussing all the health benefits.  We will be sampling a lot of different pickles with yummy Artisan Bread Panini Sandwiches.  The Artisan bread is fermented overnight and then baked in a 500 degree hearth oven called the La Cloche. Class 1 will be the probiotic carrots and class 2 will be Kimchi. We will also be learning to make Non-Dairy Almond Yogurt in Class 2.  I hope you can join us on April 11 & 25, 2012.

You fill the Perfect Pickler with just water, sea salt, vegetables and seasonings and watch the transformation take place.  "You can not purchase the nutrients found in fresh, cultured brine pickles for any amount of money, nor find more dynamic supplements.  Yet, these ingredients are inexpensive and lie within common vegetables and sea salt. We're not going back, we're coming around to the wisdom of our Elders:  make brine pickles a regular part of our daily diet." ~ Bill Hettig, creator of the Perfect Pickler.

Here's their bounty:

Vitamins:  Brine pickling creates additional vitamins as well as boosting them into highly absorbable
forms.

Minerals: Minerals from both sea salt and within plants become ionized (charged), becoming more absorbable.

Enzymes:  Dense concentrations are created and combine with vegetable-based enzymes to power up
digestion.  Enzymes pre-digest foods during the meal.

Microcultures:  Multiply by the billions.  These beneficial bacteria replenish our own resident cultures. As a probiotic they act to limit pathogenic bacteria as our very first line of immune defense.  Fresh brine pickles are both a tasty and healthy treat. 

Nowhere on this planet can you find better nutritional value than in making your own fresh brine pickles, like those made in the Perfect Pickler.  Our entire digestive tract -- from mouth to colon --benefits from ingesting daily amounts of fresh vegetable probiotics.  Each bite contains millions of friendly bacteria, the very same that reside in a healthy digestive tract.  Fresh pickles (probiotic vegetables) maintain and build upon our own colony of friendly bacteria.  

Recently, science has found these cultures to be our primary immune function; some say as much as 70 percent.Maintaining a healthy gut culture is the number one way to stay well and vital!!

Fresh pickles are a dynamic aid for hard-to-digest foods so common in this age of highly processed food.  Ancient cultures learned to combine pickles, relishes, salsas, chutneys and other ferments with their staple foods.  When you eat a little pickle with your meal these mighty organisms immediately start the digesting process in the mouth and all the way through to the colon.

Additional Benefits of Eating Brine Pickles (Probiotic Vegetables)

• Micro-cultures produce a complex of B vitamins and vitamin K. They preserve Vitamin C found in the veggies.
• Pickles kick-start digestion through salivation and enzyme production in the mouth. 
• Certain brine bacteria act as anticancer factors by preventing the formation of chemicals which are carcinogenic.
• Probiotic-rich pickles are beneficial while taking antibiotics.
• Micro-cultures develop healthy digestive tracts and immune function in the young.
• They make low-cost probiotics for daily consumption.
• They speed up bowel function by improving peristaltic action and reduce transit time of digested food.
• They play a role in protecting against the negative effects of radiation and toxic pollutants.
• Evidence is strong that an overgrowth of E. coli in the bowel may provoke a diabetic condition.  Resident microflora keep E. coli in check.
• They help control genito-urinary tract infections.
• They are an ideal treatment for diarrhea including rotavirus, Clostridium difficile and "traveler's diarrhea" especially pediatric diarrhea - one of the greatest killers of children throughout the world.

I am giving away a Perfect Pickler through a random drawing next Wednesday 4/11/12.  Please leave a comment below and you will be entered into the drawing.  The Perfect Pickler Kit includes: Fermentation Lock, Special Wide Mouth Lid, Brine Overflow Cup, Gasket & O-Ring Set, Instruction Recipe Booklet & Celtic Sea Salt.  Good luck-I know you will love the Perfect Pickler!

 Probiotic Carrots with the Perfect Pickler
Makes 1 Qt.

About 5 medium  Carrots (I sliced them with the salad shooter and they were absolutely perfect)
2 cups brine (made with water and 1 Tbsp. Celtic Sea Salt)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 large minced garlic
1 inch piece ginger (peeled & grated)


Slice carrots and put into 1 qt. mason wide mouth canning jar until you reach about 2 inches from top of jar.  In bowl mix 2 cups purified water and 1 Tbsp. Celtic Sea Salt.  Let salt dissolve and then add remaining ingredients.  Pour brine mixture into jar until you reach about 1/4 inch from the top of jar.  Add brine overflow cup so it floats in brine.  Place lid on by first twisting on jar counter clockwise until in clicks into place and then turning clockwise to seal. Add fermentation lock.  Be sure to add water to the fill mark on the fermentation lock.  Place jar in a bowl and place on counter for 4 days.  Be sure to mark the date you made the carrots so you will remember when to open them.  After 4 days take off lid and fermentation lock and replace with canning jar lid.  Place in refrigerator where flavor will continue to develop. Carrots will keep for months (if they aren't eaten before then).