Fermentation Scholarship Video by Laurel Wheeler

Laurel Wheeler Author

03/10/2021 Added

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The UNL Food Science and Technology Department asked incoming students to prepare a fermented food product using special fermentation jars developed by ChouAmi. Watch this video created by winning participant Laurel Wheeler, as she talks about her product and the science behind fermentation.

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[00:00:00.000](bright music)
[00:00:06.650]The process of fermenting foods has been around
[00:00:08.990]for centuries, since roughly 6000 BC.
[00:00:12.060]Not only do fermented foods have a lot of great benefits,
[00:00:15.030]they are relatively simple to make.
[00:00:17.223](bright music)
[00:00:19.590]Fermenting a food really means you're controlling
[00:00:21.300]that food's decay.
[00:00:22.920]Certain yeast and bacteria convert the carbohydrates,
[00:00:25.760]or the sugars and starches that are in food, into acid,
[00:00:28.480]alcohol, and gas, therefore fermenting the food.
[00:00:31.660]There are three types of fermentation.
[00:00:33.380]Lactic acid, like sauerkraut and kimchi,
[00:00:37.800]acetic, like vinegar and kombucha,
[00:00:40.870]and alcohol fermentation, like beer and wine.
[00:00:44.471](bright music)
[00:00:47.340]In my ChouAmi jar, I added salt, water, jalapeno peppers,
[00:00:53.640]mini point round peppers, and a few cloves
[00:00:55.450]of garlic for taste.
[00:00:56.860]Salt has a very important role in the jar.
[00:00:58.900]It helps kill off the bad bacteria
[00:01:00.660]and help keep the good bacteria flourishing.
[00:01:02.880]Water also plays a huge role in the jar
[00:01:04.720]because everything needs to be submerged
[00:01:06.990]under the water to keep the environment anaerobic.
[00:01:09.890]To get the right ratio of salt, water, and produce,
[00:01:13.490]in my project, I used an equation
[00:01:17.150]that is the weight of the produce in grams
[00:01:19.310]plus the weight of the water it takes
[00:01:20.770]to completely cover the peppers times 0.025 or 2.5% salt.
[00:01:27.000]I let the jar sit on my kitchen counter
[00:01:29.490]with no direct sunlight for 10 days.
[00:01:31.740]The temperature there is around 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
[00:01:35.750]I chose to ferment peppers
[00:01:36.930]because I wanted a food that would have
[00:01:38.390]a lot of health benefits and one
[00:01:40.330]that also packed a lot of flavor.
[00:01:42.240]Peppers are a good source of vitamins A and C,
[00:01:44.730]have a lot of different uses.
[00:01:46.230]Not only did I want functionality and a good taste,
[00:01:48.590]I really liked the colorfulness of the peppers
[00:01:50.197]and the way that they look in the jar.
[00:01:53.270]In the results of the fermentation process,
[00:01:55.290]the lactic acid that is present on the peppers
[00:01:57.440]will break down the carbohydrates and turn them
[00:01:59.520]into both carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
[00:02:02.530]By doing so, a good bacteria called lactobacillus
[00:02:06.100]that is great for the human gut will then grow in my jar.
[00:02:10.880]The good bacteria that are produced
[00:02:12.560]in lacto-fermentation called lactobacillus
[00:02:15.340]are excellent for the human gut and microbiome.
[00:02:18.100]Fermented foods are like a probiotic pill that you can eat.
[00:02:21.570]This project has taught me a lot about the way
[00:02:23.700]that fermentation preserves food.
[00:02:25.780]I knew that lactobacillus was an important part of our gut
[00:02:28.720]but now I know how it is grown in fermented foods.
[00:02:31.769](bright music)

Fermentation Scholarship Video by Laurel Wheeler

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Fermentation Scholarship Video by Laurel Wheeler

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