Students in a Pickle about Pickling

This week in sustainable agriculture we learned how to pickle fruits and vegetables that we grew on the farm. Pickling requires a jar with a lid, fruits and vegetables, spices, salt, vinegar, and inoculant. The liquid made and used for pickling creates perfect conditions for lactobacilli to ultimately pickle your fruits and vegetables. It also eliminates bad bacteria like coliform. Pickling allows you to preserve fresh produce for longer and add flavor to average crops. This is important because it allows less food to go to waste by having it last longer. The microorganisms found in fermented foods creates compounds like lactic acid and alcohol which helps preserve food. Fermented foods also contain helpful bacteria for gut health and digestive health. Fermentation can be used for making sour cream, kombucha, beer, sauerkraut, beer, yogurt, and many more. Fermentation is a vital form of food preparation and can create a huge variety of food and drink that play a role in most people's everyday lives. -Tatum