FTC Disclosure: Delicious Obsessions may receive comissions from purchases made through links in this article. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Read our full terms and conditions here.
This is contribution 2 in my series, Soy – The Unhealthy Health Food. If you haven ’ metric ton already, please read Part 1 in this serial, where I discuss the dangers of consuming fresh soy sauce products .
DISCLAIMER: The content shared on this site is for informational and educational purposes only. Statements/products discussed have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease or illness. Please consult your own certified health care practitioner before making changes to your current diet or before beginning any herbal or vitamin supplement regimen or exercise program.
Importance of Fermentation
The soy has been around since the begin of time and has been a major food informant for humans for millennium. The earliest mentions of the soy go steady back to 3,000 B.C. by the Emperor of China. In asian cultures, soy sauce is a major character of their diet, and study after study has shown the low rate of western diseases in these traditional cultures. however, the important difference is that the products they consume have been fermented.
The agitation work of soy eliminates the dangers that I discussed in Part 1 of this series. Fermentation is authoritative because :
- It increases the digestibility of the soybean, because the enzyme inhibitors have been broken down so that the digestive system can more easily assimilate the legume.
- It increases the nutrition of soy by converting specific minerals (like zinc, copper, magnesium, etc.) into soluble forms that are easily absorbed by the body.
- It allows beneficial bacteria to flourish and helps increase the flora of the intestines, which not only assists with the digestion of soy, but the overall health of your digestive system.
- Fermentation adds Vitamin K2 to the food. This is probably one of the most important benefits of fermented soy (and other foods), as Vitamin K2 is critical to preventing diseases like dementia, osteoporosis, certain forms of cancer, as well as heart disease. Vitamin K is usually forgotten about, yet it holds some of the most important benefits of all the vitamins.
What Soy Products Should I Eat?
There are some very healthy soy products that you can add to your diet in moderation. The most common forms of ferment soy products are :
Miso – a identical salty, fermented soy paste that is most normally used in miso soup, but it is besides used for japanese foods like sauces, spreads, and for pickling meats and vegetables .
Natto – a popular japanese breakfast food, created from fermenting soybeans with a specific bacteria called bacillus subtilis. It is very ample in good bacteria and protein. It is decidedly an acquired taste ( I ’ megabyte not there however ), as the texture, smell, and flavor is quite unlike from anything that most Americans are accustomed to .
Soy Sauce or Tamari – The most common ferment soy product. It is created by fermenting soybeans with specific molds -aspergillus oryzae or aspergillus soyae – and is used as a condiment in both China and Japan .
Tempeh – A sour soy food that originated in Indonesia. It comes in a cake-like imprint and is made by fermenting and culturing soybeans through a natural summons that yields a high-protein, high-fiber, and high-vitamin product with potent flavor .
Sweet Bean Sauce – This is a chinese sauce that is made from salt, carbohydrate, wheat flour, fermented yellow soybeans, and mantou ( a steamed bread ) .
Yellow Soybean Paste – a sour spread, much like gratifying bean sauce, that is made out of ferment chicken soybeans, salt, body of water, and sometimes wheat flour. It is used in China, largely in Beijing and Northern China.
You might be wondering why bean curd is not on this list. There is some argument over bean curd, which is credibly, after soy milk, one of the most widely consumed soy products in the US. Most tofu that you buy in the grocery store store is not fermented. It is plainly coagulated soy milk that is pressed into curds. I would not recommend eating normal bean curd that you find in the memory .
however, there are a pair of fermented bean curd products that can be safely consumed in moderation .
Fermented Bean Curd – This is normally eaten as a condiment with breakfast. It is made by taking chunks of dried bean curd that is air-dried and then allowed to ferment from the bacteria and fungus in the air. It is then soaked in a seawater and sold in little looking glass jars .
Stinky Tofu – Sounds delicious doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate it ? Of all the fermented soy products, I find this one the most intrigue. This shape of bean curd has a very potent smell and is generally eaten as a nosh in East and Southeast Asia. The concern thing about this form of bean curd is that it is typically homemade, which means that there is no specific formula for a crank bacteria. so, depending on what area you are in, the icky bean curd will vary with that region. While mod engineering has allowed factories to produce this product, true malodorous bean curd can entirely be found it in wayside stands, minor greenwich village markets or in person ’ s home, as the zymosis action can take several months ( and there ’ s no set appetizer bacteria rule ). Any malodorous bean curd that you would find in the store has not been rightfully ferment – factories normally alone let it sit in seawater for a day or two before packaging .
I hope that this series has been beneficial in helping you understand the truth about soy. Like most products that are sold to us in the grocery store shop, we have been fed a line of apt market to disguise a dangerous food as a marvelous health food. One of the things that we must all do, if we want to take complete see of our health, is to understand what our food is and where it comes from. Understanding the dangers of common commercial soy products is one mistreat closer to our “ nirvana ” .
Sources:
Dr. Mercola – The Whole Soy Story and The truth About Soy
NaturalNews.com – Fermented Soy is only Soy Food Fit for Human Consumption
WikiPedia – Fermented Soy Products
The Weston A. Price Foundation – Soy Alert !
Fermented Soy Foods
