BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu

Subject: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bobad
Date: 13 Nov 05 - 10:19 PM

Can Kimchi Sauerkraut Cure Avian Flu?


Kimchi SauerkrautBy Staff

(AXcess News) Fremont OH - Sauerkraut? Cure Avian Flu? That's what researchers at Seoul National University have found. Scientists there have successfully used Kimchi Sauerkraut to treat chickens infected with avian flu. Kimchi is a seasoned variety of sauerkraut that shares Lactobacillus bacteria with traditional Sauerkraut, which may be the critical element in preventing Avian Flu. Both Kimchi and traditional Sauerkraut are made by fermenting sliced cabbage, producing a high level of lactic acid.

According to an October 2005 BBC report, Kimchi was fed to 13 infected chickens and 11 of them started recovering within a week. South Korean Kimchi consumption is up as a result of this report and U.S. sales of Sauerkraut are also expected to spike up.

The October 14, 2005 issue of the Wall Street Journal cites growing U.S. concern over a potential avian flu pandemic based on the occurrence of birds found to carry the virus in Turkey, signaling the first instance of an outbreak outside of Asia. Fears of a U.S. pandemic were increased following the release of a study on the 1918-19 pandemic which originated in birds before mutating to a human strain and killing approximately 50 million people. Avian flu has been on the watch lists of the National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1997, with a recent surge in activity as drug makers race to find a cure and a vaccine. According to an October 17, 2005 story on the MSNBC/Newsweek website and carried on the NBC Nightly News, "Washington was turning its attention to the threat posed by an exceptionally lethal strain of flu virus that could, in the worst case, kill as many people in a few months as AIDS has done in two decades."

The November 2005 issue of Men's Health Magazine advises constructing a pandemic kit, including nonperishable foods: "Make a few of cans of the sauerkraut; it's packed with lactic-acid bacteria, shown by Korean researchers to speed recovery of chickens infected with avian flu."

"If you look at a 19th century Old Farmer's Almanac you'll find recipes for sauerkraut to treat virtually every ailment under the sun. Now in the 21st century it's been cited as having cancer fighting abilities and may be a cure for avian flu. It's truly one of the most unassuming super foods ever created. We expect to see sales go through the roof this Fall" says Chris Smith, VP of marketing for Frank's Sauerkraut, one of the United States' leading brands of Sauerkraut.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Peace
Date: 13 Nov 05 - 11:23 PM

Kimchi: I LOVE the stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Peace
Date: 13 Nov 05 - 11:33 PM

"Novel Leuconostoc citreum starter culture system for the fermentation of kimchi, a fermented cabbage product.

Choi IK, Jung SH, Kim BJ, Park SY, Kim J, Han HU.

Department of Biology, Inha University, Inchon 402-751, Republic of Korea.

To determine the dominant microorganisms involved in kimchi fermentation and to examine their effect on kimchi fermentation, we randomly isolated and characterized 120 lactic acid bacteria from kimchi during a 5-day fermentation at 15 degrees C. Leuconostoc citreum was dominant during the early and mid-phases of kimchi fermentation whereas Lactobacillus sake/Lactobacillus curvatus or Lactobacillus brevis were found during later stages. Eighty-two out of 120 isolates (68%) were identified as Leuconostoc citreum by means of a polyphasic method, including 16S rDNA sequencing and DNA/DNA hybridization. A few Weissella confusa-like strains were also isolated during the mid-phase of the fermentation. Strain IH22, one of the Leuconostoc citreum isolates from kimchi, was used as an additive to evaluate growth and acid production in kimchi fermentation. This strain was consistently over 95% of the population in IH22-treated kimchi over a 5-day fermentation, while heterogeneous lactic acid bacteria were observed in the control kimchi. The pH in IH22-treated kimchi dropped rapidly but was stably maintained for 5 days, compared to its slow and prolonged decrease in the control kimchi. These results indicate that Leuconostoc citreum IH22 dominates over and retards the growth of other lactic acid bacteria in kimchi, suggesting it can be used as a bacterial starter culture to maintain the quality of kimchi for prolonged periods."

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: dianavan
Date: 13 Nov 05 - 11:52 PM

I want some. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I'm going downtown to buy some tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Peace
Date: 13 Nov 05 - 11:57 PM

D'van, kimchi is easy to make.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 12:13 AM

I remember trying to make my own kimchi and my landlady almost got rid of me, I had to store the bottle in my own room and keep the door closed!
Robo (the landlady got me a kimchi T-Shirt for XMAS, it reads "The Ghost of Kimchi Past"!)

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: dianavan
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 02:03 AM

I want the recipe for kimchi, please.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Peace
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 02:38 AM

I sent one to you via message, Dianavan.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bobad
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 07:43 AM

Yes it is quite easy to make, been making my own for years, many recipes available on the net. The quality of the chili determines the final product, Korean is the best but very difficult to find, most comes from China. Try different brands.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 08:38 AM

Dear Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Nuoc Nam will be next. Betcha you won't make that at home!

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bobad
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 09:43 AM

Not turned on by fermented fish sauce ?

It's been a delicacy since Roman times.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 10:46 AM

Don't try it at home!

Kimchi, especially winter kimchi, isn't among my favorite food either.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Peace
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 10:54 AM

I love kimchi. Gives me kimchi fever. LOVE it.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bobad
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 10:56 AM

Me too, it is addictive.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 11:59 AM

Bought a jar of kimchi a month ago and stuck it in the fridge. It's swelling and I am afraid to open it. Any suggestions? The jar says to open it in a sink - YIKES!

I love the stuff and could get the real thing in NYC - a friend married a Korean lady who made her own.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bobad
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 01:37 PM

Open it in the sink under a tea towel,in a bowl or some other container to catch the liquid which will gush out once you SLOWLY release the gas.

If you don't eat it all at once relace the liquid and store in the fridge, just don't screw the lid on too tight.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 01:44 PM

Shred your cabbage (bok choy), shred your garlic, shred your hot peppers, shred your old newspapers, shred your old sneakers, and put them in a pot. Pour on a nice, heavy brine. Put a weight on the cabbage, etc. to push it down in the liquid. Put a lid on the whole thing and bury it under your bed for a month or so. Eat with rice.

Add more hot peppers and garlic in wintertime.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bobad
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 01:50 PM

Rap

You must of had some BAD kimchi.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 02:05 PM

No, I was in Camp Casey, Korea, outside Tongduchon (could be spelled wrong). I just remember the odors of it as it fermented, especially the Winter Kimchi.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Kaleea
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 03:05 PM

Oh, what memories! The scent of kimchee being made in the spring mixing with the scent of the binjos thawing.
    I learned to make kimchee when I was over in Korea in the mid 70s. I can make it & am told that my kimchee is tasty, but I can't eat it as anything hot causes severe pain & torture to my body.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 04:21 PM

I'd forgotten the binjos...dang, why did you have to remind me? Now I'll also remember the smell of the fields being fertilized...ah, Springtime in Korea, way back then!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 04:46 PM

Kimchee prevents ALL flu by keeping other people at a distance.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: GUEST,JB
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 05:28 PM

Worked for a Korean company in northern Germany 10 years ago and was frequently invited to eat Korean food.

Excellent food. I was most sceptical of Kimchi when I first saw and tasted it. However I soon got hooked on it and to my dismay when I returned to Bavaria I couldn`t find it anywhere.

Now I have found a special Korean shop where I can get small tins of it but they are incredibly expensive. Recently I bought 10 tins paying almost a month`s wages for them. Thinking nobody else in the family would even look at this strange suff I innocently stored them in the food cupboard. Unfortunately my son, who now plays a mean bass guitar discovered this food on one of his midnight hunger rambles and he is now also hooked on the stuff.

The shopkeeper told told me he can get me the pepper/chili powder required to make it and I am seriously considering having a go at making it.

Don`t laught at it until you have tried it.

JB

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Bard Judith
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 10:48 PM

Suggestion: If you do make your own kimchi (and you shouldn't have to if you live in a large city; Toronto, for example, has a huge Korean neighborhood and Asian supermarkets everywhere) please consider the other residents and do as the Koreans do...

USE A SEPARATE REFRIGERATOR!

No, I'm not kidding. In Korea they sell 'kimchi fridges' especially for storing the pickly, spicy, effluvial stuff - because the smell is impossible to get out of the interior of a regular fridge and permeates everything else. Ever broken open a 'fresh' egg into a frying pan only to smell chilis and fermented cabbage? Quite a breakfast experience...

Of course, if you live out in the country you don't need a fridge at all - you can make your own kimchi garden: huge clay pots with heavy overhanging lids in which the stuff is traditionally stored to age over the winter. Often spotted on Asian balconies in built-up areas...


I wonder if it would do anything for regular flu (she says, hacking and sniffling)?

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 12:03 AM

Dang, why did you get me thinking of the stuff; our church had a Korean associate pastor a couple of years ago who introduced us to Kimchi. My nephews in Minnesota discovered the stuff somehow, maybe they'll have some around when we go there for Christmas.
Peace, why do we like that stuff? is it masochism?

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 12:41 AM

My Germanic origin Grandmother used to make Sauerkraut many years ago. Love Kimchi since I discovered they sold it in the Valley Markets, but it's too far a journey just to get it.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Kaleea
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:02 AM

Kimchee is really easy to make, and usually cheap.   It will take some experimenting to get it the way you want it to taste. Everybody has their own special list of ingredients & amounts & options, but the main ingredients are the same. Wash & chop up some oriental cabbage (bok choy is ok) into large pieces, 1-2 inch is ok, or you can chop it smaller. Also slice up radishes & other veggies you like in it. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Most Korean gals I know use real hot chili powder & cayenne instead of actual chili peppers. Some folks use the chili powder from the Mexican food markets, or from a Chinese market. Some slice or dice up leeks or white onions, too. Toss it all really well to coat all the veggies with the salt & chili, then let it set in a cool & not too well lighted place, turning it over each day, for at least a week or 2. More chili is winter kimchee, less is summer kimchee, as you don't need to preserve it as long till you have a new crop of cabbage.
   If you are going to make kimchee, be sure to have utensils which are used ONLY for that purpose. Some kind of glass or pottery container which can be well sealed works best, but you can also use a large rubbermaid type container. You can toss in all the ingredients & shake it to mix it up, and turn it each day. Some Korean gals I know just keep their rubbermaid type container on the counter top in the colder months. It can stink up your fridge. Some folks keep an old fridge in the garage for beer & bait, & that is great for kimchee.
   Have fun, experiment, & let us know how your kimchee is!

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:15 AM

The best place to store kimchi while it's "working" is under the house of someone you want to move away.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 05:44 PM

But my nutty neighbour may notice - I don't think she's that far gone...

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 06:31 PM

Kimchi is great stuff. When I was travelling on S Korea it was a staple with every meal and each place we ate at made its own. Jade loves it too, brought back three bags of the stuff, hermetically sealed BTW.

The house reeked of it for weeks, added to which she is partial to durian, a pungent fruit with the whiff of freshly opened drains. That and kimchi in the house even made the cats sleep on the veranda.

There are scams here in China on China eBay, selling star anise oil extract. Some 10 ml bottles have been fetching RMB1000, about $120! According to the blurb on the site it is an active ingredient in Tamiflu. Roche have siad that it is not used raw though but highly processed, so raw star anise oil is no use....Achooooo!

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Bard Judith
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 09:49 PM

"Beer, Bait, and Kimchi".... how about that for a CD title?

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:18 PM

Guy I met once got a week-long pass because of some stuff he'd down while stationed as a medic in Korea. He spent it in the arms of his mama-san in the ville. One night, kinda of half asleep, he heard a "plop-plop       plop-plop" kind of sound. Investigation found that it was coming from a pot under the bed. Yup. "Working" kimchi. He left the room very quickly....

Later that week he was talking with his lady friend and mentioned that he "could sure go for some ribs." She asked what he was talking about, and that evening came back with a bunch of barbecued ribs! They were a bit small, and sort of sweetish tasting, but ribs! After a few he asked what sort they were -- beef? pork?

She pointed to the dog....

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bbc
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:11 PM

I developed a taste for kimchi the year I lived in Korea. I went back to visit this past March & only stayed w/ Korean friends (Last time was on an Army post), so I had kimchi every day. Funny thing, the Koreans don't smell of garlic at all when you are eating it, too! Recently, I found a Korean market near my son's apartment in Albany, NY, where, I'm quite sure, they are selling kimchi made by the owner's wife. I don't know if it's legal, but she sure has a fine recipe! I also discovered a pretty neat shopping website that has a lot of nice Korean products, including all kinds of kimchi. Enjoy!

KOA Mart

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 08:09 PM

I had a little doggie when I was in S. Korea and living on a gated hospital compound in the city of Taegu. Elmer, may he rest in peace, was the little cocker spaniel I bought at the deli, "on the hoof" so to speak. He went out to play with the neighbor's doggie, as he did every afternoon. He never came home. This was just a day before the lunar new year. My neighbor sadly informed me that the favorite holiday dish for most folks was kaegogi. (barbecued canine over rice)
His dog missed mine.

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: Metchosin
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 08:53 PM

How not to make Kimchi

Subject: RE: BS: Kimchi Sauerkraut and Avian Flu
From: bbc
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 09:20 PM

Yup, Kaleea, as I understood it (when I also lived in Daegu in 1977-78), only the white dogs were safe; they were the color of death. Sorry about your cocker spaniel; they're really sweet dogs. Look for a PM from me. I was just back to Daegu this past March.

Barbara