Hello, I’ve been reading more and more about the importance of gut health and am thinking of introducing some fermented food into our diet. So I bought some miso, white the packet says but it looks more ochre to me. Trouble is I don’t really know what to do with it! Please can someone point me inthe direction of a soup recipe without any exotic ingredients? I live in France and round here pak choi is about as exotic as we get (without a drive)

I’m also interested in making kimchi…there’s an easy recipe on the BBC good food page which I’m going to try. As I’ve always avoided preserving food for fear of botulism, this is really going to take me out of my comfort zone!!

I would love any suggestions, pointers or favourite recipes (easy ones) that anyone would like to share. I know there are a few fermentation fans on these boards 😉

Hey Angela06 – you can make a very simple soup, simply by putting a generous teaspoon of paste in a cup and adding hot water. If you want to make something more complex, you could get some dried seaweed online and crumble some into the soup, or make a soup in a pan adding finely chopped spring onion as well – cook just long enough to soften the onion.

I tried making kimchi, but wasn’t over impressed with the results, might have been something I didn’t do right, although I have tried buying kimchi as well and wasn’t too keen on that either – prefer sauerkraut. I do make kefir, which is something you can make at home, once you have some grains – you can get these online. Once you have them, they keep going and going – I always have more than I need! You can also make live yogurts, although again you need to have a starter culture for that as well.

Hope your kimchi is successful and that you enjoy the miso. I used to drink a lot of miso, but cut back as it’s a little high in carbs, so only have it occasionally these days.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

Not all misos are created equal. Check the nutrion panel to see how many carbs per teaspoon are in the one you bought. That will determine how much of it you can use. I make a quick soup out of mine, similar to what SunnyB described only I use chicken broth instead of water. Once it’s heated, I stir the miso in until it dissolves and then I add some fresh greens, mainly sunflower shoots, pea shoots and broccoli sprouts. I like it thick with vegetation so use a solid half ounce of each of them in a single mug. It’s crowded at the beginning but you’ll soon slurp them up and you get to enjoy the change in texture as they cook a little in the heat of the soup.

I also like to add a teaspoon of miso to certain salad dressings. I do a fermentation madness salad with an all-ferment dressing of miso dissolved in pickle juice with pureed kimchi. Sometimes I’ll add a couple of ml of olive oil if it needs emulsifying, but it’s not necessary. To that I add whatever salad leafies I have handy, more sprouts and shoots, and top it off with a serving each of garlic sauerkraut, kimchi and horseradish leek kraut. I figure that’s my gut biome seen to. 😀

Thankyou, SunnyB and Esnecca for the suggestions though Esnecca, that sounded like a whole new language to me! I have never liked sauerkraut but as kimchi is spicy I thought it might appeal. OH is interested too. I’ll let you know how I get on…going shopping tomorrow for ingredients.