Bring us your sauerkraut and your kimchi, your tangy dill pickles and sweet red beets.
It may be a take on Lady Liberty’s iconic words, and this pair of researchers may well be yearning to breathe free when they walk out of the lab, but Maria Marco and Erin DiCaprio have put out the call to kitchens across California: If it’s fermented, these UC Davis food scientists want it.
Marco, a microbiologist who teaches food science at the university’s College of Agriculture, and DiCaprio, an expert in food safety at UC Davis Cooperative Extension, are investigating the microbes in fermented fruits and vegetables to learn how the foods contribute to a healthy diet.
“It’s quite possible that consuming fermented foods as part of a regular diet supports a healthy digestive tract and the microorganisms living in our intestine,” said Marco, talking to UC Davis News Service. “Our health may be helped by what those microbes eat, as well as by the nutrients they produce. Our goal is to provide solid evidence that can show whether fermented foods, can, indeed, fight disease, and, if so, how?”
This is where Californians come in. Send your stuff.
“We’re calling on people from across the state to send us samples of their home ferments so we can characterize their microbial composition,” Marco said. “Citizen scientists can help us expand the body of knowledge about the nutritional content and beneficial bacteria in fermented fruits and vegetables.”
Marco and DiCaprio say they and their student team want samples of fresh ferments made up of mainly fruits and vegetables taken right after fermentation but before they’ve been tucked away in the refrigerator.
If you live in the Sacramento and Davis area, you’re in luck. The team can arrange to pick up your sample.
If you live outside the Davis or Sacramento areas, or want more information, reach the team at eatlac.org
EAT LAC is shorthand for “Eat lactic acid,” and the name of the project team studying the nutritional benefits of lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables.
Lacto-fermentation not only preserves food but also boosts its nutritional content. Bad bacteria is quashed while Lactobacillus organisms go to work converting lactose and sugars already present in vegetables and fruits into lactic acid that preserves the foods.
Bite into a briny dill pickle or a forkful of kimchi to taste the science at work.
Marco and DiCaprio have been working for some time to find answers. The pair received a $213,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year to study the science connecting fermentation and healthy diets.
People have fermented foods for millennia but are discovering it anew in today’s stay-home, shelter-in-place world, Marco said.
“With so many of us sheltering in place, fermented foods are more popular than ever,” Marco said.