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Fermenting with hummus, salsa, fruit purees and other foods

By Dr. Davis | August 31, 2020 10 Comments

Dairy products, such as the organic half-and-half I prefer for making L. reuteri and other yogurts, are among the most forgiving of foods to ferment. You can use other liquids such as coconut milk to ferment, but additional steps are required and the end-result is rarely as satisfying or tasty as the dairy counterpart. 

But I recognize that there can be hazards in over-reliance on dairy, even though our method of prolonged fermentation minimizes the problematic components of dairy. (Prolonged fermentation maximally converts lactose to lactic acid and the resultant drop in pH to 3.5 denatures the casein beta A1 protein and thereby some of its immunogenic potential.)

I am therefore continually on a search to identify other vehicles for fermentation. Let’s distinguish fermentation of vegetables and other foods using microbes that are resident on the food, e.g., bacteria and fungi present on the skin of a cucumber, from fermentation by inoculating with one or more bacterial species, e.g., L. reuteri or Bacillus coagulans. While the former process used in, say, fermenting pickles or radishes yields wonderful fermented foods containing a variety of naturally-occurring microbes, I am presently focusing on using fermentation as a means of proliferating specific bacterial species to obtain specific health effects. In this way, for instance, we proliferate L. reuteri (DSM 17938 and ATCC PTA 6475 strains) to increase dermal collagen or L. gasseri BNR17 to reduce visceral fat. 

I fermented hummus, i.e., pureed chickpeas with tahini (sesame seeds), using B. coagulans GBI30,6086 as the fermenting microbe. This yields a cheesy-scented hummus after 48 hours of fermentation. I fermented without added raw potato starch or inulin, since hummus already contains prebiotic fiber and starch. I also thinned the hummus with 50% water, i.e., 1/2 cup water per one cup hummus. The end-result was, despite thinning, as thick as the original product. The end-result was delicious spread on a non-grain bagel I made. I have also fermented mango juice with L. reuteri, the two strains we choose for their skin-smoothing and other oxytocin-mediated benefits. Fermentation yielded a less sweet juice after 72 hours of fermentation.

I currently have salsa, pureed strawberries and banana, and applesauce all fermenting, also with B. coagulans GBI30,6086. (I chose this microbial species/strain only because it yields one of the tastiest yogurts in addition to providing several unusual health benefits such as reduced inflammation, reduced arthritis pain, reduced symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, and proliferation of the probable keystone species Faecalobacterium prausnitzii that is a vigorous producer of intestinal butyrate.)

This is a work in progress that will undoubtedly yield new lessons in both fermentation and on health benefits of jacking up the counts of specific bacterial species/strains. I shall be submitting the occasional sample for formal bacterial counts. In the meantime, should you join me in this adventure of fermenting specific microbes in various foods, be sure to report back on the lessons you learn.

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Filed Under: Wheat Belly Lifestyle Tagged With: bowel flora, probiotic, undoctored, wheat belly

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About Dr. Davis

Cardiologist Dr. William Davis is a New York
Times #1 Best Selling author and the Medical Director of the Wheat Belly Lifestyle Institute and the Undoctored Inner Circle program.

Nothing here should be construed as medical advice, but only topics for further discussion with your doctor. I practice cardiology in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Comments & Feedback...

  1. sudio54

    August 31, 2020 at 11:46 am

    Where can I get this species B. coagulans GBI30,6086.?

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    • Bob Niland

      September 1, 2020 at 7:53 am

      sudio54 wrote: «Where can I get this species B. coagulans GBI30,6086.?»

      As sudio54 discovered, there are a number of sources.

      I just started my first batch with Schiff® Digestive Advantage® Daily Probiotic
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  2. Pajenn65

    August 31, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    Cheesy hummus sounds interesting – what temperature was the hummus fermented at?

    Also, I rarely miss a blog article but I do not recall Dr D writing about L. gasseri BNR17 – I also searched the blog – is there an article that I have missed that you could direct me to?

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    • Bob Niland

      September 1, 2020 at 8:09 am

      Pajenn65 wrote: «Cheesy hummus sounds interesting – what temperature was the hummus fermented at?»

      I suspect that the same strain-dependent temp is used regardless of the substrate.

      I’ve started a publicly-visible summary article on the Undoctored forum to track basic recipe elements: Not-Really-Yogurt Recipes Roll-Up

      I’m showing 125°F there for B.coagulans, but people have reported success down to 109°F, and I just made my first batch at 118-121 (due to my recently modified setup not being able to hit 125 easily).

      re: «…I do not recall Dr D writing about L. gasseri BNR17…»

      I suspect you’re correct. I don’t think it has been addressed here on the WB Blog. Lactobacillus gasseri BNR17® has been mentioned in Undoctored Inner Circle discussions, but you’re not really missing anything here. BNR17 is not trivially available in the US yet (I don’t have any). People have to import it from Korea, and not inexpensively. It was briefly available as wholesale samples from a US licensee, but that pathway closed several weeks ago.
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  3. George Hanna

    September 1, 2020 at 11:39 am

    Where can i find these strain of probiotics, i am trying to have Dr Davis advertise for a specific company.

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    • Bob Niland

      September 1, 2020 at 12:04 pm

      George Hanna wrote: «Where can i find these strain of probiotics, i am trying to have Dr Davis advertise for a specific company.»

      This publicly-visible summary article on the Undoctored forum tracks basic recipe elements: Not-Really-Yogurt Recipes Roll-Up, and has links to sources below the table.
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  4. jonebs58

    September 6, 2020 at 10:00 am

    Exciting news to branch out from the yogurt. I am very interested in this!

    Can the whey from our yogurt and Yakult be frozen and used for future batches or does freezing diminish their effectiveness?

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    • Bob Niland

      September 6, 2020 at 2:19 pm

      jonebs58 wrote: «Can the whey from our yogurt and Yakult be frozen and used for future batches or does freezing diminish their effectiveness?»

      Yes, and yes (but immaterially on yes#2).

      All the microbes we’re working with so far can be frozen, and I do. They may well be preserved in reference collections in vats of liquid nitrogen.

      Freezing likely damages or kills a small fraction of them, but the CFU counts in a tablespoon of saved whey or saved yogurt are so high (compared to the initial probiotic), that it hardly matters.

      Now, with that said, I’m note sure that finished ferments other than dairy can themselves be saved for starter use, due to the possibility of natural contamination. The could be managed, perhaps, by pasteurizing the substrate & re-cooling prior to ferment, but not having tried it, I don’t know what that might do to the consistency of the final product.
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  5. David Martin

    September 26, 2020 at 5:15 pm

    Does anyone have experience with fermenting the probiotic Dr Davis recommended Raw Probiotic from Garden of life. Has 100 B per capsule?

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  6. Food4Crypto

    September 26, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    Can a sufficiently cultured kefir or yogurt be processed by sitting covered in the counter for a couple days? Thank you.

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