• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Real Pickles

Northeast Grown, 100% organic, fermented & raw pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, kvass, and hot sauce

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our Farmers
    • Our Co-operative
    • Our Story
    • Our Facility
  • Products
    • Online Store
    • Store Finder
    • FAQ
    • Recipes
  • Fermentation
    • Fermentation Process
    • Health Benefits
  • What’s New?
    • Ferment Blog
      Voices from Real Pickles
    • News
    • Press
Home / turmeric

turmeric

Posted March 24, 2016 by Real Pickles

The Scoop on our New Turmeric Kraut!

This guest post is written by our friend Brittany Wood Nickerson, a well-respected herbalist and health educator with a background in Western, Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal medicine. Her treatment and teaching approach emphasize personal empowerment, preventative home healthcare and whole body wellness. Brittany is the founder and primary instructor at Thyme Herbal in Western Massachusetts, where she teaches a three year Herbal Apprenticeship Program. She teaches women’s health at the University of Massachusetts and is the organizer of the Northampton/Amherst Herbal Meet-up group. Brittany is the author of The Everyday Living Series, The Herbal Homestead Journal and her newest work: Recipes From the Herbalist’s Kitchen, to be published by Storey in Spring 2017!  


I first met my fiancé, Casey Steinberg, when buying salad greens at his Old Friends Farm stand at the Amherst Farmer’s Market.  He was handsome, and his greens were really good!  In the fall they had bountiful baskets of fresh ginger and turmeric – I had never seen anything like it!  Casey and his business partner, Missy Bahret, pioneered growing ginger in northern climates in 2004.  A few years later they began growing turmeric and now, almost a decade later, this practice has caught on.  Today, Old Friends Farm gets regular inquiries about growing ginger from farmers in locations ranging from California to Vermont, and Costa Rica to Germany.

It is important to include medicinal herbs in our efforts to forge a vibrant local and regional food system.  Culinary traditions are based on ancient wisdom.  Cooking with herbs and spices makes food easier to digest and kills bacteria associated with food borne illnesses.  You might put basil on your pasta or cumin in your curry because it tastes good, but these practices have been passed on by generations of cooks who seasoned food with herbs because it was practical, necessary and healthful.

The caraway seeds found in many traditional sauerkraut recipes are a perfect example.  Cabbage can cause gas and bloating, but caraway seeds make the cabbage easier to digest and help reduce gas.  Traditional spices, such as the black pepper and dill in pickles, help warm and balance the cold energy of cucumbers.  Once you understand these principles you start to see them everywhere and you can make up your own traditions.  Excellent examples from the Real Pickles’ collection include: Red Cabbage with thyme, winter savory and marjoram; Beets with rosemary and onion; Ginger Carrots; and their new, absolutely fabulous Turmeric Kraut!

Turmeric root freshly harvested

Turmeric is a powerful medicinal herb, traditionally used in cooking and medicinal preparations.  It is a mildly warming, aromatic, bitter digestive aid.  It stimulates liver function and the release of bile, which helps with the digestion of fats and oils.  It improves the breakdown and absorption of nutrients and relieves gas and bloating.  Turmeric supports digestive metabolism, liver metabolism, and cellular metabolism, which aids in detoxification and helps to relieve inflammation.

Holistic health sees the health of each part of a system being integrally connected to the health of the whole.  In the body, holistic health starts with good digestion.  If digestion is compromised, all other systems become compromised.  A well functioning digestive system allows us to absorb the most nutrients from our food and to expel waste effectively.  Our digestive system is also closely tied to the nervous system.  The enteric nervous system, which governs digestion, has almost as many neurons as the brain!  It connects the digestive system to all other systems in the body.  Aromatic culinary herbs help relax the GI tract and calm the nervous system, while at the same time relieving many digestive upsets.

Real Pickles Organic Turmeric Kraut
Real Pickles Organic Turmeric Kraut

Fermentation, like cooking with culinary herbs, makes food easier to digest. Fermented vegetables also contain beneficial bacteria, which have been shown to improve skin health, decrease allergies, and increase immunity (see Real Pickles’ health page for more info).  Lactic acid, produced during the fermentation process, makes fermented foods taste sour – hence the name sauerkraut.  As if everything we have learned so far isn’t enough, the sour flavor is also great for digestion!  Sour tasting foods stimulate the secretion of acids and enzymes, as well as bile from the liver and gall bladder.  The probiotics and sour flavor of kraut combined with the bitter, aromatic and mildly warming energy of turmeric are a perfect recipe for holistic wellness.  The benefits complement one another, improve digestion and help to support whole system balance.

As organisms in a larger system, our holistic wellness is dependent on many interconnected systems: environmental, economic, social and cultural.  Efforts to restore local and regional food systems and economies understand this kind of holism, recognizing that our food is only as healthy as the system from which it comes.  Real Pickles’ commitment to producing healthy food and creating a sound regional food system is a role model for the planet.  We need more businesses willing to think outside the box and be structurally creative – committing to policies that support workers, distributors, retailers, consumers and the environment in ways that foster health on all levels.

Years after we met, I was teaching Casey how to make sauerkraut in our home kitchen, and he said, “let’s add turmeric!”  It was harvest season, and we had fresh turmeric coming out our ears!  We were very excited to share our first batch with Real Pickles.  Cabbage and turmeric have not traditionally been grown in the same climate, which is part of what makes this product so special and unique.  Real Pickles and Old Friends Farm have created a special partnership which builds on each other’s innovations and shared mission to work toward a thriving local and regional food system.  This is health as it should be – interconnected, responsible and delicious.

Tagged: COMMUNITY, fermentation, health, LOCAL, Old Friends Farm, sauerkraut, turmeric, turmeric kraut

Primary Sidebar

Meet Lavender! Lavender joined the Real Pickles pr Meet Lavender! Lavender joined the Real Pickles production team a little over a year ago and was recently promoted to assistant production manager. Lavender's experience in commercial kitchens has cultivated a love for large kitchen appliances. Their favorite tools at Real Pickles include a “Very Big Whisk” and a “Very Big Immersion Blender”! At Real Pickles, Lavender loves learning about worker co-operatives and ferments. They bring a great sense of humor, a strong work ethic and a curiosity that makes them a source of knowledge on many subjects. When they are not at Real Pickles, Lavender is learning to be ambidextrous and nurturing their love of prime numbers. We absolutely love having Lavender as part of the Real Pickles family!
•
#MeetThePicklers #RealPickles #PackedWithAMission #fermentedandraw #fermented #peekbehindthemask #organic #pickles #kraut #coop #workerowned #fermentation
Video Repost from @iloveriverlandfarm • Riverla Video Repost from @iloveriverlandfarm 
•
Riverland Farm has been an important farm partner of ours since 2002! Riverland is a 40-acre certified organic, women-run farm growing a diverse array of mixed vegetables and fruits along the Connecticut River in Sunderland, MA. The farm is run by Emily Landeck (in photo) and Meghan Arquin, who combine their love of cooking and sustainable organic farming practices to make their business a standout in the community and an important part of the local food system in western Massachusetts. They grow high-quality organic produce for the community and continue the ongoing work to maintain and improve the land that they farm. Riverland Farm keeps Real Pickles well-supplied with vegetables, herbs, and spices for the Organic Kimchi, as well as the Organic Sauerkraut, Organic Beets, Organic Red Cabbage, and Organic Ginger Carrots - seen here, germinating in that fertile river bottom soil! 🥕🥕🥕 

#featuredfarm #organic #northeastgrown #carrots #gingercarrots #kimchi #realpickles #womanfarmer #springiscoming
Meet Greg! If you are local to Western Mass or Sou Meet Greg! If you are local to Western Mass or Southern Vermont, you may have seen this masked face driving around in the Real Pickles van.  As a long time supporter and fan of Real Pickles, Greg joined the production team in 2015 and says he found an incredibly supportive culture. He became a worker-owner after a couple of years and has since taken on many new roles including serving up Real Pickles at events and in-store demos. His main focus these days is helping to manage shipping and receiving and making local deliveries to area co-ops and markets. Greg's upbeat energy is infectious and he can make anyone laugh! He misses meeting pickle lovers throughout the Northeast and is looking forward to the day he is able to be at events again, giving out samples and talking about fermentation and co-ops. In Greg's spare time he likes picnics, ukuleles, and bicycles ... and especially bicycle ukulele picnics! His favorite ferment is our organic kimchi piled on top of some crispy pan-fried tofu. We love that Greg is a part of the Real Pickles family! 

#MeetThePicklers #RealPickles #PackedWithAMission #fermentedandraw #fermented #peekbehindthemask #organic #pickles #kraut #coop #workerowned #fermentation
We love this Warm Winter Salad recipe and now is t We love this Warm Winter Salad recipe and now is the perfect time to enjoy it! Roasted roots and toasted pepitas mixed with warm greens and ferments. A healthy and delicious twist on comfort food. Check out the recipe on our website and show us your version of this seasonal salad!

#RealPickles #FermentedAndRaw #PackedWithAMission #Recipe #Vegan #Organic #WarmWinterSalad #Kraut 

photo by @clarebarboza tattoo by @benreigletattoos
To all of our customers, vendors, farmers, investo To all of our customers, vendors, farmers, investors, distributors, staff, owners, friends, neighbors and fellow fermenters - we love and appreciate you. Today, and everyday! 

#heartbeets #realpickles #fermented #beets #organic #love
Happy Friday! This week in our Meet the Picklers S Happy Friday! This week in our Meet the Picklers Series, we’re featuring K, who joined the production team last September. K loves the straightforward nature of working in the Real Pickles kitchen and especially the community of co-workers who K says often reveal themselves in comedic, compassionate and contemplative conversation. K is excited about the opportunity to participate in a sustainable food system and enjoys learning more about the enduring process of fermentation. When K is not at Real Pickles they are often immersed in artistic endeavors and exploring ways to develop new means of communicating shared experiences. In pre-COVID times K was involved in the world of live performance through movement and theater-based work. We love the creative energy and big heart that K brings to Real Pickles and are thrilled that they are part of our team! 

#MeetThePicklers #RealPickles #PackedWithAMission #fermentedandraw #fermented #peekbehindthemask #organic #pickles #kraut #coop#workerowned #fermentation

Footer

Contact

311 Wells St
Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 774-2600
info@realpickles.com

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Join Our Email List!

Co-operative Enterprise Logo
USDA Certified Organic
Good Food Awards Winner

Site Design by Ajitate · Photography by Valley Lightworks, Clare Barboza and others · Artwork by Emi Lynn Holler
Real Pickles® © 2021