ABSTRACT
The fermentation of vegetables is an ancient practice that has been applied by Asian and Mediterranean people for the past 4000 years (Hulse 2004). The original purpose for the fermentation of raw materials was to preserve it, and this was accomplished with naturally occurring fermentations because the ancient people were not aware of the role of the microorganisms in this process. The knowledge and the methodologies of the production of ancient fermented foods were handed down from generation to generation. Nevertheless, this preservation process, and the fermented vegetables themselves, have spread all over the world and after millennia they could be found among our meals; for example, sauerkraut and olives from the Western World, gari from West-Africa, kimchi from Korea, gundruk from Nepal, or sunki from Japan. The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) not only preserves the raw material, but also makes some plant material more digestible, thus improving the nutritional properties of the food and moreover developing the ”avor and aroma, creating a higher value product.
