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Pickles

Pickles - Excellent Health Benefits Of Pickles

In This Article
What is Pickles?
What is Pickling Process?
Nutrition Info
Popular Pickles around the World
Health Benefits of Pickles
The Downside

As pickles retain the nutrients of the veggie, they have antioxidants like vitamins C and A. The fermented varieties like kimchi and dill pickles can boost your gut flora with probiotics, or good bacteria, while vinegary pickles can lower your blood sugar after meals. Have salty lime or ginger pickles to allay morning sickness and nausea.

It is easy to think of the pickles you slip into a burger or sandwich almost by habit as just another condiment to enhance the flavor. But unlike a dollop of ketchup or mustard, which offers little beyond zesty flavor, health benefits of pickles are a real thing. The health benefits of pickles include a good supply of essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which contributes to diabetes control, improved digestion, liver protection, a supply of probiotics, and the ability to heal ulcers.

 

What is Pickles?

Pickles are excellent health foods- loaded with nutrients, low in calories, and also an excellent food source to the good bacteria that live in our stomachs, known as a prebiotic food.

What most people don’t realize however, is that pickles actually refers to a method of food preservation, using a variety of fruits, spices and vegetables. When we say pickles, most of the time the ingredient in question is the cucumber, though it is not uncommon for mangoes and many other products to be pickled as well.

Most pickles are made by preserving in a mixture of salt, pepper and vinegar, though fermented pickles are also extremely popular in Asian cultures.

 

What is Pickling Process?

Pickling is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. Before the invention of modern refrigeration, pickling was the only way to preserve various foods for future consumption. Generally, pickling began as a method to preserve foods that are either exotic or seasonal and limited by nature and cultivation.

The process of pickling can be generally traced back to India, as it is believed to have originated about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. With hot summers and a lack of water during summers, food production decreased during the summer. Thus, there was a need to preserve excess food produced during winters and hence, the process of pickling was invented to overcome this problem.

The traditional way of preparing long-lasting pickles in the oriental style uses ingredients such as salt, oil, and dry chili powder mixed with condiments. These ingredients are added according to set proportions.

 

Nutrition Info (per cup, chopped)

Western-style pickles usually involve a brine solution, vinegar, or a sugar and salt solution to preserve the vegetable.

 

Popular Pickles around the World

  1. Fermented or crock pickles
  2. Fresh pack or quick process pickles
  3. Refrigerator pickles
  4. Freezer pickles

       Each of these pickles is made in different ways. For example, in fermented or crock pickles, either vinegar is                 added or the vegetables are preserved in salt brine for several weeks. Salt-resistant bacteria present in the                   vegetables help in converting the sugars into lactic acid or the acetic acid present in the vinegar accelerates the           process of fermentation. This is the reason why most cucumber pickles have sour and salty tastes.

       Fresh pack or quick pickles, on the other hand, are also very popular, as they are very easy to prepare and are             ready to eat. Fresh or quick pickles are not fermented, but heated vinegar and salt solutions are poured onto the           vegetables. Fruit pickles and relishes are also prepared in this manner.

       Refrigerated and frozen pickles are prepared using the fermentation process. However, instead of storing them at         room temperature, they are stored in refrigerators and freezers.

 

Health Benefits of Pickles

 

The Downside

 

Excess salt consumption through pickles can cause problems of its own.Hypertension is one of the major risks of eating excess salt. It is known to be one of the major reasons causing strokes and heart attacks, especially in older people. Also, hypertension increases with increased age.

Apart from the risk of hypertension, Indian pickles may contain high quantities of oil, which increases the risk of fat and cholesterol development in our body. Hence, the regular intake of these delicious foods must be reduced and must be limited to only occasional consumption.


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