On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 99

plantarum from pickled vegetables, and the intestinal native L.. Particular strains of these bacteria variously adhere to and shield the intestinal wall, secrete antibacterial compounds,

L brevis, for example — as well as L plantarum from pickled vegetables, and the intestinal native L acidophilus, do take up

residence in us Particular strains of these bacteria variously adhere to and shield the intestinal wall, secrete antibacterial compounds, boost the body’s immune response to particular disease microbes, dismantle cholesterol and cholesterol-consuming bile acids, and reduce the production of potential carcinogens

These activities may not amount to prolonging our youth, but they’re certainly desirable! Increasingly, manufacturers are adding “probiotic” Lactobacilli and even Bifidobacteria to their cultured milk products, and note that fact on the label Such products, approximations of the original fermented milks that contained an even more diverse bacterial flora, allow us

to plant our inner gardens with the most companionable microbes we’re currently

Yogurt remained an exotic curiosity in

Europe until early in the 20th century, when the Nobel Prize–winning immunologist Ilya Metchnikov connected the longevity of

certain groups in Bulgaria, Russia, France, and the United States with their consumption

of fermented milks, which he theorized would acidify the digestive tract and prevent

pathogenic bacteria from growing (see box, p 47) Factory-scale production and milder

yogurts flavored with fruit were developed in the late 1920s, and broader popularity came in the 1960s with Swiss improvements in the

inclusion of flavors and fruits and the French development of a stable, creamy stirred

version

The Yogurt Symbiosis By contrast to the

complex and variable flora of traditional yogurts, the industrial version is reduced to the essentials Standard yogurt contains just