Why is it that when we drop a vegetable into brine, the bacteria that pickle the veg are always probiotic?
In: Biology
You are right that there are lots of different bacteria which could infect the solution. Some of them are toxic while others are not. But this is why we use a specific brine solution. We intentionally create an environment with the right salts, neutrients and acids that the bacteria we want prefer.
It seems like, the world over, putting an edible plant into salt-water
suppresses the microbes that rot the vegetable and can cause illness,
and promote microbes that will stay in our guts and increase our overall
health.
Are there no pickling bacteria that are harmful to humans? Is this some sort of evolutionary coincidence?
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