Does Cooking Kimchi Kill Probiotics

Does cooking "kill" the bacteria?

I've seen a few posts here about kimchi used in grilled cheese sandwiches and fermented french fries, as well as fermented butter (to be used in cooking). Does this have any health benefits whatsoever or are the bacteria essentially dead?

level 1

Cooking fermented foods does kill the bacteria, so if you're in it for the gut health then you want to eat your ferments raw. Kimchi grilled cheese is delicious though, so the best thing to do is make too many ferments. You can eat all the raw stuff you want, and still have enough left to cook with.

level 1

In my opinion, the whole probiotics thing is extremely overrated. You get plenty from eating a wide variety of foods. Yes, fermented foods have more. But you only need so much. If you're concerned about it, make your kimchi grilled cheese and chase it with a tablespoon or two of raw kimchi. Do the same for any other ferments and you're good to go.

level 2

To add to this there's a lot of good science saying that you need to take it in pill form for there to be much benefit. Stomach acids will kill most probiotics in food before reaching the intestine....

But experience first, if it's helping you then keep doing it

level 1

Yes, heating bacteria to a certain point will kill it. If you're looking for probiotics they'll be gone. The base nutrition of the item should remain though, just like most other cooked foods.

level 1

It will, but go ahead and cook it anyway. Fermentation is also about food preservation. I keep some ferments for the bacteria (and taste) and cook others. Cooked ferments can taste incredible. Enjoy your kimchi grilled cheese sandwiches, that sounds like a great flavour combination.

level 2

Agreed. I feel like the fact that fermentation is a means of food preservation is becoming lost on many folks. For me, it's a way of saving things that I grow for later, when access to those foods would most likely require buying flavorless produce at the grocery store. And preserving things I specifically can't buy at the grocery store, but can grow myself.

level 1

Most of the health benefit of kimchi isn't the probiotic part - which is still being investigated in terms of its benefits. It's the fact that fermentation creates vitamins and aminos. Yeah, of course cooking kills the bacteria, it's essentially pasteurization.