Guest guest Posted March 14, 1999 Report Share Posted March 14, 1999 Dear Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada. > On p. 140 of your book you cite Srila Prabhupada as giving a recipe for > eggplant pickle with vinegar, although elsewhere he wrote: > > "So far the cucumber pickles:...vinegar is not good; it is tamasic, in the > darkness, nasty food. So I think we shall not accept this pickles." REF. > Letter to: Kirtanananda -- Hawaii 24 March, 1969 > > Any comments on this apparent contradiction? {The pickles that Prabhupada is referring to , by the way, were made by Karmis} The pickles story to which you refer was given to me by Upendra. It was one of his favourites. He assured me when I interviewed him in Berkeley in 1993 that he was quoting Prabhupada faithfully. He actually asked Prabhupada to repeat the recipe to make sure that Prabhupada really said vinegar, and he did. I don't really have much to say about the apparent contradiction, other than to suggest that perhaps it isn't a really big prohibition. I put the recipe in my latest cookbook, and in it I suggested lemon juice as an alternative, as it works fine with either. As you know, Upendra passed away a couple of years ago, so the story ends there, I guess. I'll answer your other questions in a seperate letter,and feel free to ask me any more questions as you see fit. Your servant, Kurma dasa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 20, 1999 Report Share Posted March 20, 1999 Another untested premise I have operated under is that different environments need different diets. In the Northern Temperate zone, winter is long and foods need to be preserved for that period. The body is subjected to periods of low light and cold temperatures. Vinegar is a preservative, and good vinegars (and acknowledging there is variegatedness amongst vinegars) are also proven healthy in moderate amounts. My understanding is that yoghurt is better not consumned in cold weather, so I have speculated that it is okay to consume a small amount of vinegar instead. Milk is preserved by the coldness of the weather. In warm climates, milk needs to be made into yoghurt to be preserved. Consumption of yoghurt is advised in warm weather, and use of vinegar in hot times may very well be as contraindicated then as the consumption of yoghurt in cold weather. Hence the ban on vinegar in a culture based in the tropics, but an easing on the restriction in the North. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 20, 1999 Report Share Posted March 20, 1999 Another untested premise I have operated under is that different environments need different diets. In the Northern Temperate zone, winter is long and foods need to be preserved for that period. The body is subjected to periods of low light and cold temperatures. Vinegar is a preservative, and good vinegars (and acknowledging there is variegatedness amongst vinegars) are also proven healthy in moderate amounts. My understanding is that yoghurt is better not consumned in cold weather, so I have speculated that it is okay to consume a small amount of vinegar instead. Milk is preserved by the coldness of the weather. In warm climates, milk needs to be made into yoghurt to be preserved. Consumption of yoghurt is advised in warm weather, and use of vinegar in hot times may very well be as contraindicated then as the consumption of yoghurt in cold weather. Hence the ban on vinegar in a culture based in the tropics, but an easing on the restriction in the North. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 1999 Report Share Posted March 22, 1999 > Vinegar is a preservative, That is right. A vinegar free alternative for preserving would be lactic acid fermentation as in sour cabbage and fermented pickle cucumbers. Ys Ud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 1999 Report Share Posted March 22, 1999 > Vinegar is a preservative, That is right. A vinegar free alternative for preserving would be lactic acid fermentation as in sour cabbage and fermented pickle cucumbers. Ys Ud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 1999 Report Share Posted March 22, 1999 Which basically means they make their own vinegar? "COM: Ugresa (das) HKS (Cintamani Intl, Graz - A)" wrote: > [Text 2178007 from COM] > > > Vinegar is a preservative, > > That is right. A vinegar free alternative for preserving would be lactic > acid fermentation as in sour cabbage and fermented pickle cucumbers. > > Ys Ud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 1999 Report Share Posted March 22, 1999 Which basically means they make their own vinegar? "COM: Ugresa (das) HKS (Cintamani Intl, Graz - A)" wrote: > [Text 2178007 from COM] > > > Vinegar is a preservative, > > That is right. A vinegar free alternative for preserving would be lactic > acid fermentation as in sour cabbage and fermented pickle cucumbers. > > Ys Ud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 1999 Report Share Posted March 23, 1999 > Which basically means they make their own vinegar? Not really. The natural vinegar fermentation is done by yeasts which first produce alcohol and then some bacteria which are present in the air take over and brake down the alcohol into acetic acid, the main constituent of vinegar. For pickling you boil the vegetable in the vinegar and then close it airtight. Lactic acid fermentation uses the lactic acid producing bacteria on the vegetable or a starter culture from yoghurt e.g. The lactic acid bacteria ferment the sugar from the vegetables into lactic acid which then works as a preservative. This kind of pickles don't contain vinegar. Ys Ud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 1999 Report Share Posted March 23, 1999 > Which basically means they make their own vinegar? Not really. The natural vinegar fermentation is done by yeasts which first produce alcohol and then some bacteria which are present in the air take over and brake down the alcohol into acetic acid, the main constituent of vinegar. For pickling you boil the vegetable in the vinegar and then close it airtight. Lactic acid fermentation uses the lactic acid producing bacteria on the vegetable or a starter culture from yoghurt e.g. The lactic acid bacteria ferment the sugar from the vegetables into lactic acid which then works as a preservative. This kind of pickles don't contain vinegar. Ys Ud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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