Well, technically whey, which I sort of knew what that was, but looked it up on Wikipedia anyway to make sure. It is “the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained.”

I was reading this Slashfood post which linked to this article on how the pickle industry may be in decline (yikes!) when I noticed in the comments someone linked to this article on an interesting description of the process of lacto-fermentation. Apparently the use of a vinegar brine is a recent development brought on by the industrialization of the pickling process.

*Lactic acid is a natural preservative that inhibits putrefying bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria. *

Sounds tasty! Be careful though: “results are not always predictable.”

There are lots of other interesting food-related articles on the westonaprice.org site, but I’d never heard about this organization. Something about the site seemed slightly… odd. I got curious and decided to dig a little to make sure I wasn’t linking to some weird cult or something. The Wikipedia entry on them is intriguing but pretty tame. The most controversial thing about them seems to be an aversion to soy.