A while back, Sprouts Farmers Market hosted a blogger tour at the Morningside location in Atlanta, with the theme “Eat Your Way to a Healthier Gut”, led by Atlanta-based registered dietitian nutritionist, Marisa Moore.  I had the pleasure of being one of the bloggers invited to join and learn all about probiotic rich foods that promote a healthy tummy!  This inspired me to post a family recipe – Chinese Cucumber Pickles!

About Sprouts

Just in case you don’t know, Sprouts Farmers Market is a Natural and Organic supermarket that offers fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins/supplements, packaged groceries, meat and seafood, deli, baked goods, dairy products, frozen foods, natural body care and household items that cater to folks that want to live a healthy lifestyle… like me (and probably you)!

My favorite thing about the place?  The price tag!  Usually, when you think Natural or Organic, you think it’ll come with an expensive price tag, but Sprouts has pretty great prices for good quality items!

Looking for a store?  There are plenty of Sprouts stores opening up in Atlanta, including one that just opened up in Marietta.

About Probiotics

For those of you that aren’t as familiar with probiotics, probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your digestive health.  Bacteria can be good or bad, and Probiotics are the good ones and are naturally found in your body that does good things!
Here are some fun facts we talked about during the visit:

• Some foods high in Probiotics include onions, shallots, asparagus, honey, banana, and sunchokes.
• Kombucha, which is fermented tea, is a beverage high in probiotic… unfortunately, it is an acquired taste, but for those of you that don’t want to miss out on the probiotics, you can check out something called Gut Shot by Farmhouse Culture, which is like a concentrated kombucha you can take shots of.

• If you take supplements, there are plenty of Probiotic supplements to choose from depending on what your goal is!  There are different strains of Probitics that target differen things ranging from general gut health to those that help your body break down dairy to other digestive issues.

Pretty cool, huh!  Well, here’s something even cooler… the recipe!

How to make Chinese Cucumber Pickles?

Ingredients

• 1 pound small cucumbers
• 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
• 1½ tablespoons kosher salt
• ½ cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup of peeled and sliced ginger
• 5-15 small chili peppers
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Instructions

In a bowl, add Sichuan peppercorn, sugar (optional), kosher salt, and rice vinegar to the 1 cup of water and mix well.

In a big sterile glass jar, pack the cucumbers, chili peppers, and sliced ginger.

Pour the peppercorn mixture in with the cucumbers, and add more water as needed to fill to top.

Tighten the lid on top and leave jar in the fridge for at least 24 hours before eating.

And that’s it! Here’s the finished product…

You can eat it as is as a snack or appetizer, or you can also cook it in dishes, such as just stir frying it with some ground pork:

Note:
This post is sponsored by Sprouts.  However, recipe and all opinions are my own!

If you like pickled foods like this Chinese Spicy Pickled Cucumbers Recipe, you may want to check out my pickled jalapenos recipe here!

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