Fabulous Ferments

Each spring and summer, I start thinking about how to preserve the wonderful produce available at local farm stands or growing in my garden. Some people can, some pickle, and others ferment their harvest. In 2003 I was introduced to fermenting fruits and vegetables at a Weston A. Price conference in Arlington, Virginia. As I explored the conference, I was fascinated by the fermentation processes on display. At the time, very few people were teaching it. Donna Gates was one of the few with a book on fermentation and was sharing her knowledge. There were samples to taste, crocks and cultured powders to buy, and the whole experience was exciting to me. That year Sandor Katz published Wild Fermentation, and that book expanded my thinking about fermenting all kinds of produce, making kombucha and kefir, and culturing milk into yogurt. I fell in love with the entire process.

 In 2011, I saw an ad in Weston A. Price magazine for a Certified Healing Foods Specialist program and signed up right away. The program lasted several months, with weekly phone calls, followed by a long weekend on Long Island working with instructors and other participants. As part of the program, I had to complete a community service project. When I returned home, I taught a class at our local church that drew about 30 people. I loved hearing everyone’s reactions to these unusual foods—some loved them, some disliked them, some thought they were delicious, and others said they tasted like old, moldy produce. That was perfectly fine with me.

The class we are offering in June reflects the past 23 years of my fermentation experience. We will focus primarily on vegetables, but we will also discuss fermenting fruit, wild fermentation using only salt, and fermentation with cultured powders or probiotic capsules. We will also make fermented sodas using a process that starts with a ginger bug.

Why choose fermenting?

Fermentation offers several practical and nutritional benefits:

·         It helps preserve food for longer storage.

·         It can boost nutritional value, including certain B vitamins and vitamin K.

·         It improves digestibility by breaking down raw vegetables into a form that is easier for the body to process.

·         It introduces beneficial bacteria (pre & pro biotics) that support gut health and may help strengthen the immune system.

Who This Class Is For

This class is designed for both beginners and experienced fermenters. Whether you are just getting started, enjoy learning and laughing alongside others, or simply want to try something new, this will be a fun and welcoming experience.

What to Bring

·         A cutting board

·         A good, sharp knife

·         Wide mouth Ball jars, preferably quart-size, plus a few pint-size jars if you have them

·         Metal Lids for your jars

·         Vegetables to ferment

·         Box to take your ferments home in

We will use whatever produce is in season, which may include cucumbers, summer squash, fresh herbs such as dill, cilantro, and oregano, carrots, green beans, green or red cabbage, apples, and oranges. The cabbage is a basis for many of the ferments so a nice big head of this is good. The other produce should fit into a quart size jar so don’t over purchase.

I will provide salt, the culture powders, herbs, garlic, onions, ginger, etc.

There will be cultured samples to taste, and you may follow those recipes or get help creating your own. If the ginger bug ferments as expected, we also plan to have wild sodas to sample. You should leave with your own ginger bug starter and all of the vegetables you culture in class. Your ferments can sit on the counter and should be ready to eat within one to six weeks.

Space is limited in the June 6^th class so sign up soon.