Fementation

After a long hiatus from blogging, I decided to come back to document a new found hobby of mine.  Fermenting and Lacto-Fermentation.  The benefits of fermenting were what drew me to want to learn more about it.  Some of the benefits include making food for digestible and therefore we can absorb the nutrients easier because they have been broken down by the bacteria and yeast into a form that is easier to be absorbed by our bodies.  The fermented foods are chocked full of good bacteria that are very beneficial to our gut and body as a whole and help our immune system to be healthier. 

Most fermented "raw" unpasteurized foods contain trillions of beneficial bacteria.  The key is that the food is unpasteurized and therefore all the good bacteria and yeast have not been killed off by the pasteurization process. 

I was initially introduced to this during a very informative sourdough class back in January of this year.  I have been baking bread for years and have dabbled in making my own sourdough starter with varied success.  The class helped me understand a lot of things that were causing my failures with my sourdough starters.  After the first class was completed we were all given a small amount of our presenters 4-5 year old sourdough starter and tasked with going home and feeding it and keeping it alive until our next class. I ended up having great success with not only keeping it alive but letting it grow to the point of needing two vessels to hold all the starter in. Here is my lovely handiwork that I have been using and passing along to all my friends who would like to dabble in the sourdough making art.

 

I have also been introduced to three more fermentation foods:  Kombucha, Kefir, and lacto-fermented veggies.  Although these are new and I have only been dabbling for a couple weeks, I have had great success.  Below you can see my first batch of Kombucha brewing away and about to be bottled for its second ferment with juice.  The process might not look the most appetizing to the newbie kombucha drinker because it ferments with the assistance of a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) along with some starter tea.  Luckily for me, I met great people in the sourdough class who so kindly passed along a SCOBY and starter tea for me to get started. 

Kombucha SCOBY forming on the top



Kombucha Brewing ready to be bottled

Kefir is another fermenting food I have been working on and having great success.  I don't have pictures right now, but it is similar to a drinkable yogurt which ferments with the assistance of another SCOBY which is in the form of small cauliflower like creatures that eat the lactose and "sour" milk to make a probiotic filled drink.. 

Lastly I have been dabbling with lacto-fermented vegetables and specifically cabbage to make sauerkraut.
 
 

In 2 - 3 weeks we have delicious sauerkraut