Edible Blue Ridge Fall 2010 : Page 34
Clockwise from top: Fermented pickles, ruby kraut, and cabbage-and-kale kraut. Rosemary. A jar of Celtic sea salt and other flavorings and spices. Shredding the cabbage. fermented foods are the world-champion kill-ers of harmful bacteria,” says Fred Breidt, a microbiologist for the USDA and Agricultural Research Service, and professor at North Carolina State University. “And it always works. Fermentation is the oldest technology known to man, because it works.” So well, in fact, that fermented foods are pair them.” This is the precise reason that in traditional cultures, fatty meats and ferments are eaten together: think sausage and sauer-kraut. The kraut, which is full of good bacte-ria, helps you better process the rich sausage. “It’s not so much ‘you are what you eat,’ but more like ‘you are what you assimilate’; ferments make sure you are getting the most out of your food,” says Story, who admits her new business has become somewhat of an ob-session of late. “I can’t stop. I’ve become a bit of a fermentingmonster. It’s so good for you.” Visit the supermarket, however, and one fermentmight not be as good for you as anoth-er. Sauerkraut in the refrigerated section, for example, is probably unpasteurized and there-fore full of probiotics; the good bacteria are still present because refrigeration halts the fer-mentation process, without killing them. “But sauerkraut in the canned-foods aisle is cooked to death,” says Story, who’s proud that her products are made with fresh local ingredients 34 | EDIBLE BLUE RIDGE FALL 2010 and without heat, allowing the flavors and textures to continue to evolve over time. Still, some people worry about the safety of fermentation.Where else dowe foster bacte-rial growth, without pasteurizing the finished product? “There is such fear of bacteria in our culture that it tends to translate into want-ing our food to be as sterile as possible,” says Suzanna Stone, a traditional-foodways teacher who leads a fermentation class at Sacred Plant Traditions in Charlottesville. “I find beginners to be mistrustful of the fermentation process. They have been fed a lifetime of media scares about how unsafe food can be—and rightfully so when that food is coming from such large-scale production facilities. The very process of fermenting—leaving it out on the counter to transform—requires a paradigmshift that can challenge one’s belief system.” Its effectiveness, however, is pure fact. Scientists say it’s the closest thing we have to foolproof. “The lactic acid bacteria in not required by law to be pasteurized—unlike vinegared pickles, which have to be if they are above a certain pH. And that includes many of the pickles you find on grocery store shelves. “The one good thing about supermarket pickles,” Stone concedes, “are the wonderful glass gallon containers they come in.” You’ll find batches of her home-fermented foods liv-ing in them right now. ack at Story’s workshop, we’ve moved on to sampling her fruity spritzers, made with “water kefir” grains (aka tibicos, California Bees, and a whole host of other quirky names). They aren’t grains at all but rather beautiful lit-tle crystalline beads of yeast and bacteria. Story allows them to ferment in a sugar-water mixture three times, transforming the sugar into lactic acid and creating thousands of little bubbles. Then she blends that mixture with seasonal fruit, resulting in naturally effervescent drinks with vibrant colors and a yeasty, fruity tang un-like anything I’ve ever experienced. >
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