A couple of months ago I connected on Facebook with a man who lives out in the U.S. and busies himself making fermented food and drink (and tinctures!) for his local community. I was so impressed with his Facebook posts. His house is more like a health store!
Stephen McRae and I got chatting and he told me that he also gives lessons in basic fermentation to members of the local community. I asked him some questions about how this works and also, more about his own story.
Fermented Foods – One Man’s Story
“I’m a single man and have built a huge cabinet to house all of my edible projects. I have turned my life and health around so much that everybody around me wants to know what I did. Several of them are drinking my kombucha, eating or making their own ferments, kefirs.
Seeing is believing.
I lost weight
I have tons of energy
I no longer have sinusitis, arthritis, GERD’s or migraine head-aches
I sleep like a rock
I couldn’t sleep soundly for several years before taking fermented food and drink because of the constant pain I was enduring.
Everything the doctors prescribed seemed to make matters worse and something deep inside told me that I didn’t do something soon, I would not be here much longer.
I sought the advice of a naturopath and began the year long journey back to health and happiness.
Now all my friends and associates want what I have.”
He went on tell me:
“The only things I teach in my workshops are the fermented foods and drinks. I don’t hold cooking classes. The main things are, turmeric tea, Kombucha, and fermenting veggies.
I have an advantage over many people, out here where I live, on 50 acres, I have plenty of room to grow my own food. Fruit and nut trees, organic veggies, fresh fish from the 3 1/2 acre pond, fresh eggs, chicken and beef, and I hunt for venison, wild hog, and game birds.
I got away from that for a while due to my bachelor status for the last years, but, due to my poor health, I have returned to my roots. Keeps me pretty busy, like now, it is time for me to wake up the chickens!!
I have ducks and geese too, makes for a delicious Thanksgiving meal.”
Check out these amazing photos of Stephen’s ‘Fermentation Centrale!’
A Table of Goodies!
Apple Cider Vinegar Brewing Station
Garlic and Ginger, ready to be sliced and fermented
Kombucha Tea
This is a SCOBY, floating on the top of the Kombucha. A SCOBY is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It can be small or multi-layered and they can resemble monsters from the deep, or aliens! 😉 … But they’re the ‘mother’ of the Kombucha and the source of all its goodness.
A Cupboard full of Pickles. The crinkly looking red veg in a jar in the centre of the photo are cayenne peppers, vacuum sealed in jars.
The darker pint jars in front are honey onion cough syrup, made with raw organic clover honey.
As fabulous fermenters know, if you’re taking lots of fermented food and drink, you shouldn’t be needing a cough syrup (!) but Stephen is the angel of his community and not everyone has yet converted, so a natural remedy is far better than taking drugs.
Vegetable ferment water takes on the colour of the veg in which it’s fermenting, so you can be gifted with beautiful red and purple fermented water. This is the stuff that I drink if I feel a sniffle coming on. I’ve had 3 teeny sniffles in 15 months and none has developed into even a cold!
Sprouting Seeds
Tinctures
Spice Cupboard
Non Alchoholic Wine (well, no more than 1.5%) and Cider Vinegar Brewing Station
Stephen ferments Kiwis and Strawberries to flavour his Kombucha. As you know, Kefir is my favourite baby. Kombucha is made with a mix of green, white or black teas and then flavoured with fruit, to make it less bitter. I’m not a fan of tea or caffeine, which is why I’ve avoided it to date, but it’s a drink that goes back 100’s of years and has proved it’s worth in native communities in various pockets of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha
Stephen sent me a couple of mails that detailed how he ferments some of his food and drink. It’s always interesting to compare notes! I discovered he has settled on ginger as a good starter, as I have, but we also like to do other processes in quite different ways.
Using Ginger Water as a Starter Culture
Stephen uses fermented ginger as a starter culture. Funnily enough, so do I! I just decided one day that rather than ferment fruit in water and salt, I would start with fermented water, taken from the jar where I’d fermented a pile of ginger .. and add filtered/mineral water to that. It gives the fruit a lovely extra zing and I prefer it to using plain water.
Airlock Lids
Stephen uses airlock lids, but not with all ferments. As those of you who have been reading this blog will know, I’ve stuck with simple clamp down jars, so am unable to say whether or not it enhances flavours by using an airlock lid, but I’ve been very happy with the taste of my ferments and space-wise, it’s much easier using flat-topped jars.
I’m happy to clamp down a lid, but Stephen uses a traditional method of using glass weights to submerge food in the water. I use a cabbage leaf with vegetables and with fruit, I just keep an eye on the surface. Fruit rises quickly (all ferments will rise in water) but I’ve yet to see any mould in a fruit ferment, so I take the easiest route of using nothing but a lid!
Fermenting Fruit
Stephen finds that his fruit takes 5-10 days, out of sunlight with 2 tablespoons of starter and a pint of blueberries. I’ve found that blueberries on their own take longer to ferment than when mixed with raspberries and blackberries. Softer fruits break down quickly and seem to speed up the entire fermentation process.
Ideal Fermentation Temperature
Ideal temp Chez Mr McRae is 72-75 degrees Fahrenheit. Chez nous in the UK, I ferment everything in our small utility room that can reach temps of over 80 degrees. I just need to keep an extra check on them for that reason as they can move pretty quickly once they’re running and can change from not ready to over ready, seemingly in the blink of an eye!
Flavouring Kombucha (Fermented, Cold Tea)
When flavouring his Kombucha, Stephen lets the fruit sit in the Kombucha for 2-3 days. It’s a process that gives the tea a little more fizz. Like a soda pop.
This is called: Second Fermenting.
The measurements he uses are 2 tablespoons of pureed fruit to 16 oz of Kombucha.
He purees his fruit in a blender before adding to his Kombucha. Now that is cool! I reckon it would reduce much, if not all, of the bitterness for which Kombucha is famous, because the puree would totally infuse with the tea. Stephen, is that the case? (Am hoping he’ll join this conversation below!)
I do this with cow’s milk kefir now, for my husband, but that only needs a few hours at most and would still flavour in the fridge, but at a much slower rate.
Remember: Heat speeds up fermentation. Cold slows it down.
Ultimately, adding a fruit to Kombucha adds the fruit’s own vitamins to an already powerful probiotic drink and doubles the health benefits.
Find Stephen McRae Here:
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.mcrae.775?fref=ts
Wow!
So, there you have it!
Comparisons of fermentation loves and techniques from a fabulous fermenter across the pond.
So much fun to learn about how someone else bubbles away their veg and drinks!
I hope this story will encourage you to look back at our kefir series and also recipes that appeal on this blog to date and take THE PLUNGE!
It’s never too late to start. Don’t be scared. We all go through trial and error. Fermentation isn’t a science. It’s an art. But you can only become a first class artist if you take those first baby steps. 🙂
To Your Good Health!
Please let me know in the comment box below which type of ferment appeals to you the most.
Is it Kombucha?
Kefir?
Fruit?
Vegetables?
Almost anything can be fermented, but if you stick with any of the four above, you’ll be making a great start!
