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Ecosalon Foodie Underground: You Can Ferment That

Foodie Underground: You Can Ferment That

by on August 6, 2012 in Food

You’ve been making your own kombucha for months (ok, years) and pickling is old news to you, but have you taken your fermented food obsession to the next level? Grabbed a slot at the local market and opened up a stand to sell your goods? Spend any time at your weekend farmers market and you’re sure to find an artisan pickle, kraut or kim chi maker.

We can pickle that,” might be the mantra of any lover of the television show Portlandia, but all jokes aside, fermented foods are good for you (and often served in mason jars). Making fermented foods at home however is one thing, running your own fermented business is quite another.

“You should start a restaurant/catering company/baking business/etc.” are words that many a foodie have heard from a friend or two, but turning a passion for food into a business is a feat in and of itself, which is why it’s inspiring to meet people that are doing just that. I perked up recently when I got an intro to the co-founder of what a friend called “the most elegant pickle company on the planet.” When you’re the Foodie Underground columnist, you just can’t turn such an introduction down.

The pickle company is called Esoteric Food Company, based in Boulder, Colorado and responsible for jars of fermented goodness like Beets, Hijiki & Kale and Dill, Caraway & Cabbage. As they put it:

We love food. Learning about food culture is our impetus, our drive and our reward. We live to tinker with, to savor, to understand flavor and nutrition in old and new ways. We simply love making good things to eat to share with others and these pickles are our way of inviting you in to the esoteric circle.

If there ever was an intriguing food mission statement, that might just be it.

I caught up with co-founder Willow King to learn more about the fermentation business and we even got a recipe out of the deal.

Tell us about your food background, what got you into fermented foods in the first place?

My business partner Mara grew up in Hong Kong and is a long time sushi chef and general food goddess. She and I started getting together for “Food Mondays” about 2 years ago and making things that were hard, weird or that we just generally curious about. We made raw cheeses, butter, sausage, sourdough, we canned and we fermented. Something about the ferments sort of just took over (no pun intended) and we have been doing them ever since. We have a mutual friend in town who has grown many businesses from Karaoke bars to energy drinks and he encouraged us to take it to the wholesale level. Mara and I are both English majors and at the time I was teaching Literature and Mara was teaching yoga and getting ready to give birth to her third child. It seemed like a bit of a pipe dream, but we starting tinkering with label designs, jar options, a website and pretty soon we had a business on our hands.

You have everything from carraway to kale… how do you come up with your recipes?

Our recipes come from both Asian and Euro traditions- Korean, Japanese, Polish, Scandinavian, German. They are a pastiche of flavors from our past and new combinations. This week’s market specials were daikon and d’anjou pear kim chi, juniper berry kraut and brined baby carrots with dill.

Why do you think fermented foods have had such a revival? 

Fermented foods are a really great metaphor. They are a sort of alchemy that you can eat and I think people are really waking up the fact that sanitized, factory made, processed foods have lost a lot of their magic by the time they make it to your mouth. There is a growing awareness and live, raw, organic foods can balance and support our immune and digestive systems, as well as boost our moods.

You are certainly part of a growing movement of artisan food makers. In a world of mass marketed foods and big businesses, why do you think “underground” businesses like yours are seeing such success and positive response? 

We know so many amazing food crafters- bakers, jam makers, kombucha and jun brewers- you name it. It is really encouraging to see these small businesses thriving and really being supported by their communities. In many ways, we are just going back to what we have always known: Good food is simple and comes straight from the source. We like to know who is making what we are eating- it is the oldest form of food safety!

How does one get started doing their own fermented foods?

Fermenting vegetables is a pretty simple process and very fun to experiment with. Fermenting dairy and meats can be a bit more complicated and requires exact procedures and temperatures to be safe. If you are interested in experimenting we recommend starting with simple sauerkraut and then expand from there.

Recipe: Simple Sauerkraut

To begin you will need a ball jar, 1 medium cabbage, sea salt and starter like whey or for a vegan option you can use kombucha. Each starter produces different results and flavors so you can try a few and find the one you like best.

Core and shred the cabbage and then spread on a tray or work surface. Pound the cabbage with a wooden hammer (or a rolling pin can work) until the juices start to release and the cabbage softens. Place in a wide mouth ball jar and press down with a fist (you can use a cabbage leaf as a top and the press on that) until the veg is submerged in liquid- you can add the starter at this time. Cover and leave at room temp for about 3 days- you may like it stronger in which case you could let it go a few more days. When you are satisfied with the taste transfer to cold storage where it will last for up to 6 months.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Image: Esoteric Food Company

20 questions with The Rawsome Vegan Gal

Mindy Goldis AKA The Rawsome Vegan Gal sat us down and got the nitty gritty on what life is really like at Ozuké, the best pickled things. Hop on over to her site to find out what really makes us tick. While your at it, watch her glowing youtube review of our products here:

My First Lime Pickle and Green Cabbage Kraut Recipe

Ozuké played host yesterday to an Indian ladies group.  Chani, a member of the group runs an amazing in home Montessori preschool – Radiance Montessori, my three year old Desmond goes to her school.  She has been following my pickle factory progress for the last year and asked me to host a fermentation class for her ladies group.  Her group, the Ekta Ladies are a broad background of working moms from different age, ethnic backgrounds (Sri Lankan, Indian etc.) and occupational backgrounds.  One thing in common, they were a spicy, chatty group with plenty of jolly laughter, jokes and jibes.  Most of my classes I teach a basic sauerkraut.  Kraut is really the gateway ferment, simple with a high success rate.  I went in to this class knowing that a handful of my students came from culinary backgrounds, personal chefs and restaurant owners.  And from my own experience I find that most people from a South Asian background have very sound understanding and sophisticated application in the world of spices.  Usually I have some seasonal approach to my basic kraut however this class I showed up with just green cabbage and a pantry full of spices and I put the blending of the spices up to the group.  They came up with a brown mustard seed, serrano chile and fenugreek kraut. IMG_20140323_151737 We also put together my first ever lime pickle, inspired by a recipe from my brand new and much coveted _Permaculture Book of Ferment and Human Nutrition_ by Bill Mollison which has a most impressive collection of South Asian and South East Asian fermentation techniques and recipes as well as a bevy of sound science and fascinating traditional approaches.  We topped our class off with a mango juice water kefir and all our ladies went home with three new “friends” to tend on their countertops for the next few weeks. Please sign up for our Newsletter to find out more about classes planned for this season.

Ekta Ladies Kraut Green Cabbage

3 heads Sea Salt to taste Ground Fenugreek

1 tablespoon Serrano Chiles

about 5 diced Brown Mustard Seed

2 tablespoons

Instructions: cut cabbage into thin slices, mix in large container with salt and spices.  Then pound cabbage for about 5 minutes until it starts to release lots of juice.  Pack in to jar and push down under its own liquid.  Keep in a bright, warm spot in your kitchen.  Open every two days to release gas and to push down under its own liquid again.  It should be ready in a week or two, wait til it is good and sour and smells delicious.  Then refrigerate and enjoy. IMG_20140323_152235

My First Lime Pickle adapted from Bill Mollison’s Punjab Stuffed Lime Pickle

20 Limes

2 heads of ginger diced small

5-10 serrano or thai bird chiles diced

12x 8 oz ball jars

1oz chile powder 1oz turmeric

2.5oz fenugreek powder 2.5oz salt

Lots of cold pressed sesame oil (I used far more than the recipe)

Instructions: Put limes whole into just boiled water and let sit for 20 minutes.  You will see the limes change color from bright green to olive. Mix the spices, ginger, chiles and salt.   Dry the limes and cut each lime into 8 pieces. (chunks). Toss limes, ginger, chile in spices and pack gently into jars.  Cover with sesame oil so that when you press the spiced limes down the oil comes up over the top.  Stand in the sun for 10 days.  Mollison says this will keep for about 6 months under oil.  I personally would refrigerate this and it will keep for longer and keep the sesame oil fresh from oxidation. (note to self – i might change this recipe next round and experiment with less oil…  Mollison’s recipe only calls for 2.5 oz of oil total…  I used a LOT more.  However the spiced oil is already DELICIOUS only one day later I ate it for lunch drizzled over leftover samosas, but traditionally there is a lot less oil in this pickle, I went for more oil because I felt this would give us a more reliable result keeping our pickle from oxidizing or molding from exposure to air).

Walk the Culture Talk with Elephant Journal

Willow and Waylon talk pickle biz.  Click to see the YouTube Video for the talk with Elephant Journal!

FEED Fermentation Evening

FEED Fermentation Evening

Lovely evening with the Catamounts at 63rd Street Farm.

Very cool concept of five course meal punctuated by performances, all on a common theme. Mara was a guest chef for this event and she made some seriously steller fermented goods. Cider sun fermented mustard, juniper pickled mackerel, saffron kombucha with Cava aka the SCOBY crocus, and anchovy pear kim chi roses atop each dinner plate. Such a treat.

For more on upcoming FEED events: http://www.thecatamounts.org/

Next dinner theme: Preservation. Yum.

 

Fermented food make a comeback!

Fermented food makes a big bubble on DIY scene, store shelves
Posted:   07/14/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

By Douglas Brown
The Denver Post

Still life with fermented food, like ruby kraut , and simple sauerkraut and pickles as Willow King and Mara King business partners for Esoteric Food Company in Boulder demo a couple of their kraut recipes at Willow King’s home on Friday, June 1, 2012. Fermented foods are gaining popularity. Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post (THE DENVER POST | Cyrus McCrimmon)

What will Denver bed-and-breakfast owner Milan Doshi do with the 1,500 pounds of Thai peppers growing in the garden across from his old house? The rows of oregano? The purple carrots?

He will force them to funk.

He will clean and cut the vegetables, stick them in drums, add salt. He will prod them toward a certain helpful decay by simply waiting until it’s time to pack them in jars. He’ll slap Five Points Fermentation Co. labels on them, and put the food — kimchi and curtido

Blog: Colorado Table

Denver Post reporters and editors offer news, analysis and commentary on the latest food, drink and restaurant trends in Colorado.

(an El Salvadoran kraut) — up for sale.

Doshi, a self-described fermentation freak, is not alone. In locations from Denver home kitchens to farmhouse barns to industrial warehouses, people are taking cucumbers, watermelon, milk, wheat, tea, pork shoulders — and a whole lot of other foodstuffs — and letting bacteria do their thing to them.

Bacteria have gotten a bad rap for years, because this group of living things includes nasties like e.coli and listeria, things that kill people. But bacteria is also key for food digestion. And it nurtures a unique flavor — yes, a funk — that just doesn’t come from a mere sprinkling of herbs or a splash of lemon.

“Lactic acid is a gift from God,” said Doshi. “We need to embrace it. When we use bacteria to help us, that’s when we are at our healthiest.”

Who’s got your fizz?

Doshi is so taken with the process he plans to open a fermentation cafe in the Five Points neighborhood, a space for classes on the topic and fermentation-celebration feasts. At his family’s business, the Queen Anne Bed and Breakfast in Denver, he uses fermented batter for the

Willow King, right, packs chopped red cabbage into its juice in a Mason jar as she and Esoteric Food Co. partner Mara King demonstrate a couple of their kraut recipes at King’s home in Boulder. They made ruby kraut with red cabbage, salt and leeks and a simple sauerkraut with green cabbage and salt. The cabbage will ferment for a few days in the jars. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

crepes and rye pancakes, serves his company’s krauts and even piles plates with uttapams, traditional Indian pancakes made from fermented beans and rice. He is expanding his line of krauts, and in the fall will start making tempeh — a fermented bean product often used in lieu of meat — from Western Slope pinto beans.

He began experimenting with fermentation about a decade ago, inspired in part by his grandmother’s kitchen in India, with its wall of leftover farm vegetables turned into a cornucopia of pickles: mangos, limes, tomatoes, okra. He also studied under Sandor Katz, the author of the just-published “The Art of Fermentation,” as well as the classic “Wild Fermentation.” Katz is recognized as a national leader on the topic.

“I think our connection to fermentation is innate,” said Doshi. “It’s the second-oldest human tradition. After we built tools, we cured food.”

Without fermentation, Colorado’s ocean of beer wouldn’t make a single wave. No Haystack Mountain goat cheese. No High Country Kombucha, Il Mondo Vecchio beef bresaola, Infinite Monkey Theorem syrah, Trompeau Bakery baguettes, or Zuke dill, caraway and cabbage sauerkraut. And none of the unheralded home-made goodness happening all over the state.

That goodness is so important that Colorado State University this fall, for the first time, is offering a for-credit class on the topic, called “The Science of Food Fermentation,” with sections on meat, dairy, soy, vegetables and grains, which covers bread and beer.

But the university is in the planning stages for an entire major: Fermentation Science and Technology.

“We have created nine new classes, all starting over the next couple of years,” said Laura Bauer, a Ph.D. student in the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. Bauer will co-teach this fall’s fermentation class. She said the department introduced a brewing science course a few years ago that has been extremely successful. That course’s triumph, combined with the pop-culture trend toward fermented foods, persuaded CSU officials to begin delving more deeply into the age-old craft.

The craft can be exquisitely simple — classic sauerkraut is just shredded cabbage submerged in a brine — and somewhat tricky. Fermented dairy, for example, demands exacting temperatures.

Either way, fermentation is the art of using good bacteria to eat carbohydrates and create lactic acid, which keeps away pathogenic bacteria. The good bacteria can be said to do some of the digestion-work for the eater before the food plummets into the stomach. Once there, those helpful bacteria keep up the good work.

“When you can something, you heat it up and kill everything, and the one bug that can survive is botulism,” said Mara King, one of the owners of Boulder kraut maker Esoteric Food Company. “But with pickling (fermentation), you invite everybody in and create an environment where the good bugs beat the bad bugs. It’s a different approach.”

But how does it taste?

Those nice bugs taste yummy.

A kraut of seaweed, beets and kale? You betcha. Esoteric Food Company’s is ambrosial on eggs.

Taste helps explain why the Boulder restaurant Shine relies so heavily on fermentation. Even the restaurant’s salsa is fermented. But health is key, too.

“To me, the foundation of nutrition is fermentation and probiotics,” said Jessica Emich, head chef and one of the triplets who launched the restaurant last year. “If your body can’t digest food, it doesn’t matter. We like to nurture people from the inside.”

The restaurant even relies on an “alchemist” to create Shine’s fermented beverages. Beer? Sure. But the menu also includes a variety of “tonics” and “elixirs,” fermented beverages similar to kombucha but using honey, herbs, and flowers.

Kombucha — a fermented blend of tea and sugar — has taken off along the Front Range, with bottles of the stuff for sale everywhere from Sprouts markets to Whole Foods (which now has kombucha on tap).

For Edward Rothbauer, the president and chief executive officer of High Country Kombucha in Eagle, kombucha is a livelihood. He started making his own after a fall paralyzed him. All that sitting in a wheelchair upended his digestion. He said that soon after he started drinking kombucha, his digestion improved dramatically.

Now he walks with a cane. He doesn’t credit a fermented drink with his recovery, but he believes it helped.

“People drink it, and get a little education,” he said. “It might be a shock to their taste buds, but in 15 minutes they might say how good they feel.”

Douglas Brown: 303-954-1395 or djbrown@denverpost.com


Read more: Fermented food makes a big bubble on DIY scene, store shelves – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/athome/ci_21072238/fermented-food-makes-big-bubble-diy-scene-store#ixzz22h1p2ajr
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Elephant Journal- DIY Fermentation

on May 11, 2012

Create Your Own Culture. ~ Willow King

 

The Power of Fermented Foods.

About a year ago my partner Mara and I started a company that makes cultured vegetables. No, not beets and carrots that regularly attend the opera, but live, raw, probiotic, naturally fermented veggies.

We started out just making these goodies for our families and friends and nobody could get enough. It turns out that many people crave the zingy buzz of live food and that lacto-fermented foods, that used to be staple in many places in the world, are making a comeback.

Fermenting is an age-old way to preserve food.

It was a way to use all the access produce from the summer and keep eating it all year round. This in itself is a great process to connect to us to seasonality and keep the strength of the food intact.

Fermentation also makes food easier to digest, and creates new nutrients such as B vitamins—folic acid, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and biotin.

Some ferments have antioxidants principles and also create omega-3 fatty acids- which we know are key to a healthy immune system.

Basically, fermented foods help supply your digestive tract with cultures that are necessary to break down and assimilate nutrients. These cultures, lactobacilli chief among them, are like little invisible friends that help us stay healthy and happy through the ups and downs of the year.

If you are interested in experimenting we recommend starting with simple sauerkraut and then expand from there.

This is great activity to do with kids (or your dog) as it is a bit of funky food science experiment.

To begin you will need a ball jar, one medium cabbage, sea salt, and a starter like whey, or for a vegan option you can use kombucha.Each starter produces different results and flavors, so you can try a few and find the one you like best.Core and shred the cabbage and then spread on a tray or work surface. Add the sea salt—a good ratio is generally one or two  tablespoons salt to one three lb cabbage. Then pound the cabbage and salt with a wooden hammer (or a rolling pin can work) until the juices start to release and the cabbage softens. You can add a bit of starter at this point, or you can just do the cabbage juice and salt, which usually makes a fine ferment.Place the cabbage shreds into a wide mouth ball jar and press down with a fist (you can use a cabbage leaf as a top and the press on that) until the vegetable is submerged in liquid.

Cover this combination and leave it in a cool but not cold space (ideally 65 to 70 degrees) for about 3 days. You may like it stronger, in which case you could let it go for a few more days.

When you are satisfied with the taste, transfer to cold storage, where it will last for up to 6 months.

Now you can enjoy the benefits of your own homemade culture—monocle and all.

 

Good Medicine and Digestion

Often in the depths of winter I get hit with a serious humdinger of a flu and this year was no exception. I returned home from a lovely holiday with my family and after a few days I had the distinct feeling of being pulled down by a heavy weight that has kept me in bed for three days now. Being sick is not all bad. It seems to be part of a ritual of renewal  that happens for me at this time of year, usually around the Celtic festival of Imbolc.  Having some time to rest and think about ones life and ones health can create an odd sort of inspiration- just the thought of walking around and feeling good seems a true blessing and it makes you want to continue to realize that blessing and take good care of the carriage. I have (along with a stack of long neglected New Yorkers, Harpers, and Atlantics) been re-reading Green for Life, Nourishing Traditions and some other oldies but goodies that encourage balanced, sustainable good health. I also cut out a page from an old NYTimes Magazine by Mark Bittman about going mostly vegan as a way Ozuke Shirtto boost your energy and improve the state of the planet. I have been reading about pH balance in the body and as it turns out food protein, which is vital for maintaining your health, can also create an acidic condition in your body’s pH balance.  An acidic body pH condition facilitates accelerated aging, system degeneration and increased susceptibility to sickness and disease.

What else affects pH and causes it to become unbalanced? A mild acidosis condition (an overabundance of acid in the blood) can be caused by improper diet, but also by poor lifestyle habits or toxic emotional states. The amount of acid in the body can increase through ingestion of acid-forming foods, but it can also be affected by an abnormal metabolism or kidney malfunction. As we age, our body’s systematic removal of excess acid has begun to slow down which is why you sometimes feel like you need a new carburetor.
Although it seems a bit illogical, our bodies metabolize acid foods as alkaline and metabolize alkaline foods as acid. Acid foods (citrus fruits, vegetables, vinegar and other fermented foods- zuké!) all become alkaline when consumed and metabolized and so are called “Alkaline-forming foods”.On the other hand, alkaline foods (meats, flour, sugar, soft drinks, alcohol, aspirin and various medications) are metabolized by the body into “acid-forming foods.” That’s why the average American diet of hamburgers and processed food can and usually does contribute to a condition called “mild acidosis.” Although eating some acid-forming foods is okay, it is best if we consume 60-80% alkaline-forming foods for optimum health.

So, there you have it- along with a new found addiction to Downton Abbey  and a pile of used handkerchiefs I have a renewed resolve for revitalizing with more simple pH balanced foods, plenty of deep breaths and a healthy dose of gratitude.

Haute Brats

DSC_0004

Today was just one of those days. Locked the keys in the car etc. etc.  There was work and school and soccer and by the time we got to dinner we wanted it FAST. So: Brats (if you are brave enough to make your own, here is a little tutorial) buns, our Ozuké dill,caraway and fennel kraut, some pickled peppers, mustard and done. Dinner was a hit, the probiotics even out the white buns and everybody goes to bed full and happy. You can make your own mustard too- fun and easy (on a day when you don’t have much else going on.)
Homemade mustard:
* 1/4 cup yellow mustard seed
* 2 Tbsp. black or brown mustard seed, heaping
* 1/4 cup dry mustard powder
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
* 1 small onion chopped
* 1 tsp. salt
* 2 garlic gloves, minced or pressed
* 1/4 tsp. ground allspice (optional)
* 1/4 tsp. dried tarragon leaves
* 1/8 tsp. turmeric

Preparation:
In a small bowl, combine mustard seed and dry mustard. In a 1- to 2-quart stainless steel or nonreactive saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Simmer, uncovered, on medium heat until reduced by half, 10-15 minutes. Pour the mixture into the mustard mixture. Let mixture stand, covered, at room temperature for 24 hours, adding additional vinegar if necessary in order to maintain enough liquid to cover seeds. Process the seeds and mixture in a blender or food processor until pureed to the texture you like –this can take at least 3 or 4 minutes. Some prefer whole seeds remaining, others a smooth paste. The mixture will continue to thicken. If it gets too thick after a few days, stir in additional vinegar. Scrape mustard into clean, dry jars; cover tightly and age at least 3 days in the refrigerator before using.
Makes about 1 1/2 -2 cups.

 

Why Cultured Foods?

Why Should You Eat Cultured Foods?

Here are a few pointers:

  • Fermenting foods is an age old way to preserve food. It was a way to use all the access produce from the summer and keep eating it all year round. This in itself is a great process to connect to seasonality and keep the strength of the food in tact.
  • In addition to preservation, fermentation also makes food easier to digest, creates new nutrients such a b vitamins, folic acid, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin and biotin. Some ferments have antioxidants principles and also create omega-3 fatty acids- which we know are key to a healthy immune system.

Basically, fermented foods help supply your digestive tract with cultures that are necessary to break down and assimilate nutrients. Our Ozuké all contain Lactobacilli and that is what makes them not only food but good medicine too.