I spend several hours a week fermenting. This time is more cumulative and often happening in a chain of events. I think I got here touched by the spirit of abundance from both individuals and nature around me. In fermentation and play, I find culture, connection and community.
Yogurt was my gateway ferment; the first culture I worked with. I decided that I would commit to cutting or reducing at least one source of plastic in my life and I also wanted to support local farmers by using milk from my state. So I started making yogurt, backslopping each batch and incubating it in a coller. Right away, I knew I wanted it creamy and started straining it.
Decades later, I am still making yogurt. I keep a backup started in the freezer in case something happens. Here an example of one of my fermentation chains. After straining the yogurt, I save the whey. I use it to make sourdough bread and to make natural sodas. I use old pieces of sourdough bread to make Kvass. Then I use the kvass to ferment vegetables. These fermented vegetables serve as home to pickle eggs. Fermented vegetables are added to new batches to inoculate fresh substrate.
The cultures I ferment with, help me connect with my food beyond eating it for sustenance or pleasure. Fermentation has opened me up to methods of cooking and preserving that embraces what I can’t control or fully explain. It’s liberating to rely on others—the microorganisms that know exactly what to do. They welcome me into their community, and together, we extend ourselves to others.
I run Fermentation Friday with my friend Jessy Brainerd and the past two weeks we have experienced such beautiful generosity. Fermenters Nicholas Repenning and Liam Fisher have guided us into new realms of bokashi and garum making.
Today, I brought the Sequilho cookies I made and wrote about a few days ago. Liam used his fish sauce to season the strawberries (no sugar) and we enjoyed them with whipped cream.
Tonight, I’m straining the garum I began on October 18th last year, after meeting Liam at the Maine Fermentation Fair. He gave me the initial pointers and encouragement to pursue it.
This is my first Garum made with food rescued Maine trout parts (no guts) so I added about 25% koji (for the enzymes), 80% water, 20% salt.