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G U I D E Fred reibin (left) co-founded the Facebook group saskatoon Ferments, which seeks to share recipes, knowledge, and starter cultures. supplied photo
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Good for ThE GuT:
feRMenTed foodS by Jennifer Jacoby-Smith
Fermented foods have been consumed by almost every culture on the planet, going back thousands of years. The art of making different kinds of fermented foods has been lost in modern life. But a group in Saskatoon has banded together to promote various kinds of fermented foods. Saskatoon Ferments is a Facebook group that aims to share recipes, knowledge and starter cultures. At the first meeting (and potluck, of course) 50 people showed up. “It was this group of people who were doing these things at home for a long time and then there was an opportunity for them to come out and share their excitement with other people,” says co-founder Fred Reibin. The group currently has over 400 members. “With pasteurization and sterilization there’s been a lot of advances in terms of how safe our food is,” says Reibin. “At the same time, a lot of the good bacteria has been taken out of our diet.”
Foods like probiotic yogurt are gaining in popularity because of the healthy probiotic bacteria they contain. Probiotics found in fermented foods – such as lactobacillus – ensure a healthy digestive system and a robust immune system. Reibin got into fermented foods first by making homemade beer. Eventually, he moved on to other non-alcoholic ferments, such as kombucha (a fermented tea). When a relative showed him how to make kimchi (a spicy Korean side dish), he was hooked. He even experimented with sauerkraut, recalling the amazing sauerkraut his Ukrainian grandmother made when he was growing up. Fermentation has become the primary way Reibin preserves the vegetables he grows in his garden. Last year, Reibin hosted workshops at the Ness Creek Music Festival. Saskatoon Ferments also set up a fermentation day at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market where interested folks can prepare their own ferments and then take them home.
MAkING your owN ‘kraut Reibin shares a simple fermented food recipe you can try at home – sauerkraut. Don’t worry, it is nothing like the canned versions found in most grocery stores. This fermented sauerkraut is full of fresh, piquant flavour, crunchy cabbage and is highly adaptable to whatever vegetables you have on hand. “Experiment and play around with it,” notes Reibin. “You can add whatever you want — some extra beets or carrots. If you want to make it a bit spicier, you can add garlic or ginger.”
Sauerkraut:
• 1 head of cabbage, grated to desired thickness • 3 tbsp non-iodized salt, such as Himalayan pink salt Place cabbage into bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage it. It will begin to produce brine or liquid. Place in a crock or a Mason jar and pack down cabbage so that brine completely covers the vegetables. Keep it at room temperature. After two weeks, you’ll have a very good, healthy ferment. The sauerkraut can be fermented longer until it reaches desired tanginess.
these stories were produced BY coNteNt worKs, postMediA’s coMMerciAL coNteNt studio.
photo: getty images
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HELPS REDUCE THE IMPACT OF DISASTERS by Andrew Livingstone
When a disaster happens, governments and communities spring into action as quickly as possible to mitigate the danger to life and property, but individuals and families can play a role in their own rescue. Whether the danger is due to natural disaster or just the failure of the infrastructure that we have come to depend on, preparing an effective emergency kit can allow for a quick and painless evacuation or make a blackout at home more comfortable. “If you can put together a 72-hour kit, that gives the opportunity for municipalities, First Nations and leadership to help move and muster needed resources in to help,” said Duane McKay, the commissioner of emergency management and fire safety for the Saskatchewan government, who likens emergency preparation to packing a bag for a camping trip. “There’s no need to go and spend a whole bunch of money on really unique things, but, if you’ve got a backpack, you can certainly take the kinds of things that you would bring on an overnight camp and just add them into the backpack.” Such essential supplies include protective clothes; consumables like medicine, food and drink; and useful tools. “Potable water is critical: every individual drinks everywhere from two to three litres of water a day just to stay normally hydrated, and, if you don’t have access to potable water, your body will start to come under stress,” McKay said. “We can clean ourselves from multiple different sources, but potable water is pretty important, and everybody buys flats of water bottles now. Tossing a few of those into your backpack would certainly go a long ways to ensure that you have adequate drinking water in these situations.” Nutrition is also important, though sometimes the best-preserved foods can be the most difficult to prepare. “Make sure that, if you put a can in there, you have a can opener,” said McKay. “Foods that you can eat without cooking are certainly very good if you’re travelling or if you’re in a situation where you can’t actually heat things, but it doesn’t hurt to do a little bit of planning about the necessities — the critical pieces that you need in your kit — and then the other things that are nice to have.” Those comforts can include trail mix and even chocolate bars, which are high in energy if not in vitamins. In the event that cellular networks are still functioning, cellphones will remain an invaluable tool.
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Duane McKay, Commissioner of Emergency Management and Fire Safety for the Government of Saskatchewan. SUPPLIED PHOTO
“If you look at multiple layers of penetration for communications, people will generally have access to cellphones and, of course, if the cell towers are still working, then certainly they’ll be able to make telephone calls or access the internet,” McKay said. Informational programs like the SaskAlert app can be as helpful during an emergency as they are beforehand, but cellphones and other electronics require electricity and accessories in order to remain in operation. Therefore, chargers and spare batteries are excellent inclusions to support the phones and flashlights that find their way into the kit. Under some circumstances, however, cellphones and cellular towers may be unavailable, making simple radio communications the most reliable option. “In an event where we lose connection with those, we go back to the baseline, and just the simple broadcast of a radio signal out to the people that have a radio is a failsafe,” said McKay. “They don’t cost very much to get one of those little wind-up ones from the local store. You just add that in your kit so that, in the event that we get big failure of infrastructure, you can just tune-in and listen to what’s going on.” The Government of Saskatchewan has even invested in portable FM transmitters that can be deployed to coordinate and inform people in dangerous areas. “In La Ronge, we set this up, and actually we sent them to Alberta as well during the wildfire in Fort Mac,” McKay said. “They’re basically a little transmitter wagon that we set up, and it transmits out on 91.1. It has about a 10 KM range.” McKay said that several recent, well-publicized natural disasters in Western Canada have encouraged Saskatchewan residents to take the possibility of emergencies seriously. “People are aware, and I think we are seeing a more resilient society, people that are attempting to do something,” he said. “A little bit of planning turns this from something that you have to endure to something that you can just live through.”
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