Fashionable fermenting

Kitchen culture

Learn how to ferment food in 2O21

Before there were stoves and refrigerators, there was fermenting – and it’s had a resurgence in 2021. Find out what fermentation is, why it’s beneficial for your gut, and how to involve the kids.

The ascent of ferment

Over the past year, we’ve seen a rise in cooking and baking trends worldwide. Among the sourdough and banana bread fads, fermenting has also made it to the list of kitchen trends.

From wine and cheese, to miso and sauerkraut, you might not have known that a lot of your favourite foods are fermented. Not only are they rich in flavour, many of them can also do wonders for your health. With so many different kinds of fermented food recipes, there’s something for everyone. But what exactly is fermenting, and is it safe? We’re here to answer these very questions for you, and give you a simple recipe to kick off your fermenting journey.

Before stoves and refrigerators...

Leave a bowl of blueberries out for a few days and you’ll see dark spots appear on them. All of a sudden, the blueberries have died. They have become inedible, sour, and passed over into the world of bacteria, mould and minerals – they are no longer a self-regulating organism.

Amazingly, the process of fermentation has allowed us to develop techniques to experiment with the boundary between life and death of fruits and vegetables. According to Queensland Health, fermentation has been used around the world since at least 7000BC as a way to preserve foods. In the days before stoves and refrigerators, fermenting allowed foods to be preserved in a nutritional and safe way.

But wait, what actually is fermenting?

Queensland Health says to ferment something is to preserve or alter a food with the use of microbes (yeast, mould, or bacteria). In the fermentation process, those live and active microbes break sugars and starches down into alcohols and acids.

In other words, the whole fermentation process can be described as a means of pre-digestion. All those microbes help break down the sugars and starches in your food, before you’ve actually eaten it. When it comes to fermenting, think of your gut as a little ecosystem – you need to tend to it, and the bacteria in some foods may be beneficial in helping you do just that.

What are the health benefits of fermenting foods?

The Food Safety Information Council finds that fermented foods contain high amounts of probiotics, which are generally considered safe for the majority of people. Fermented foods provide many health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, antiinflammatory, anti-diabetic and anti-atherosclerotic activity. All these wonders are what made fermented foods rise in popularity, which is why you’ll find many Aussies looking for the best Kombucha, the tastiest kimchi and the most spot-on sourdough bread – all to incorporate into their daily diets.

What are the risks?

As with anything in life, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. And while fermentation has a range of health benefits, it can also be a high-risk process and needs to be done correctly with a high degree of caution, to ensure that the final product is safe for consumption.

The pH scale measures how acidic or basic a substance is, and this scale ranges from 0 to 14. According to the Queensland government, fermented food must have a pH level of 4.6 or lower to be considered safe for human consumption. It is vital to ensure that this pH level is achieved within 24 hours of the start of the fermentation process, and that the alcohol content of the final product does not exceed 0.5%.

Remember!

Use proven recipes – don’t experiment or ferment too short or too long.

Stick to using glass or food-grade plastic containers – not metal.

All fermentation equipment should be thoroughly washed and disinfected before use.

DIY KOMBUCHA TEA

Ingredients

7 cups filtered water ½ cup white sugar 1 tbsp loose tea 1 cup unpasteurised store-bought kombucha Large glass or ceramic container (at least 3.5L) Tightly woven cloth (paper towels, napkins, etc.) Rubber bands

Method

Bring water to boil in a clean pot. Remove from heat and dissolve sugar into it.

Add the tea and allow to steep while water cools for a few hours. When water is at room temperature, pour the sweetened tea into your jars then pour store-bought kombucha in (if you’re using two jars, pour half of the store-bought kombucha into each), making sure to include any build-up that may be left at the bottom.

Cover with a few layers of the tightly woven cloth and secure with a rubber band.

Set in room temperature (21-24°C), for 1 to 4 weeks, until a ¼ inch (½ cm) symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) has formed.

Keep SCOBY in its original tea until you’re ready to brew your first batch. The tea you used to make the SCOBY, however, is very vinegary and should be tossed. Don’t use this tea as the starter to your first fermentation!

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

It’s no surprise that the best way to get kids to learn something new is to have them get their little hands dirty. Which is what makes fermenting perfect for kids. Try starting off with cucumbers (soon-to-be pickles). It’s a simple recipe with plenty of sensory fun to be had.

A fun tip: have your kids keep an ‘observation book’ next to their fermentation creation. This way, they can write down all the changes and smells they pick up on.