Discovering Fermented Foods & Drinks ~ Fully Booked

Make your own healthy and delicious fermented foods, sauces and Kombucha drinks with Peggy Beer from Eldertree, a local business specialising in fermented foods.

Learn how to turn cabbage into Sauerkraut and using produce from your garden make tasty fermented vegetables and sauces.

Learn how to make Kombucha and go home with a Kombucha mother to make your own delicious Kombucha-lemonade. A super healthy alternative to fizzy drinks.

The Workshop

This fermented foods workshop is split into 2 parts. In the first part we will learn how to make Kombucha and how to do a first and second ferment. We will talk about lacto-fermentation and explore and taste a variety of different fermented products from around the world.

In the second part we will get practical. Please bring your own knives, cutting boards and storage containers to take your Kombucha and your started ferments home in and let the bacteria do their work, as well as the vegetables you would like to ferment (cabbage is usually a good one for a first go).

Peggy will provide salt, spices and knowledge on how to do it. There will be the possibility of having a go at making your own sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), as well as fermenting other vegetables, making kimchi, fermented chilli sauce and fermented chutney. If you are interested in any specific recipe please get in contact with Peggy beforehand and she can give advice on what ingredients to bring on the day.

The Origins of Fermenting Foods

Lacto-fermentation or wild fermentation is an old way to preserve a variety of fruit and vegetables, milk, grains, meads, wines, ciders, beers, beans seeds etc. Archaeological evidence suggests our forefathers would have consumed large numbers of live lactic acid bacteria. The origin of lacto-fermentation lies in the days with no freezers, it was done to preserve food over the winter.

Health Benefits

Lactic-acid-producing bacteria are crucial for a well-balanced digestive system. And a well-balanced digestive system supports the rest of the body in getting all the nutrients it needs to work well.

‘Wild fermentation is a way of incorporating the wild into your body, becoming one with the natural world. Wild foods, microbial cultures included, possess a great, unmediated life force, which can help us adapt to shifting conditions and lower our susceptibility to disease. By eating a variety of live fermented foods, you promote diversity among microbial cultures in your body. Biodiversity, increasingly recognized as critical to the survival of larger-scale ecosystems, is just as important at the micro level. It is called it micro-biodiversity. Your body is an ecosystem that can function most effectively when populated by diverse species of micro-organisms. By fermenting foods and drinks with wild micro-organisms present in your home environment, you become more interconnected with the life forces of the world around you. Your environment becomes you, as you invite the microbial populations you share the earth with to enter your diet and your intestinal ecology.’

[Sandor Ellix Katz in ‘Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition and Craft of Live-Culture Foods’]

Tutor: Peggy Beer

Peggy, originally from Germany, now runs  Eldertree, a local business specialising in fermented foods.