Making Sourdough

We are often told to eat living food for our health and well-being and automatically we think of eating raw fruit and vegetables. This is correct but if you would like to improve on the benefits of raw food with both taste and nutrition then consider fermenting your food before you eat it.

There is nothing new about fermenting food as this was done for many generations in the past. Fermenting food not only extends the shelf life of the food, but also the taste is enhanced by giving off a slightly acidic flavour. When food is fermented, other vitamins and digestive enzymes are manufactured in the fermentation process. This really value- adds the eating raw food regime.

What do fermented foods taste like? This is the issue that makes people wary. It is true that the taste of fermented foods generally taste a bit stronger than what we are used to but having said this, I personally crave some fermented food if I don’t have any in my daily diet for a few days. I feel that something is missing in my life. You will learn to savor the taste of real food and this is something that not many people can appreciate until they experience it for themselves.

Most importantly we are adding digestive enzymes into our daily diet and this would have to be the most beneficial reason for fermenting our food. Why not just buy fermented food from the shop? That’s where the problem starts. There is little if any of these living fermented food available to us today so we need to produce these for ourselves if we are serious about our health. You can buy imported sauerkraut from Germany but is it pasteurised? Unpastereurised miso is sometimes available at great cost, but is it made from organic soy beans? The sourdough bread you buy from the baker; was it made from freshly ground organic grain? Was it fermented properly or was vinegar added to a baker’s yeast dough? Was it made without preservatives and conditioners? There are far too many short comings in the food we buy today that it has become more imperative to roll our sleeves up and start producing our own healthy ferments.

Today’s children are all too often lacking in a healthy population of gut flora. As adults we carry inside us 1.5– 2 kg of bacteria and yeasts. We need them for proper digestion and absorption of our food. A mother who was not breast fed herself and who has had several courses of ant-biotics, been on the pill and is accustomed to eating fast food before ready to conceive her child, will inevitably not be able to pass on healthy gut flora to her new– born baby. The child then has a much greater chance of developing autistic disorders, ADDH / ADD, schizophrenia, bi-polar, obsessive compulsive disorders, depression and other pshychiatric disorders and allergies. This does not paint a pretty picture! Yet this is happening to our children. This generation of children is suffering more than ever with compromised immune systems; immune systems that need to do battle with the toxic age we live in.

Sourdough bread is the old fashioned way of making bread and is also the most natural. It is a natural ferment that actually changes the chemistry within the dough. The phytates and enzyme inhibitors that are present in all grain, seed and pulses will be neutralised within the fermentation process. Complex starches are also predigested into simpler sugars. With this kind of ferment, the bread will be much easier to digest and it will be tastier as well. Making sourdough is a totally natural experience from beginning to end and with this fact in mind, the variations in taste will reflect your own immediate environment. Just like with cheese making and any other natural ferment; moulds and yeasts inhabit the food preparation area and these will all be reflected in the sourdough starter that you make.

Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is made from cabbage and any of the varieties can be used. The red cabbage is fun to work with as the colour is so vibrant. On its own it makes a very red sauerkraut, but when it is mixed with the green cabbage, the colour fades to pink. Green cabbage used on its own will make a very pale colour.
There is no need to add anything to the sauerkraut making process except salt. The lactic forming bacteria are already present on the cabbage itself. As a rule if you want your sauerkraut to stay crisp and crunchy then add more salt. If you would like your sauerkraut to go soft and mild, then use less salt.

Kimchi
There are many different recipes for a kimchi and in the workshop we cover two types; Korean kimchi made from wong bok cabbage and a sweet kimchi made from fruit, seeds and nuts. These are all lactic ferments and people tasting these for the first time are very pleasantly surprised at not only how good it tastes but also how easy it is to make.

Fruit Wine
Almost anything can be used for wine making, but some certainly taste better than others. Wine yeast, sugar and water are the basic additives to your fruit pulp. There are other additives that can be added to improve the wine and the taste and keeping qualities can be controlled to your own liking. You can enjoy a vitamin rich wine at the end of a hard days work.
All these topics will be covered by hands on experience and there is plenty of taste testing during the day. Sourdough starter will be given to all participants as well as a hand book with all the information covered on the day. If you can gather fifteen people or more I will come out to you anywhere in South East Queensland. Cost is $75 per person and bookings can be made by contacting Elisabeth Fekonia.