Alchemy in a Jar

MAKING SUMMER FLAVORS LAST ALL YEAR

ONE OF THE PURE joys of eating fresh, seasonal food is the flavor. What can compare with the taste of a ripe, juicy tomato, still warm from the summer sun? Or the crisp crunch of a garden cucumber, fresh from the vine?

Actually, something comes quite close: It’s the thrill of adding a jar of your own summer-grown tomatoes to a warming soup come January or serving a bright fruit crisp on a dull November day from peaches you picked in August. It’s the surprise of the still-sweet taste of the local corn that you froze in July or the tangy taste of pickles that you made from that prolific crop of garden cukes.

For much of history, a jar of preserved food represented a joy of a different kind, as food preservation was a necessity for survival during the cold winter months. Our ancestors had to preserve wild foods and the abundance of their harvest in root cellars or by canning, drying, curing, pickling or fermenting. A well-stocked pantry provided assurance of seeing the next spring.

Today, thankfully, a trip to the grocery store or farm market provides a steady supply of fresh and preserved foods throughout the year. Although it’s no longer a necessity, many home gardeners and market shoppers still relish the time-honored tradition of preserving food at its peak, so they can eat local and enjoy a taste of summer long after the growing season.

Water-bath canning, pressure canning, freezing and dehydrating are popular methods of food preservation. Another method is the ancient practice of fermentation, which is used around the world to make foods like dill pickles, kefir, wine, sourdough, sauerkraut, kimchi and tempeh.

If flavor and nutrition are what you’re looking for, fermentation can’t be beat, according to David Klingenberger of The Brinery, an Ann Arbor—based food production company specializing in traditional lacto-fermented foods.

“Even one or two generations ago, people often had a crock of sauerkraut in the basement. It was a tradition, and it makes food delicious. You don’t have to pressure-can it; you can make it in a mason jar at home,” he explains.

In high school, Klingenberger worked at Tantré Farm in Chelsea, which led him to an interest in food preservation, like preserving tomatoes and making jam, cheese, beer and wine. Once he learned about fermentation, he made his first batch of sauerkraut and was immediately hooked.

“Fermenting struck a chord with me. It’s alchemy,” he says. “By taking a head of cabbage and creating the right environment, it transforms into sauerkraut. It was magical to me. We are all alive on this planet because our ancestors figured out how to preserve food and make it safe to eat. It’s part of human evolution.”

For people unfamiliar with fermentation, he recommends the website wildfermentation.com and the book, The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz as a great starting point. “People get scared about doing it wrong, but fermenting vegetables is one of the safest methods of preserving foods,” he says.

In 2009, Klingenberger returned home to Ann Arbor and learned that Tantré Farm had a bumper crop of cabbage.

“I decided right then and there that I was going to start making sauerkraut,” he says. “I felt compelled to fulfill my entrepreneurial spirit and it all just kind of came together. I remembered how much I loved making sauerkraut 10 years before and it just clicked. The time was right.”

He began making it for family and friends, who liked it and wanted more. With that positive feedback under his belt, he moved forward to create a company, received his commercial food production license and started selling it at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, Zingerman’s and other local stores.

“The restaurant owners knew me and trusted me from my time as a local farmer, so the business grew rapidly in the first few years,” he says.

From the beginning, Klingenberger has supported local farmers as much as possible. As demand for his products grew, he began purchasing cabbage from Wayward Seed Farm in northwest Ohio, because they had the capacity to meet the quality and quantity of cabbage he needed—about 100,000 pounds per year. He also began working with Cherry Capital Foods to distribute his products farther in Michigan; he currently works with five distributors in seven states to make his products available in over 600 stores in the Midwest.

His signature products include sauerkraut, tempeh, pickles, hot sauce and kimchee, which he produces at the Washtenaw Food Hub with a team of seven employees. The products can be purchased from an online store (shipped every Monday, nationwide), at stores listed on his website, and at The Washtenaw Food Hub, which is open to the public every Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon.

“The thought that thousands of people have our jars in their fridge is amazing,” he says. “I’m honored and grateful to have a business that feeds and nourishes my community and to be a part of Michigan’s sustainable agricultural economy.”

“I encourage people to learn about fermenting because it connects us to our ancestors who fermented food out of necessity. Fermentation is one of the most important methods of food preservation. We’re creating life in a jar. Our identity and culture are based on many fermented foods, like cheese, bread, coffee, chocolate.”

“Food preservation allows us to capture the bounty and the freshness of the season that we’re in: A fresh strawberry in June. Cabbage in the fall. Fresh sweet corn in the summer. We’re able to capture a fresh, local ingredient and carry that into the next season, into the dark part of winter. It connects us to agriculture. By eating locally, we stay connected to farms all year round.”

The Brinery
734-780-7140
thebrinery.com

Washtenaw Food Hub
4175 Whitmore Lake Rd., Ann Arbor
washtenawfoodhub.com

WHAT IS FERMENTATION?

A few facts about fermentation, courtesy of Michigan State University Extension

What is fermentation?

Technically speaking, fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions.

In simpler terms, it means using beneficial bacteria and yeasts to preserve food and beverages. In some cases—beer, wine, pickles, sauerkraut, to name just a few—fermentation transforms raw ingredients into what we recognize as familiar foods.

How many categories of fermented foods or beverages are there?

Worldwide there are nine: bean, grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy, honey, fish, meat and tea-based concoctions.

Some of the more familiar fermented foods include: sauerkraut (fermented cabbage); yogurt (fermented milk); soy sauce made from fermented soybeans; kimchi, made from radishes, cucumbers or other vegetables; kefir, which is a drink made from milk; and kombucha, a fermented tea.

How does fermentation work?

The process of fermenting food, also called lacto-fermentation, is carried out by several strains of “good bacteria” and beneficial yeasts. Consuming foods rich in these organisms transfers their benefits to your gut. This is sometimes referred to as probiotic treatment and improves intestinal microbial balance. Studies have also shown that eating fermented foods increases vitamin intake as some microorganisms produce vitamins during the process, as well as increase the available nutrients our bodies can use.

This is an excerpt from the article: Interesting in making your own home-fermented foods? www.canr.msu.edu/news/interested_in_making_your_own_home_fermented_foods

For more information about food preservation, visit: canr.msu.edu/food_preservation

MSU Extension Free Zoom Webinar: Preserving MI Harvest — Sauerkraut: A Fermented Favorite September 22, 2022, 1—2 p.m. and 6—7 p.m. www.canr.msu.edu/events/preserving-mi-harvest-september-22