GUT REACTION
LEARNS THAT THERE’S MORE TO FERMENTATION THAN JUST KIMCHI AND KOMBUCHA.
Tracy Whitmey learns all about fermentation
“WITHOUT FERMENTATION we would die,” says Connal Finlay. Gosh, I never knew. That’s exactly why Connal wanted to stage Ferment! Festival, New Zealand’s first celebration of all things fermented, which took place in March 2019. That and the desire to showcase the country’s top artisan producers in an event specifically designed to educate the public about the variety of fermented goods. “It’s not just kimchi and kombucha,” says Connal. “There’s a huge range of fermented food and beverages, but most people focus on the things that are actually fermenting in the packet or the jar.” You know what he means, those products, such as kefir, which we imagine are teeming with billions of bugs having a feeding frenzy in the bottle, all just waiting to do us good.
But think for a moment about other foods: cheese, beer, chocolate, bread, coffee, relishes, cider, miso, yoghurt, salami, cultured butter, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce… all use the biological process of fermentation at some stage of their development and that’s how they develop their unique flavour, texture and even colour.
“I realised how little people know about fermented food and beverages,” explained Connal, “and from my academic background it really, really annoys me to have false facts, or false truths, out there. So, I wanted the festival to be a place where people could meet artisan producers and really understand the products and why they are unique.”
So, first things first: what is fermentation? It’s the process of using micro-organisms, such as bacteria or yeast, to convert carbohydrates to alcohol or organic acids under anaerobic conditions. Obviously it gets more complicated after that, especially when you get into alcoholic fermentation and lactic-acid fermentation, but that’s the basics.
And why are fermented products good for you? You can’t miss the messages exhorting us to look after our gut and boost our immune system, and just a glance along the supermarket shelves, or the stalls at a farmers’ market, shows you how many products there are claiming to help you do just that. But what’s going on?
Well, there are good bacteria (probiotics) and bad bacteria, and each good bacterium fights a specific baddie. Think of your gut as a bacteria hotel; if you only eat a limited range of foods then your gut is populated by a limited range of good bacteria so when a bad bacterium checks in you may not have the right good guy to come to the rescue. Fermented foods have up to 1000 times more of the probiotics that you need in your gut ready to fight off those intruders intent on ruining your health.
But it’s not just the academic, chemistry side of things that’s interesting. Fermentation is the process that gives sourdough its tang, the hint of fruitiness in chocolate, the nuttiness wafting from coffee and it’s what puts the fizz in Champagne.
So do all fermented products taste good? Connal laughs. “There are a whole range of fermented things that are gross. For me it’s 100-year-old eggs – the smell is just too appalling. But some of the other ‘oh my gosh, crazy’ things are considered delicacies such as Icelandic hákarl (fermented shark) or fermented salmon.” He doesn’t sound too upset that a fish allergy prevents him from tasting these.
Connal is an enthusiastic supporter of New Zealand’s boutique producers. Artisans, he says, enjoy their product, delight in the story and get a kick out of sharing their knowledge with others. But he’s scathing about some large commercial companies who have jumped on the wellness train to appear as if they’re up with the latest trends and part of the green movement. “Take kombucha,” he says. “There are a lot of big companies creating kombucha these days – the supermarket shelves are crowded with them – but many of them are not real kombucha, they’re made with a kombucha concentrate, fizzy water and a lot of flavourings. Sometimes that’s what people think kombucha is, then you taste real kombucha…”
One highlight of the Ferment! Festival was a collaboration between Kōkako Coffee and Forest pop up, headed by Plabita Florence. Plabita created a fermented feijoa and coconut ice cream topped with roasted and caramelised coffee chaff – super-refreshing and zingy with a toffee-like crunch. Conall says, “It was exciting and different, definitely the talk of the town and perhaps, for me, the most enjoyable and fantastic part of the festival. It proved just how wide the fermentation game can go.”
Fermentation is the process that gives sourdough its tang, the hint of fruitiness in chocolate, the nuttiness wafting from coffee and it’s what puts the fizz in Champagne.