Page 90 - Summer 2017 Journal

Food Feature
MY KOMBUCHA JOURNEY: I LOVE KOMBUCHA...NOW! By Elaine Michaels
Kombucha contains various strains of beneficial bacteria and yeasts.
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The first time I tasted kombucha was some years ago at a Weston A. Price Foundation con- ference, where one of the vendors was offering samples. One sip of a promising-looking sample was as far as I got. Although other flavors were available to taste, I could not bring myself to try even one more. I walked away with a funny look on my face, thinking, “Maybe this is a healthy drink, but I sure don’t like it.” In the years since that first awkward encounter, however, I have learned some simple lessons. Now not only do I enjoy drinking kombucha, but I also make it.
CURIOSITY ABOUT FERMENTATION
I have always been an advocate of real food. I ate and cooked from scratch for a good part of my life. Because I raised my children on acreage, eating real food on a daily basis, I have spent a lot of time experimenting with different ways of doing things. When I became an advocate of the Weston A. Price Foundation and its philosophies, I discovered and became
interested in fermenting foods.
For my first fermentation project, I tackled
making sauerkraut. Our garden was one-hun- dred-by-one-hundred feet, and what else do you do with a one-hundred-foot row of cabbage?! After making the sauerkraut, I left it to ferment in a huge crock in my basement. At the time, I also was learning how to can foods and was extremely careful about my canning methods. I had read about the deadly dangers of botulism and knew that it was important to follow can- ning directions exactly. When I checked on my fermenting sauerkraut and saw a layer of white film on top, I was a little unsettled. To be safe, I canned my sauerkraut after it had fermented, not realizing that canning killed all the benefi- cial bacteria that the fermentation process had encouraged!
Fast forward a few years. Fermentation was still on my mind periodically, but I didn’t have
a clue how to do it safely. When a Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader told me about a weekend-long fermentation class and certifica- tion opportunity offered by Immunitrition in Chicago, I was intrigued. I knew that I could probably get my questions about fermentation answered if I took the course—so off I went. I remember watching the teacher talk while gal- lons of milk sat out on the counter. Although I initially was a little uncomfortable looking at those unrefrigerated jugs of milk, I soon became confident that the instructor knew what she was doing. At the close of that wonderful long weekend, I became a Certified Healing Foods Specialist, and when I got home, I immediately put what I had learned into practice. I have been experimenting with and perfecting my fermenta- tion techniques ever since.
Around that time, I read an article by Dr. Fred Breidt, a microbiologist and fermentation expert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In the article, Breidt assured readers that he knew of not one sickness caused by properly fermented foods. Breidt describes vegetable fermentation as “almost bulletproof” due to the ability of lactic acid (formed during fermentation) “to hunt down and kill any harmful bacteria that might be present.”1 Breidt’s comments seemed both amazing and unreal, given how frequently one hears about food contamination involving unfermented foods.
GIVING KOMBUCHA ANOTHER TRY
As time passed, I read more about kombucha, learning that kombucha contains various strains of beneficial bacteria and yeasts. (I now call these “good germies.”) I became determined to find a variety of kombucha that I liked. I noticed that our local grocery store had a few brands, but I also saw that these were not cheap. I was deter- mined to find a kombucha that I liked however so I bought a few. Most of them did not impress
Wise Traditions
SUMMER 2017