Things You Didn’t Know About Fermentation

Is Sonoma County the “Fermentation Capital of the World”? This is just one of the topics covered in the second video in our Sonoma County Culture of Good series where we look at businesses and organizations doing good in Sonoma County.

This video features Jennifer Harris, Fermentation Consultant and Coordinator of the Farm to Fermentation Festival.

Some of the things I learned during this project:
• Including fermented foods/drinks is one of the most important parts of a healthy diet
• Fermented foods include a lot more than beer, wine, pickles and cheese: try chocolate, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, and kefir.
• Sonoma County, California has a flourishing Fermentation Movement that includes both companies and home fermenters thanks to the combination of a huge DIY movement combined with enthusiastic foodies inspired by our wine industry (this topic will be covered in more detail in a subsequent video).

I also learned there’s a difference between sauerkraut and pickles that you find on the shelves (which have been pasteurized) and those in the refrigerated section that still include the live probiotics.

Also, most people familiar with kefir know the yogurt version but there is another delicious brand of kefir that is more like a soda — sweet and bubbly. We’ll be doing a future video about this when we feature The Kefiry in Sebastopol, California.

I hope this little project helps enlighten more people about this growing health trend.

This Medium post by Kurt Hoffmann, principal at Abra, a creative marketing agency in Santa Rosa, California.