The Flair of Fermentation

by

Food & Dining

The food preservation technique has become a culinary craze…but it’s been brewing locally for some time 

We have fermentation masters in our midst!

On any given weekend at the Anne Arundel County Farmers’ Market along Riva Road in Annapolis you will see lines of customers at Oksana Bocharova’s booth buying her fermented and pickled goods along with her other organic produce. A very popular farmer operating throughout Annapolis, Washington, D.C., and the Eastern Shore, Bocharova uses traditional fermentation techniques and family recipes passed down through her family, reflecting her Russian heritage.

Bocharova’s life experiences served as inspiration for her shift from agronomy to fermentation. Her mother taught her traditional food preservation methods—like making sauerkraut—while she was growing up on a communal farm in Russia. After relocating to Maryland and establishing her organic farm, Oksana’s Produce Farm, she began producing her mother’s sauerkraut recipe for friends. Bocharova saw fermentation as an opportunity to respect her ancestry while broadening her offerings. She was encouraged to market her fermented products by a local restaurant owner. Bocharova’s enthusiasm for sustainable farming and soil health aligned with the nutrient-dense advantages of fermented foods.

About Fermentation

Traditional fermentation has been utilized for thousands of years to enhance the taste of raw foods, extend shelf life, improve safety, and increase the natural microbiome of the human gut. Fermented foods and drinks are naturally fueled with probiotics and abundant with beneficial bacteria that help nourish the digestive system.

Conventional fermentation does not use heat or vinegar to obtain the fermented state. Lactic acid and acetic acid are two powerful catalysts which occur during the process of heatless fermentation. Continuing research reveals more and more evidence about the powerful connection between gut health and overall well-being.

Today, most items sold as “pickled” that you find in grocery stores are heat pasteurized using acetic acid (vinegar), are shelf stable, and found unrefrigerated. When food is heat pasteurized, it kills the nutrients, enzymes, and anything pathogenic that can make us sick, as well as the good bacteria. This is great for long transport, extends consumption for months, allows foods to be kept in non-air-conditioned environments (think areas of the world like the tropics), and gives inventory flexibility to minor and major grocery stores. 

However, these “pickles” are no longer considered “living foods” and while tasty for a lover of anything sour, they won’t give the full benefit of consuming traditionally fermented foods, found in the refrigerated sections of the store or, in some areas of the world, found unrefrigerated and unpasteurized (pickles sold in Japanese traditional markets like nuka nuke or takuan, or in Central America with cortidos and chileros).

Traditionally fermented foods using lactobacillus fermentation, which is the primary fermentation method for vegetables and some fruits, should be labeled unpasteurized, no heat/no vinegar, and found in the cold section (or sold unrefrigerated like at a farmers’ market, then best kept cold). Ingredients should only contain the produce in the product and sea salt—nothing else. 

The sour or tart taste is from lactic acid, created by the transformation of bacteria found on the skins and surfaces of fruits and vegetables. When the sea salt and the water from the produce combine, a brine is created and the bacteria essentially wake-up, and begin actively consuming and converting proteins, starches, sugars into lactic acid. Thus, creating a live cultured food rich in beneficial bacteria, unlocking nutrients and enzymes in the fruits and vegetables, and creating a nutrient dense ferment. 

In short, heat processing deadens foods, while traditional fermentation gives foods new life, added nutrient power, immune system benefits, and gut-brain axis benefits, to name a few. 

Farm to Market

Interacting with the community is important to Bocharova. She offers lacto-fermentation classes and also conducts farm-to-table dinners from April to October at her farm in Chestertown. Every dinner has a unique theme that incorporates what is currently available from her farm fields. She states, “Anything that’s not available from our farm, such as meats, we acquire from our network of local farms.”

Bacharova has a large offering of fermented products made from the organic produce she grows: curtido (spicy Salvadoran slaw with cabbage, carrots, and spices), traditional Thai sauerkraut, Russian sauerkraut, pink sapphire sauerkraut, apple-cranberry sauerkraut, curried cauliflower, radish kimchi, and the very popular “gut punch” (bottled brines from sauerkrauts and kimchi). Nine pickled items are also offered such as the highly-popular pickled garlic mushrooms with a wallop of fresh garlic. Bacharova sells her products at many farmers’ markets on the western and eastern shores. Check her website for market locations and dates: oksanasproduce.com.

Gut Reaction

Meaghan and Shane Carpenter are serious about fermented foods and drinks. The couple founded Baltimore-based HEX Ferments in 2013. They learned how to preserve and can food at an early age and grew up with the produce from their parents’ vegetable gardens. Their commercial endeavor would eventually be influenced by this early exposure to sour, fermented foods.

Like Bacharova’s operation, HEX Ferments also prides itself on creating small batch, organic fermented vegetables. Their bounty currently: unique sauerkraut, kimchi, seasonal ferments, and kombucha tea. They generally offer eight varieties of sauerkraut and fermented vegetables and five varieties of kombucha.

When the couple started giving samples of their fermented goods to guests at events, their business took off naturally. The favorable reaction resulted in unofficial orders for their products, with customers asking for certain products like “pink kombucha” or “purple kraut.” The Carpenters were inspired to take the business more seriously by this unforeseen demand. 

Meaghan found inspiration from the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz, which she first learned about through the co-op where she worked. Since then, they’ve visited Sandor’s farm in Tennessee and have been mentored by him, along with another husband-wife fermentation team from the Cultured Pickle Shop in Berkeley, California.

Meaghan states, “It was obvious we needed to bring our love and growing knowledge of fermentation to a larger audience. We had already been scheming about some sort of food biz, but we were not sure which way to go—farming, food processing, both? What was needed in our community? Inspired by Sandor’s ‘Choppers Choice’ approach, we started teaching workshops on canning, fermenting, freezing, and dehydrating in our home.”

“Very quickly people grew increasingly interested in the role of fermented foods in our diets, the plethora of health benefits and above all, the taste and way it made them feel,” Meaghan continues. “They were interested in learning how to ferment for themselves, but mostly they wanted to know, ‘Can we just buy your ferments?’”

The founders associated the term “HEX” with the protective and supportive qualities of fermented foods for body health, drawing inspiration from Pennsylvania Dutch hexology folklore, which employs signs and symbols for protection. Since its founding, HEX Ferments has expanded dramatically, concentrating on producing distinctive fermented foods using organic, locally-sourced ingredients and have also opened their carefully curated store, Hex Superette on York Avenue in Baltimore. Learn more about HEX Ferments at hexferments.com.

These are but two operations of a growing business community in the Chesapeake region that highlight and educate on how the culinary art of fermentation supports cultural traditions, nutrition, eco-friendly farming, products, and overall sustainability.

Getting interested in studying fermentation on your own? In addition to the classes you can take with the businesses featured herein, check out the University of Maryland’s Fermentation Science degree at nfsc.umd.edu/undergraduate/fermentation-science.

The “Fermentation Bible”

Sandor Katz’s books, particularly The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation, are widely regarded as the gold standard of fermentation literature. His work has been described as a “fermentation bible” and praised for its comprehensive coverage of traditional techniques, cultural history, and practical guidance for both beginners and experts. His term “Choppers Choice” is his method of instruction at his School for Wild Fermentation in Tennessee, which places a strong emphasis on practical experience and fermentation trials. By letting participants chop components and decide what to ferment and how, this method fosters active participation in the process.

Rita Calvert has close to three decades in the food, media production, marketing, and public relations fields. She has created myriad programs, events, cooking sessions on national television for corporations, the stage for cookbooks, and founded the original Annapolis School of Cooking.