WHAT'S WITH ALL THE CHAT ABOUT MOTHER?

On November 4th, the P4HC:NC, in partnership with Parkland Recreation, hosted the 1st Fermented Food Workshop lead by Esther Mann.

Considered to be “live food", fermented foods have a natural tart flavour because the sugars and carbohydrates have been broken down and used up during fermentation.” In the case of vegetables, they’re more digestible than raw ones. And, because they contain “living bacteria,” they help digest other foods in the digestive tract.

Fermented foods are foods that have been through a process of lactofermentation in which natural bacteria feed on the sugar and starch in the food creating lactic acid.  
 This process preserves the food, and creates beneficial enzymes, b-vitamins, Omega-3 fatty acids, and various strains of probiotics.Many vegetables are excellent candidates for fermentation including cabbage, daikon radishes, turnips, parsnips, cucumbers, okra, string beans and green tomatoes.


Esther also shared with the participants how to make Kombucha tea using a "Scoby" (an acronym for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast). Scooby is a culture, generally associated with kombucha production wherein anaerobic ethanol fermentation (by yeast), anaerobic organic acid fermentation (by bacteria), and aerobic ethanol oxidation to acetate (by bacteria) all take place concurrently along an oxygen gradient. A gelatinous, cellulose-based biofilm forms at the air-liquid interface and is also sometimes referred to as a SCOBY.  A scoby is used to begin fermentation in Kombucha Tea.

Scoby is similar to Mother of Vinegar ("Mother" or "MOV") in Apple Cider Vinegar which is is essentially a fermenting bacteria culture used to make vinegar — an acetobacter that develops in fermenting alcohol and converts the ethanol into acetic acid (what gives vinegar its sour taste) in the presence of oxygen. 

Our next Fermentation Workshop is scheduled for Sunday, November 12th at Barlow Creek Hall.