The Essential Book of Fermentation (50 page)

(From top left clockwise): grapes, elderberries, huckleberries, blueberries

In a bowl, mix 1 cup of organic all-purpose or whole wheat flour with 1 cup of water. Remove the stems from the fruit and crush the raw fruit in a separate bowl using a potato masher. Strain the crushed fruit and add ½ cup of the juice to the flour and water mixture and allow it to sit, covered with a cloth or paper towel, on the kitchen counter until the mixture bubbles, smells yeasty, and inflates with carbon dioxide given off by the yeast feasting on the fruit sugar—2 or 3 days. When the fermentation is starting to slow down, 3 or 4 days into the process, transfer this starter to a clean canning jar covered with a piece of paper towel screwed down with a canning lid band and place it in the fridge. Proceed from there following the instructions in
Bread Starter
, beginning at step 5. This starter will initially have a barely noticeable fruit taste but will be visibly more vigorous than starter made from ambient microbes because it’s getting a stronger shot of yeast from the fruit.

Resources

Local Artisanal Cheeses of Sonoma County

Local for me means Sonoma County, California, with its westernmost third composed of about five hundred square miles of lush, parklike grass and oak hills bordering the cold Pacific Ocean. The hills here and in the contiguous northern reaches of Marin County turn green each winter and spring with a gorgeous display of annual grasses and colorful wildflowers. It used to be those hills were thought too cold for growing wine grapes, and ranchers ran cattle and milk cows on them. Starting in the mid-1980s, sheep joined the cows and local sheep’s milk cheeses began to be made. By the 1990s, vintners and grape growers discovered that the cool hilltops grew world-class Pinot Noir. Today, those wonderful fermented partners, cheese and wine, flow in abundance from the west Sonoma and north Marin hills.

National Geographic
recently named the ten best places to visit around the world. Only one place in the United States was included: Sonoma County. It’s a tourist destination for many good reasons, including stunning natural beauty, great bakeries, wineries, and cheesemakers. If you plan on visiting this beautiful and fecund place, copy the following list of fromageries and be sure to do some serious sampling while you’re here.

BLESSED ARE THE CHEESEMAKERS

Availability of these producers’ products varies. Check the websites for details. All are within an hour’s drive from Santa Rosa, Sonoma County’s centrally located main city, and not much farther from San Francisco.

Achadinha Cheese Company.
Good goat cheese since 1955. www.achadinha.com

Andante Dairy.
Some of the region’s—even the country’s—best cheeses come from Soyoung Scanlon’s operation. www.andantedairy.com
Barinaga Ranch.
Marcia Barinaga’s ancestors were Basque shepherds and she makes her Txiki from raw sheep’s milk. www.barinagaranch.com
Bellwether Farms.
The Callahans’ sheep’s and cow’s milk cheeses are superb. www.bellwetherfarms.com

Bleating Heart.
Sheep’s milk cheese in spring and summer, cow’s milk Sonoma Toma in fall and winter. www.bleatingheart.com
Bodega Artisan Cheese.
A man from Peru makes the purest and silkiest goat cheese imaginable. www.bodegaartisancheese.com
Bohemian Creamery.
Époisses-like sheep’s milk cheese is seasonally available and much sought after. www.bohemiancreamery.com
Cowgirl Creamery.
Two gals in Point Reyes on the coast make luscious double and triple cream cheeses. www.cowgirlcreamery.com
Laura Chenel’s Chèvre.
Laura was one of those who started the craze for great Sonoma goat cheese. www.laurachenel.com
Marin French Cheese.
Cheeses similar to Camembert and Brie. www.marinfrenchcheese.com

Matos Cheese Factory.
No sign on the road. (707) 584-5283. No credit cards. Best to pick up Joe Matos’s excellent Portuguese-style cheese at a market.

North Bay Curds and Whey.
Alissa Shethar uses raw sheep’s and cow’s milk to make a variety of fresh and aged cheeses. www.northbaycheese.net
Point Reyes Farmstead.
Among the best blue cheeses anywhere. www.pointreyescheese.com

Ramini Mozzarella.
True water buffalo mozzarella from local animals is a new addition to the cheese scene. www.raminimozzarella.com
Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery.
Artisan goat cheese, goat yogurt, goat kefir—you get the idea. www.redwoodhill.com
Spring Hill Jersey Cheese Company.
Sells a variety of artisan cheeses and cultured butter. www.springhillcheese.com
Toluma Farms.
A goat ranch in Tomales, Marin County, bordering Sonoma. Fresh and aged goat cheese. www.tolumafarms.com
Two Rock Valley Goat Cheese.
The Italian-Swiss heritage of the owners shows in their aged and fresh goat’s milk cheeses. (707) 762-6182

Valley Ford Cheese Company.
Estero Gold is a brisk, nutty, Asiago-like cow’s milk cheese. www.valleyfordcheeseco.com
Vella Cheese Company.
One of Sonoma County’s oldest fromageries, known for its Italian-style Stravecchio cheese. www.vellacheese.com
Weirauch Farm and Creamery.
Nicely aged sheep’s and cow’s milk cheeses from their site east of Petaluma. www.weirauchfarm.com Books

Dunn, Rob.
The Wild Life of Our Bodies
. New York: HarperCollins, 2011.

Gasteiger, Daniel.
Yes You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too.
Brentwood, TN: Cool Springs Press, 2011.

Katz, Sandor Ellix.
The Art of Fermentation
. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012.

———.
Wild Fermentation.
White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2003.

Lipski, Elizabeth.
Digestive Wellness
, 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.

Websites

www.BakersCatalog.com
· Everything for the home bread baker from King Arthur Flour, P.O. Box 876, Norwich, VT 05055.

www.bodyecology.com
· Learn more about how you and your microbes work together to improve your health.

www.culturedpickleshop.com
· 800 Bancroft Way, Suite 105, Berkeley, CA 94710

www.culturesforhealth.com
· Living cultures and equipment for making a wide range of fermented foods at home.

www.dairyconnection.com
· Everything you’ll need to make cheese at home.

www.fermentersclub.com
· The Fermenters Club shares recipes and expertise, equipment and techniques. A must-visit website.

www.freestonefermentationfestival.com
· The fermentation festival is an annual event, held now at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in September (it outgrew little Freestone, a quaint village in the western part of Sonoma County).

www.getkombucha.com
· Great information about continuous brewing and equipment for sale.

www.healingspringsdrinks.com
· Jun for sale. Jun is made by Healing Springs Herbal Drinks, 18424 Harbin Springs Road, Middletown, CA 95461.

www.kombuchabrooklyn.com
· SCOBY for sale, fermenting vessels, and more.

www.kombuchakamp.com/kombucha-cultures
· Another source for fresh cultures to make kombucha and jun, and kombucha-making equipment.

www.mamakai.org
· MamaKai provides nourishment and support for growing families in the Bay Area. Home delivery of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and beverages made from local organic, biodynamic, and pasture-raised ingredients. Telephone (510) 325-4785.

www.midwestsupplies.com
· Whatever the home brewer of beer and ale needs, this place has.

www.myspicesage.com
· A source for teff flour for making injera, a fermented Ethiopian bread.

www.nourishedkitchen.com
· A good-looking website with lots of recipes including fermented foods.

www.rareseeds.com
· Grow your own cucumbers from this catalog, then make your own fermented pickles.

www.redboatfishsauce.com
· Make organic kimchi at home with a bottle of this fish sauce for flavoring.

www.southrivermiso.com/store/p/13-Organic-Brown-Rice-Koji.html
· A source for koji rice to make your own miso.

www.yemoos.com
· Sells milk and water kefir grains and supplies. I ordered my kefir grains here and am well pleased.

www.yourwildlife.org
· A great website, especially for young folks, dedicated to “exploring the wildlife that lives on us, in us, and around us.”

References

Aris, A., and S. Leblanc. “Maternal and Fetal Exposure to Pesticides Associated to Genetically Modified Foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.”
Reproductive Toxicology
31, no. 4 (May 2011): 528–33.

Bisson, L. F. “Biotechnological Modification of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
: Strategies for the Enhancement of Wine Quality.” In Jean-Richard Neeser and J. Bruce German, eds.,
Bioprocesses and Biotechnology for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals
(New York: Marcel Dekker, 2004): 68–87.

Fierer, N., M. Hamady, C. L. Lauber, and R. Knight. “The Influence of Sex, Handedness, and Washing on the Diversity of Hand Surface Bacteria.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
105, no. 46 (November 18, 2008): 17994–99.

Gill, S. R., M. Pop, R. T. Deboy, P. B. Eckburg, P. J. Turnbaugh,
et al.
“Metagenomic Analysis of the Distal Gut Microbiome.”
Science
312, no. 5778 (June 2, 2006): 1355–59.

Ley, R. E., C. A. Lozupone, M. Hamady, R. Knight, and J. I. Gordon. “Worlds Within Worlds: Evolution of the Vertebrate Gut Microbiota.”
Nature Reviews Microbiology
6 (2008b): 776–88.

Ley, R. E., P. J. Turnbaugh, S. Klein, J. I. Gordon,
et al.
“Human Gut Microbes Associated with Obesity.”
Nature
444, no. 7122 (December 21, 2006): 1022–23.

Li, M., B. Wang, M. Zhang, M. Rantalainen, S. Wang, H. Zhou,
et al.
“Symbiotic Gut Microbes Modulate Human Metabolic Phenotypes.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
105, no. 6 (February 12, 2008): 2117–23.

Marcy, Y., C. Ouverney, E. M. Bik, T. Lösekann, N. Ivanova, et. al. “Dissecting Biological ‘Dark Matter’ with Single Cell Genetic Analysis of Rare and Uncultivated TM7 Microbes from the Human Mouth.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA
104, no. 29 (July 17, 2007): 11889–94.

Mira, A., R. Rushker, and F. Rodriguez-Valera. “The Neolithic Revolution of Bacterial Genomes.”
Trends in Microbiology
14, no. 5 (May 2006): 200–206.

Rawls, J. F., et. al. “Reciprocal Gut Microbiota Transplants from Zebrafish and Mice to Germ-Free Recipients Reveal Host Habitat Selection.”
Cell
127, no. 2 (October 20, 2006): 423–33.

Reganold, J. P., P. K. Andrews, J. R. Reeve, L. Carpenter-Boggs,
et al.
“Fruit and Soil Quality of Organic and Conventional Strawberry Agroecosystems.”
PLOS ONE
5, no. 9 (2010): e12346.

Savage, D.C. “Microbial Ecology of the Gastrointestinal Tract.”
Annual Review of Microbiology
31 (1997): 107–33.