“Fermentation increases the nutritional value of food,” said Kraut Queen Nadia Ernestus, owner of Hamptons Brine, at her fermentation class at the Amagansett Farmers Market. Behind her, a head of cabbage, lemons, ginger, cayenne peppers, beets, honey, a box of kosher salt and a few glass jars sat on a folding table.“I was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes,” she said, “They wanted to give me medicine but I said, ‘Give me three months to bring it down.’”
“Adult onset diabetes,” is an all-too-common metabolic disease that varies greatly in severity between individuals. Basically the body does not use insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, properly.
Insulin should signal the cells to absorb glucose, a type of sugar that our bodies use to make energy. If cells don’t get that memo, sugar collects in the bloodstream, creating insulin resistance.
The more sugars we consume, the worse the condition gets. Sugar is a carbohydrate so even if you’re eating a lot of cooked vegetables, you still may be contributing to the problem without even realizing it.
The glycemic index rates carbohydrates in different types of food, ranging on a scale from zero to 100, with 100 being pure sugar in the form of glucose. “Raw cauliflower has a low number and cooked cauliflower has a higher number,” said Ms. Ernestus.
“It’s soft because it loses fiber,” she said. Fiber has a way of mitigating sugar in the blood by slowing down the digestion of carbohydrates.
Bottom line: “You gotta eat a lot of raw vegetables.” After three months of following her own advice, her blood sugar was fine and she never had a problem again. She eats a small amount of fermented food with every meal.
Another revelation came in the form of a New York Times magazine article, “Some of My Best Friends Are Germs,” written by Michael Pollan in 2013. She waved her tattered copy like a national flag.
Many stories on bacteria and the gut biome followed and Ms. Ernestus wondered if it was a fad, like kale. “It isn’t,” she said.
“There is no such thing as bad bacteria,” she said, “Diversity equals healthy.”
Balance is the key. “E Coli is present in everybody, yet some get sick and others don’t.”
Preservatives in processed foods, pesticides and GMO foods which have pesticides “built-into” the seeds, chlorine and antibiotics all add up to an imbalance of bacteria in the gut. We now know that this can even affect mood and the way the brain operates.
Not to mention, “everything is sterilized,” she said, “We are not exposed to a lot of bacteria.”
And that is why the group had gathered on a rainy Sunday in October. “Sauerkraut has up to 1,000 different strains of bacteria.”
And it contains 70 times the amount of bio available vitamin C than cabbage. “Micro-strains in natural ferments make sure everything gets absorbed,” she said.
After a short rant on how the medical community is motivated by profit rather than true health, Ms. Ernestus turned to cooking. Unlike many people who ferment, she does not use a “starter,” or microbiological culture to start the process.
“Wild yeast is everywhere, in the air, on your hands and on the vegetables, whether you wash or not,” she said.
During fermentation, salt kills “bad” bacteria, or pathogens. “Put more salt than less.”
That said, she took a knife to her head of cabbage and sliced that baby in the blink of an eye. “Big slices keep it crispy,” she said. Before slicing, she peeled a few layers of whole leaves off the top and set them aside.
She sliced an unpeeled white beet and a few peppers and shoved everything into a gallon-sized glass jar. Then she added one-third cup of salt and water (leaving an inch of liquid over the vegetables) and tucked the large cabbage leaves on top to keep everything down.
“And then we do this,” she said, placing a drinking glass on top of the cabbage leaves. The glass acts as a weight and a lid.
If a real lid was used, the pressure from the fermentation process would be too much and an explosion could occur. “You can use a rock too,” she said.
Pretty darn simple. Just be sure to use enough salt and that the vegetables are completely submerged. Leave it on a counter for about ten days before putting it in the refrigerator, with the lid on the jar. Other than that, there are no other rules.
“It’s alive. It has a mind of its own,” Ms. Ernestus said. Experimentation is the fermenter’s best friend.
For a special treat, honey can be used to ferment, especially fruits. “Bacteria doesn’t grow in honey because the consistency kind of chokes it,” she said.
She demonstrated how to make cough “medicine” by fermenting lemon and ginger in honey, but this time, she put the lid on the jar. “Turn it upside down twice a day and burp it, allowing just a little air into the jar, until it bubbles,” she said. Timing is different for every fruit. Raspberries will bubble in only one day.
After the “cooking” lesson, the group got to taste corn, green bean, snap pea, pomegranate, mulberry and peach ferments.
Tasting is the key to any fermentation process. “Taste it every day. The brine should taste like ocean water or tears,” she said, “I did ferment in ocean water.”
Of course she did. They don’t call her the Kraut Queen for nothing.
Ms. Ernestus suggested the book “The Art of Fermentation,” by Sandor Ellix Katz and “Wild Fermentation,” a Facebook group with over 50,000 members, as great resources.
Check out “Hamptons Brine” Facebook page for future class announcements. By the way, Hamptons Brine products, which can be purchased at the Amagansett Farmers Market, have received a “NOFA-NY Certified Organic Certificate,” so congratulations are in order.
Also, check out Amagansett Food Institute’s first Fall Festival at the Amagansett Farmer’s Market on October 24 from noon to 4 p.m., featuring local food, beverages, music, pumpkin carving, apple bobbing, corn tossing and a preserving workshop.
Staff Writer on Oct 12, 2015