A Fermented Feast

The Raw and the Rotten (3)

An increasing number of contemporary chefs exploit fermentation for flavors. The Art of Fermentation (2012), by David Katz was a benchmark in this regard; this book instigated a widespread do it yourself movement, where the doing was done at home. Inspired, in part, by this movement, several entrepreneurs scaled things up and created fermentation laboratories, where experimentation is rampant. Some of those entrepreneurs were themselves prominent chefs, including David Chang of Momofuku in New York City and Rene Redzepi, whose Noma restaurant in Copenhagen was rated the world’s best in 2021. Chang, and particularly Redzepi dived deep into the microbes, experimenting with new combinations of molds, yeast and LAB to create novel flavor. You can’t be a foody now without knowing something about fermentation

Katz was particularly instrumental in bringing widespread attention to artisanal fermented foods from around the world, revealing some of the staggering diversity. This diversity reflects culture-specific creativity and ingenuity. It also reflects the wide variety of raw materials that can be exploited for fermentation. In fact, any organic substance can be fermented, whether derived from plant or animal.

Plant-Based Raw Material

Fruits provide the most celebrated fermented products in the form of alcoholic beverages called wines. Any fruit with sufficient sugar can be made into a wine. In the Western world grape wines and ciders are the most familiar.  Wine grapes have spread from their birthplace in Transcaucasia, throughout the southern half of Europe, to virtually all of the United States, much of South America, North and South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Most recently China has embraced grape wine and will soon become the largest producer in the world.

But elsewhere Date wines (from North Africa), banana wines (Africa), jackfruit wines (South India), Cashew wines—from the fruit not the nut— (Central America and Northern South America),  cactus fruit wines (American southwest) are treasured. The first wines for which there is archaeological evidence, were made from figs. Other fruits are fermented for non-alcoholic consumption, including, olives and cacao, the source of chocolate. Coffee made by the traditional “dry method” also requires fermentation that is partly alcoholic, the source of their wine-like aromas.

The seeds of certain plants are also fermented, notably members of the grass family (Poaceae) such as wheat, barley, millet, maize and rye, which are fermented into breads and beers. African grains such as teff, sorghum and pearl millet are the backbone of most African diets in their fermented manifestations as beers and porridges. Rice, another grass, is fermented into many products in Asia, usually with molds, yeast and LAB.  Sake and Sochu are produced through a complex fermentation involving the synergistic interactions of the mold, Aspergillus, LAB, and brewer’s yeast. Fermented soy beans are a staple of East Asian culture, the base for soy sauce, miso, chao (fermented tofu) and natto. Tempeh, another fermented soy product, is the tofu of Indonesia, made with the mold Rhizopus, rather than Aspergillus. In India you will find a variety of foods from fermented batters consisting of a mixture of rice and legumes. Idli and dosa are among the most familiar.

Plant saps have long been fermented into alcoholic beverages; the oldest come from several palm species. Palm wine is a central cultural element in West Africa. It is also celebrated throughout Southeast Asia, and in India under the name “toddy”.  The sap of sugar cane is fermented in many tropical areas, especially the Philippines, where it is made into a popular drink called “basi”. The fermentation of sugar cane sap is also the first step in the production of Brazilian cachaça and French Caribbean rum agricole. (True rum is made from molasses, dregs from the sugar refining process.) Mexican Pulque, the fermented sap of agave, was produced long before the arrival of Europeans. Indigenous Australians fermented the sap of a Eucalyptus tree called the cider gum.

The roots and leaves are the parts of plants most likely to be called vegetables. Fermented leafy vegetables include gundruk, a national dish of Nepal, Korean kimchi and the European sauerkraut extolled by Captain Cook. Most tea leaves are not fermented but some of the most celebrated Chinese black teas are. And then there is Kombucha. This fermented tea is produced from a special mixture of acetic acid bacteria (AAB) and yeasts called SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts) that is cultured in naturally little gelatinized packages. Kombucha is one of several fermented beverages that have recently become popular in the west for their health benefits.

Kimchi is also made from radishes, a root vegetable. Throughout East Asia, other root vegetables are “pickled”, such as daikon, carrots and turnips. Traditional Asian pickling, in contrast to industrialized western methods, always involves lactic acid fermentation, not just brine and/or vinegar. Taro is an important root crop in Southeast Asia and Polynesia; it is fermented into beers and Hawaiian poi. In Amazonia and much of tropical Africa, the roots of manioc are fermented into beers and porridges. The fermentation both detoxifies the manioc, by removing cyanide, and adds essential nutrients to this otherwise extremely un-nutritious food source.

Vinegars are a diverse category of fermented products, used for seasoning, pickling, marinades, and as a key component of a variety of condiments, including ketchup, hot sauces and mustard. Any plant material that can be fermented into alcohol—e.g. grains, fruits and saps--can be made into a vinegar. In fact, that is the normal course of development of these products, the terminal phase, if you will. The key actors are acetic acid bacteria. AAB which, unlike most other fermenting microbes, operate quite well in the presence of oxygen. AAB, convert alcohol into acetic acid, which is much more acidic than lactic acid.

In Europe, most fruit vinegars are made from cider or grape wine. The most coveted are the red wine vinegars, called balsamic, of the Emilia-Romagna province in Italy. These atypical vinegars, which retain lots of residual sugar, are aged for at least 12 years. Elsewhere, vinegar is made from coconut, popular in the Philippines; in Korea, persimmon vinegar is a favorite, while on the other side of Asia, in the Mideast, dates and pomegranates are favored. In Mexico and Central America, a variety of vinegars are made from pineapples.

Grain vinegars are made from the same source material as beers. The malt vinegars beloved of fish and chips enthusiasts are atypical in that they are less sour than most vinegars because the AAB fermentation is arrested. Rice vinegars are popular in East and Southeast Asia. In China, other grains are also added, including wheat, millet and sorghum, to make their famous black vinegars. Zhenjiang is a black vinegar of particular renown. Each batch is started with a “mother” from the previous. Some Zhenjiang mothering extends back thousands of years in an unbroken lineage.

Other vinegars are produced from fermented saps. The Philippines produces a particularly wide variety of sap-based vinegars, including three distinct palm sap vinegars and a sugar cane vinegar. Currently, many inexpensive white vinegars are made from milk whey. Kombucha can also be considered a vinegar, though one in a class of its own.

Fermented Animal Products

Fermented animal products are important dietary staples in many contemporary cultures, including, of course, foragers. Milk, though, is an animal product that was not available to foragers. The diversity of milk sources is quite remarkable: goats, sheep, horses, yaks, water buffalo, camels and reindeer are all important milk producers for one culture or another. Cattle, though, are the most prolific milk producers worldwide.

Recent research suggests that milking occurred surprisingly early in the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats. The first cattle milkers did not consume their milk raw, but rather in a fermented form, most commonly yogurts and cheeses. The same was true of goat and sheep milk. The range of cheeses and yogurts has expanded ever since. De Gaulle famously asked, “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”. And that doesn’t include limburger, which comes from Belgium, albeit the French speaking part.

Elsewhere, people have fermented milk in other ways. Kefir, for example, is a traditional fermented beverage in Russia and eastern Europe, made from cow, goat or sheep milk. This is primarily an acidic (LAB) fermentation but there is an alcoholic element as well, provided by the yeast. Like kombucha, kefir has recently become popular in the West, touted for its probiotic properties. On the Steppes of Central Asia, horse milk was and is fermented into a beverage called koumiss. In this case, the yeasts are more prominent, and koumiss is considered an alcoholic beverage, but the sour taste also reflects a significant LAB contribution.

Fermented meat consumption is not confined to foragers. Most familiar to westerners are diverse traditional sausages, which are made from the ground meat of pigs, beef and sheep. The primary fermenters are LAB, but various yeasts and other fungi are also essential. Among the traditionally fermented sausages are a number of dry sausages, often called salamis, from Southern Europe, and semi dry sausages from Northern Europe. But fermented sausages of one form or another are made throughout the world.

Unbeknownst to most, both dry cured hams and the dry-aged beef steaks--popular with foodies for their tenderness, juiciness and concentrated flavor--are encrusted with fermentative bacteria, yeast and molds. These microbial communities both protect the meat from spoilage and contribute to the aging process by means of enzymes that break down meat proteins such as the muscle fiber, myosin.

Fish are frequently fermented in diverse cultures worldwide. Fermented fish products of the sort that disgusted European explorers continue to be an important source of sustenance for arctic and subarctic peoples. Milder forms have been made in the West since Roman times, when a fermented fish sauce called garum was added to most dishes. In Southeast Asia, fermented fish sauces and pastes are especially valued. Though They have a pungency that violates European culinary norms, any expat Thai will go to great lengths to get these items from the homeland. The brother of a Thai friend of mine made his living smuggling fermented fish (and shrimp) paste to his compatriots in Los Angeles, no easy endeavor when you consider the odor that needed to be masked lest he be unmasked. (For the return trip to Thailand he smuggled Levi’s jeans.). Fish-based fermented sauces and pastes are also popular in tropical Africa, and every bit as challenging to Western diners.

Northern Europe has a long history of fermenting fish that are consumed whole, sometimes sans innards. Norwegians are justifiably proud of their rakfisk, fermented char or trout. In Iceland they ferment the flesh of Greenland sharks into a food called hakarl, often referred to by non-enthusiasts as rotten shark. This “national dish” of Iceland is made in the same manner as the meat offered to Melville by the Yakut: buried for months to ripen. The Swedes are fond of fermented herring, called surstromming, said to be the most putrid smelling food in the world. Another candidate is Korean hongeohoe, a fermented skate. Hongeohoe is reported to have an olfactory character resembling an outhouse.

Scandinavian fermented fishes reflect a long tradition dating back to the Paleolithic, long before the advent of farming. The purest expressions of this tradition are found even farther north among subarctic and arctic cultures. One widely repressed fermented food was disdainfully christened “stinkhead” by European explorers. Stinkhead, as the name implies, is made from fish heads. These are buried for extended periods, at the end of which they are ready for special celebrations.

Of the few remaining pure foraging peoples are some Inuit populations in Greenland. One of their fermented foods, called kiviak, has achieved particular notoriety of late, as “the most disgusting food in the world”. (According to European palates of course.) It is made from small seabirds called auks, dozens of which are placed into a seal or walrus skin, which is then sewed, sealed with seal fat and buried for 6-8 months. When exhumed, little of the auk is recognizable except the beak and feet, which provide convenient handholds. The rest of the bird has a consistency of liquidy aspic. Like stinkhead, the newly unearthed kiviak is cause for celebration.

Finally, there is that singular substance called honey, which results from a unique collaboration of plant, in the form of nectar, and animal--the metabolism of bees. Mead is often touted, mistakenly, I believe, as the first fermented beverage. Mead requires a long fermentation, if it is pure honey. Pure meads are relatively rare today, though still reasonably common in eastern Europe. Polish Poltorak is an exemplar. Fruits of various sorts are now added to most honey ferments, in part to accelerate the fermentation. Fruit augmented meads are called melomels. When grains are added—which also speeds up fermentation-- we have a braggot, a medieval northern European favorite that is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Another class of meads is metheglin, for which spices and herbs are added. One noteworthy metheglin is tej, which has been made in Ethiopia for over 4,000 years. Tej is fermented with gesho, a hops-like bittering agent.

What about honey vinegar? I had never heard of such but out of curiosity I googled it, and not to my complete surprise found quite a few examples for sale. I plan to try some soon. Surstromming and hongeohoe are lower on my list of priorities. My enculturation and concomitant disgust response preclude them.

Fully one third of the calories consumed worldwide today come from fermented foods, yet they are oddly neglected in discussions of what constitutes a healthy diet.  Recently, a few, such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha have entered the conversation because of their probiotic effects. Most other benefits of fermentation receive little attention in popular diets, from Vegan to Paleo. One exception, the Japanese Diet, is distinctly non-Western.

Fermentation and Food Security

The disdain for the fermented by Paleos and many Vegans is partly due to the mistaken idea that fermented foods are recent inventions to which we are biologically mismatched. In fact, no dietary component better suits are guts than fermented foods. Fermentation, especially LAB fermentation, outsources much of the work done by our gut microbiomes. And far from being recent inventions, modern fermented foods have an ancient pedigree, long pre-dating agricultural. As a species, we entered the evolutionary stage consuming fermented foods.