Market fermentation

(L-R) Alex Currie and Jenna Empey prepare for a workshop on making kimchi.

Workshop showcases the craft and health benefits of kimchi and sauerkraut

If you visit Penny’s Pantry for an evening workshop, you’ll be led through a pantry full of organic flours, beans, oils, dried fruit and nuts and into a homey kitchen. There, you may learn anything from how to use grains and gluten-free recipes to making microgreens and kombucha.

When Penny Morris first opened her shop, tucked away just off Main Street in Picton, she thought she could outdo Bulk Barn.

It was not meant to be. Not because Morris was unsuccessful—the Pantry has been popular with local and regional residents for the nearly four years it’s been open. Her business simply did not evolve that way.

Instead, the shop became a haven for those seeking ways to take control of their health and learn how to make their own food better.

It began with informal sharing. Morris would offer slips of paper with recipes, or chat with customers about techniques. Then she started sending out an email newsletter with tips and recipes she’d tried out. But customers wanted more.

“It was kind of a process of sharing in the small way, and then that got bigger with emails, and then people, I think, just asked me, “well, can you show me, can you teach me?” I do have a teaching background, both continuing education with adults, as well as, I’m an early childhood educator,” says Morris. “It’s always been important to me in today’s society that we teach children how to prepare their own food. There isn’t a study around that doesn’t say the best way to eat healthy is to make your own. Stay right away from the processed foods.”

So Morris began hosting workshops. Some she runs herself, using know-how gleaned from research and experience. Others are run by locals operating small food businesses, experts in their fields. They’re priced to be an affordable, accessible way for locals and visitors to learn about making healthy foods, says Morris.

FERMENTATION
Last week, Morris hosted Jenna Empey and Alex Currie of Pyramid Farms and Ferments, teaching a group of nine people to make kimchi and sauerkraut.

After a quick lesson on the virtues of the ancient snack—raw fermented cabbage, when prepared properly, has much higher concentration of healthy intestinal bacteria than yoghurt—participants got busy mixing salt, spice and greens, mashing and massaging cabbage, and leaving with jars of soon-to-be sauerkraut.

It’s the second time Morris has hosted the kimchi and sauerkraut workshop, which Empey and Currie also run elsewhere. They will be back in the spring for a workshop on making their version of the fermented drink known as kombucha.

Currie doesn’t worry teaching people to make their own ferments will affect his family’s business.

“It’s a really good way for us to spread the word. People can make it at home, and it’s easy. We just like to show that it’s fine, because a lot of people are a little apprehensive about making it themselves. So what better way to learn than hands-on? There’s a lot more people out there,” says Currie. “The internet is there, you can learn anything you want on the internet. Why guard stuff like this? It’s not a secret; it’s an art of preserving food. It’s cool to teach people to do it properly.”