Humans all over the world have been fermenting food since ancient times. The earliest evidence of winemaking dates back to eight thousand years ago in the Caucasus area of Georgia.

It’s very recent that fermented foods have begun to disappear from our plate. Modern pickles and sauerkraut are made with vinegar instead of the traditional method of lacto-fermentation using salt. Bread and pasta are made with commercial yeast instead of being naturally leavened with wild yeast (sourdough). Wine, beer and cheeses are being pasteurized — killing off all the good bacteria we so desperately need to maintain health.

But there are many advantages to going back to the traditional ways of our ancestors, and eating more fermented foods.

ENTER TO WIN! Learn to cook healthier meals for your family! Click here to enter to win Real Food for Rookies, a new online class — retail value $120, plus over $60 worth of discount coupons. Don’t miss out! contest ends this SATURDAY Sept 4th at midnight Pacific. Here’s a very entertaining and interesting video [...]

I’m excited to announce that Zukay Live Foods is giving away a case of naturally fermented salsa and relish — a $42 value! The case contains 6 jars — 4 jars of salsa (2 hot, 2 mild) and 2 jars of pickle relish. This isn’t just any old salsa. Did I mention it’s naturally fermented? [...]

Today I have a guest post from a new blogger, Kristen at Food Renegade. That’s her in the photo above. Adorable, don’t you think? Here’s what she writes about herself on her About page: “I am a rebel. I like to eat red meat. I think butter is good for me. I drink my milk [...]

Dr. Oz was on Oprah a while back, saying that he believes cod liver oil is the number one nutritional supplement and that we should all be taking it. I heartily agree! However, now there’s something even better than cod liver oil: fermented cod liver oil. We’ve been using the fermented cod liver oil from [...]

Kefir is a delicious probiotic cultured milk drink. It’s tangy and sour tasting, kind of like a more liquid version of yogurt. I like to drink it straight but if it’s too sour for you, you can put it in a blender and add a little fruit and maple syrup or stevia to make a [...]

My friend Liz (above left) and I (above right) took a trip up to Three Stone Hearth last Thursday. I have a lot of photos so I’m going to split this up into a number of posts. Three Stone Hearth is a community supported kitchen (or CSK) in Berkeley, California, founded by Jessica Prentice, Larry [...]

I was looking around the web for a recipe for purslane salad. I found purslane at the farmer’s market on Saturday and we have not gotten around to eating it yet — I want to make a salad tonight before it goes bad. I’m also serving grilled salmon and artichokes with melted butter. Anyway, I [...]