Back to our regularly scheduled programming

I’ve stepped away from this website for the last year or so because I was swept up by a whirlwind. Mostly good, some tough, all real true life and a privilege.

Much of my time was spent diving into the world of fermentation, a land I would never have visited had it not been for an assignment to work on noma’s rad new book, The Noma Guide to Fermentation.

Having never even made a batch of sauerkraut, I approached the project with the proverbial beginner’s mind. Which was subsequently blown. 

Here’s a photo essay of the journey.

The first ferment I worked on was lacto fermentation. Fresh fruit, 2 percent salt…

…and a trip through the vacuum sealer. This helps to evenly smush the salt into the fruit.

After about four days, the fruit has fermented to a state of tangy, slightly salty, and deeply fruity.

We (who includes David Zilber, noma’s director of fermentation and the author of the book) used some of the lacto plums in a moist state, some we pureed into a garnet-colored sauce, and some we sliced and dried in the dehydrator. They became like next-generation fruit leather.

Here’s some of that leather, made from lacto-fermented tomatoes, and modeled by my assistant Lizzie Ellison. Who is also a rock musician, by the way.

Next up, vinegar…complete with a pumpkin mishap.