ediblesf.com | 21 4 They weren’t actually trying to make a kombucha that tasted like skin. But if you wanted to make a spontaneous kombucha SCOBY, what would it take? Kim Wejendorp, a research and development chef in Copenhagen, devised an alchemical mix of ingredients: a dried sunflower, a dead bee, raw honey, green tea, and a piece of his skin. The mixture fermented into kombucha, and formed a pellicle (the fibrous layer that floats over a kombucha) that made more batches of kombucha served at the former Amass. “The thing with fermentation is the results are often magical, but it isn’t magic,” Wejendorp says. It’s just science that highlights the role of invisible microbes that shape our culinary world, creating flavors and textures we love in wine, kimchi, and sausages, while also supporting our health. Wejendorp chose the ingredients for his weird brew because they all carried tons of microbes. Flower pollen is laden with microbial communities, and they receive more from visiting insects. Food-seeking bees buzz from rose bush to berry patch to backyard barbecue leaving microbes behind. They’re also fermenters, creating a nourishing fermented mix of honey, pollen, saliva, and wild yeast called bee bread. Raw honey carries dormant microbes that come alive in liquid, and human skin carries a microbial signature. “This is not magic, but…this was destined to happen,” says Wejendorp, head R&D chef at BRITE (formerly Sustainable Food Innovation Group). “If…all the kombucha in the world disappeared today, it would probably turn up again.” The experiment proves fermentation can happen anywhere microbes gather. Which means that even refined drinks, like wine, are just controlled wildness. Intentional winemaking in qvevri clay amphorae dates back 8,000 years in Georgia, where Eastern Europe meets Western Asia. But the first wine was almost surely an accident, since the grape is a perfect fermentation vehicle, says Chenoa Ashton-Lewis, winemaker and co-owner of Ashanta Wines in Sebastopol, California. “Grapes are incredible. They actually want to turn into wine very quickly,” she says. Crush grapes slightly, the sweet juice flows, and wild yeast microbes on the grape skins and in the air gobble up the sugar, producing alcohol, heat, and carbon dioxide gas. Ashton-Lewis shapes her fermentation by making sure she’s sourcing fruit from a healthy vineyard that’s teeming with beneficial microbes. That’s why she avoids vineyards sprayed with pesticides or weed killers that destroy the microbial ecosystem. To expand the range of textures and flavors, Lewis co-ferments red and white grapes together, like the Merlot, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris mix in her wine called Saudade. Some of the fruit comes from a vineyard her grandfather owned in the 1980s, so the Portuguese word for nostalgia was a fitting name. She also makes still and sparkling wines with grapes or apples mixed with foraged fruits like feijoas, wild elderberries, or plums. These diverse fruits bring their own microbes plus novel flavors to the mix. Discovering fruit that’s just waiting to be picked feels like a gift from nature; and reminds Ashton-Lewis of when people home-brewed fruit wines to share with their family and neighbors. “When you work with a different fruit that’s wild and feral and abandoned, you’re tapping into a different part of you,” she says. “This species has been making some sort of fermented beverage for so long. It connects you back to humanity, your culture and community.” Fruit trees and vines aren’t the only natural actors sharing gifts with hungry and thirsty humans; even ants make important contributions to fermentation. Want to make yogurt but don’t have any starter? Just find some ants. Ant yogurt is a favorite old-school recipe for Balkan and Turkish shepherds who start craving yogurt while stuck in the wilderness tending their flocks in spring. In 2023, University of Copenhagen researcher Veronica Sinotte 4 The experiment proves fermentation can happen anywhere microbes gather. Which means that even refined drinks, like wine, are just controlled wildness. 2 3
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