Women2Women - Winter 2018 - 32

Health2Wellness

Making Your Own:

A Diet Discovery

By Dani Motze
By Dani Motze

"Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be,"
I said to my best friend, visiting from out of town, and my husband,
an experienced home-brewer, after making my very first beer (with
their help).
On a warm October afternoon, we loaded into our car and headed
out from my home in Reading to Pottstown's Weak Knee Home
Brew Supply store to continue my hands-on research of an age-old
practice now trending: home fermentation.
You can ferment lots of things, but I was most curious about two:
beer and kimchi. Very simply put, fermentation is the transformation
of food by various bacteria, fungi and enzymes that they produce.
Depending on the amount of sugar you use in the fermentation
process, as well as time and temperature, the flavor of your fermented
items can range from sour to tart and tangy. Fermented foods may
include beneficial micro-organisms and active bacterial cultures that
are good for our gut health.
Nan Reinert, founder of Chubby Pickle Farm, showed me that
you don't need a lot of space or expensive equipment to try out
home fermentation; she started fermenting decades ago, first making
her kimchi in an ordinary Mason jar. (The word kimchi refers to a
variety of fermented vegetables, but in America, we tend to associate
it with fermented cabbage.)

32 Women2Women Winter 2018

Nan's robust homestead consists of her home's first floor and small
rectangular yard that she packs full in order to grow and make about
75% of her own food. She shares her experience and knowledge with
others through her Chubby Pickle Farm Facebook Page.
"The mission of Chubby Pickle Farm is to
help people know where their food comes
from. You do not need acres and acres and
a tractor. And, I'll help you learn how to
preserve your food," said Reinert, who
teaches preserving methods, like pickling
and jarring, in addition to fermenting.
Fermenting vegetables can provide home
gardeners a way to utilize an overwhelming
garden harvest that comes in all at once (or,
Nan says, you can buy fresh produce from
your local farmer's market and ferment
those items, too).

Chubby Pickle Farm

Nan chuckles and shakes her head as she considers that the things
she's been doing for years are now trendy. "All these things I've been
doing...for many years this is how I lived my life... and now I'm a
hipster, I guess."
She considers why home fermentation, among other "homesteading" efforts, have grown. "There were generations that grew
up on fake food, for all sorts of reason. Now, we're educated about

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Women2Women - Winter 2018