Sonoma Enlivened

I’m absolutely in love with fermentation and I hope by the end of the episode about Sonoma Enlivened, you will be too. As someone who grew up familiar with the S.A.D. “Standard American Diet,” I fully embraced fermentation when I came of age and started to marvel at all the delicious, nutritious, and traditional cultures one can imbibe to support digestive (and by way of nourishing eating, holistic) health. 

I remember when I was living in a vegan housing co-op in college, one of my house-mates had a much coveted Kombucha mother. At the time, the basic kombucha drink had gone from complete obscurity to health food store sensation. I spent several years learning how to cook to help feed myself and my friends, and I was fascinated by fermentation, although I had no personal experience. It called to me though, like a siren’s song, and I knew that as I explored more in the kitchen, I wanted to be able to ferment my food! 

And then somebody gave me a copy of Sandor Katz’ book “Wild Fermentation.” I made a vow that day to try my hand at every recipe in his book. And, within a few years time, I had not only tried them all, but I had founded the Mendo Free Skool with a couple dudes from college, and I was teaching fermentation classes with my newly acquired skills. 

Then, when I went to school to become an herbalist, my teacher Donna D’Terra, so appreciated my fermented concoctions, that at the end of the school year, she asked me if I would teach fermentation for the Motherland Herbal Apprenticeship Program. Excited, I said yes, and for the next couple years, I became the school’s kitchen witch, adding a fermentation flow to the herbal studies course. 

At some point along the line, I heard that there was a Fermentation Festival happening in Sonoma County. I contacted the organizer, Jennifer Harris, and asked if I could have a booth about my family’s biodynamic wine, which happens to be a wild fermentation, using the yeasts naturally occurring on the grapes. She happily said yes, and that first year I remember just reveling in all things fermented while I shared about Frey Vineyards and the biodynamic line of wines my family produces. I even got to meet Sandor Katz, the author of my fermentation bible, and attend some great workshops on fermentation with other ferment heads. 

I went to visit Jennifer at a water kefir shop called “The Kefiry” in Sebastopol soon thereafter, and was super impressed that Sonoma County had its own locally produced probiotic soda line. Today’s episode is an interview with the founder and owner of the Kefiry, Deanna Dennard. Her family owned and operated business is still producing delicious and nutritious kefir drinks under the name Sonoma Enliven. 

For those of you that aren’t yet familiar with kefir culture, I’d like to share some passages with you from Sandor Katz’ book “The Art of Fermentation” (used with permission from the author) to bring you into the kefir loop:

“Water kefir is one of many names used to describe a versatile culture that can be used to ferment any carbohydrate-rich liquid. I usually use it to ferment sugar water with some fruit in it for flavor, but I’ve also used it to ferment honey, fruit juices, coconut water, and soy, almond, and rice milks. The culture —also known as tibicos or tibis, sugary water grains, Tibetan crystals, Japanese water crystals, and bees wine— is a SCOBY, a symbiotic community of bacteria and yeast, which appear as small, whitish translucent granules and grow quickly when fed regularly.”

“Water kefir is not directly related to (dairy) kefir, the ancient culture from the Caucasus Mountains used to ferment milk. It would seem that because they are similar in form, people perceived them as related, even though they are distinctly different. A study of the microbial flora of sugary kefir grains found that they ‘consisted chiefly of lactic acid bacteria and a small proportion of yeasts.’ One particular bacterium, Lactobacillus hilgardii, was found to produce the polysaccharide gel that forms the home of the fermenting community. Fermenting with water kefir is extremely simple. Typically I mix sugar water, to taste, in a wide-mouth glass jar. Try 2 cups of sugar per gallon of water as a starting point, but many people prefer to ferment a sweeter solution. To that I add the water kefir grains (about 1 tablespoon per quart) and usually a small amount of fresh or dried fruit, and ferment usually for two to three days.”

“In 1899 the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society published a report on the culture (recorded as tibi grains) in which M.L. Lutz describes them as: ‘spherical transparent masses resembling boiled rice-grains. These vary in size from a pea to a pin’s head. They ferment sugar-water and produce a light, agreeable beverage. Microscopical examination shows that the tibia grains are compose of bacilli…and yeasts… The fermentation occurs only by the co-operation of the two organisms, either alone being insufficient’.”

For more information on getting your hands on some kefir cultures, you can contact Deanna or her husband Tom about their wonderful fermentation D.I.Y. kits. I love what these two have done to support their community by making a sustainable, green business in service to health and yumminess. I hope you’ll enjoy this episode about her family’s journey with kefir to the present incarnation of Sonoma Enlivened, which is supplying water kefir beverages through a kefir club, making kits with tibicos culture for the DIY home brewer, and curating an online forum to support folks learning the kefir fermentation process with tutelage from Brewmaster Tom.

Check out my channel at YouTube.com/morinatura to see a video about how to make Kefir at home with the Sonoma Enlivened Kefir Starter kit. 

You can visit Sonoma Enlivened on Facebook @enlivenedbeverage or visit their website.

This episode makes me so happy, because I have been aiming to uplift the stories of local people doing wonderful things locally. And, Sonoma Enliven fits “The Positive Fantastic” season 1 mission so very well.

Cheers and may your journey to nourish your gut microbiome be fantastic.