Why fermented foods?

All sorts of wild fermentation
happening here.

Healthy Food

With so many healthy food and supplements available, it can often be difficult to determine what is truly the best option for your wellbeing. The word "probiotic" is appearing more and more. Prepackaged juice, nut butter and even chocolate bars are being manufactured and marketed as having probiotic benefits. So what makes locally fermented food and beverage different, or even better, than what is commercially available?      

The benefit of local.

Much like local honey is beneficial for your health, fermented foods are also best when locally produced. The reason for this is because yeast and bacteria are geospecific. That means that while that raw sauerkraut from Oregon at the natural food store is healthy, the living microorganisms are not as helpful to your health and immunity because they are not from your environment. (Unless you live in Oregon, in which case, never mind.)

Helping our economy and environment.

It is better for our economy when food businesses use local produce as much as possible. When we buy produce from far away, it cuts out local farmers which cuts out local jobs and adds to the problem of pollution and bad working conditions, something mass production almost always imposes. Plus, local fruits and vegetables are covered in geospecific yeast and bacteria, which ultimately ends up in your gut (yay!).    

Knowing what's what.

There are many false claims of "live probiotics" by companies who use methods such as pasteurization, micron filtration which filters out the good bacteria, flash heating or use of additives such as vinegar or sodium benzoate. Many probiotic food manufacturers wrongfully make these claims and end up using other methods of preservation in order to transport their goods to faraway places.          

A higher perspective.

Although this information may seem overwhelming, the good news is we can educate our community on the importance of local ferments. At St. Pete Ferments, we follow the process nature has given us. We believe our fermented products help and heal our community members. We pledge never to use any method besides naturally occurring lacto-fermentation, and only using wild and cultured ferments.