Love your flora and the rest will follow. Garlic incubator's f.

27th September 2015

I thought I’d made it through the winter without getting sick but this week I’ve been fighting off a cold. I’ve done all the usual things; honey, lemon and ginger drinks, getting plenty of sleep, taking a foul tasting Chinese herbal remedy I found at the back of the cupboard that my wife may have used during pregnancy.The other day when I was snuffling around at the warehouse I walked past the fermented veg shelf; without thinking I grabbed a bottle of Fermentary kimchi. Three days later I’ve almost finished the jar. Now normally I love this kimchi but while I’ve been sick I’ve been craving it; eating it out of the jar by the forkful (I’m having some as I write this – God, ouch, I just wiped some in my eye!). It’s hot but not mind-blowingly hot and it certainly does something to my head (I just looked up the physiological effects of chillis and apparently your brain releases endorphins to counter the pain of hot chillis).

Today I’m feeling better – now I’m not saying the kimchi healed me – for all I know it could have been the sleep or the Chinese pregnancy herbs but it got me thinking about why I’ve been downing this stuff like there’s no tomorrow? Maybe it’s the garlic, ginger, anchovy sauce and Korean chilli all wild fermented together. I searched further and discovered that kimchi maker Sharon Flynn’s fermenting story also started with sickness albeit a much more serious sickness than mine. Read more …