Food Fermenting Workshops

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Spend time in the breath-taking grounds of Sharpham Estate with Jon Howell, learning how to improve your immune system and gut health with the power of probiotic-rich fermented foods.

Ferments are highly nutritious and are an excellent way of storing food, with a compelling and complex flavour. On this workshop you will learn how to create nourishing ferments at home using a range of vegetables, explore how the fermentation process works to benefit your overall health and sample a variety of tasty fermented goods.

This event costs £55 per person for the day and is suitable for adults aged 16 and over. 

On this course you will learn:

• The ways in which your gut bacteria help us throughout our lives, and how to introduce fermented foods into your diet in easy and accessible ways.
• How the fermenting process works to make tasty foods from a variety of vegetables
• About Probiotics and Prebiotics and why we need to include both to stay healthy
• About your body's Microbiome and how to look after it
• How to prepare and maintain the right environment for 'good' bacteria to thrive in jars and in your bodies
• How your immune system is linked to the diversity of your gut ecology
• Common fermenting failures and how to avoid them
• Some basic but really tasty fermenting recipes to get you started
• How to use taste and timing to gauge when fermentation is ready

Examples of what you might make:   

• Sauerkraut
• Kvass (a fermented drink – most likely from beetroot)
• Fermented whole veg (e.g. carrot sticks)
• Water Kefir (fermented drink)

This day is for you if you are:

• Keen to learn about nourishing, healing food
• Interested in learning more about the natural world
• Wanting to understand more about your health and well-being
• Enthusiastic about learning new recipes and cooking

What should you bring?

• A packed lunch 
• Bottle of water
• Waterproofs and warm clothing
• Good comfy shoes or wellies
• Paper and pen if you want to take notes
• Camera if you want to take pictures
• We will supply enough fresh organic vegetables for all the ferment types you'll be making, but if you'd like to add your own home grown (must be organic) or wild foraged produce them please bring it along.
• 2 clean screw-top jars (2 medium size or 1 medium and 1 large). Also, 2 kilner ‘clip top’ jars if you have them (half litre and 1 litre size would be good, not essential but very useful).