Today we discuss the other half of the frustration equation- those who are ready to give up.
I think the reason that I initially responded in a negative way is simply feeling overwhelmed. Not even really by fermentation in a different container than a mason jar… your article just happened to spark a general feeling of “How can I ever do all or ANY of this stuff right??”
I understand being overwhelmed and please understand it was never, ever my intention. Know that I would never want to discourage anyone in the traditional foods world, especially not someone new. Please accept my apologies.
I’ve done traditional foods for ten years. It’s taken me ten years to get to where I am. Please don’t look at me and think you have to be there now, when it’s taken me years.
Learning a new way of life, a new skill, a new mode of thinking is a progression. Taking on too much at one time is a sure way to make sure you burn yourself out and give up. So I encourage you to not worry about the fermentation issue unless you’re trying to heal your gut– put it on your list of thing to look at later. Most people don’t get into fermentation until they’ve been doing traditional foods for a while, anyway.
So if you are new to traditional foods and feeling overwhelmed, I recommend you put it on the back burner and keep reading, keep learning and visit it another time when you are ready to make some decisions.
If you are trying to heal your gut, I would recommend you read and consider, then make your decisions on how to help yourself proceed. I don’t expect that everyone will make the same decisions I will, but my hope is that you can consider yourself to be making educated decisions once you read my blog and some other sources so you feel like you have a full picture.
Please know I am always open for questions and I’m always glad to help in any way that I can. You’re always welcome to post comments or post in the forum when you’re frustrated and you want some help.
[boilerplate sig]
I'm 
KerryAnn,
Thanks so much for all your hard work on this. In the future, are you able to do some posts on kefir? I think you also recommend using the Pickl-It for it, right? I have been drinking it to help with yeast overgrowth but I’ve heard the longer you keep it, the more it goes towards yeast (originally bacteria and yeast). I’ve been wondering if I should not drink if I keep it too long and it ferments too much (sometimes I keep it for 4-6 weeks).
Angela, I will be covering kefir and other specific types of ferments once I can get through the posts on fermentation in general. I do recommend the Pickl-It for the first ferment for kefirs. I’m not sure what to tell you about the yeast issue until I can research it more. I’ll post as soon as I can.
Thanks KerryAnn!
I am interested in the response for this. I am battling yeast overgrowth and hoping that fermenting some veggies and water kefir might help me along. Any suggestions or link appreciated.
Shelby, if you call Pickl-It and talk to them, they can help you understand the difference between the yeasts in anaerobically fermented yeasts which are beneficial for candida, and the yeasts that are detrimental for candida when a ferment is exposed to oxygen.
Thanks, KerryAnn. 🙂
I wholeheartedly agree with KerryAnn. Learning how to care for your health is a PROCESS. I’ve been at it for 18 years and I’m still learning all sorts of stuff. I’ve made many course corrections along the way, sometimes because the information I previously had was false or incomplete, and sometimes because I found out the information didn’t apply to my circumstances.
This week, I spoke with the Pickl-It owner (I’m not very awake . . . can’t remember her name) for over an hour. I wish I would have taken better notes. Anyway, as I was asking her questions about which bundles to purchase, we talked a bit about which ferments are good for gut healing. I said I wanted to continue doing water kefir, in part because my husband is so willing to drink it. She thinks we’d get more gut healing from carrot juice, beet kvass and sauerkraut. She didn’t say “don’t do the water kefir” but rather strongly encouraged me to include these other ferments in our diet. Apparently, fermented carrot juice is particularly good at nailing candida overgrowth, which my husband has. Also, it seems that sauerkraut *juice* is the important part to consume. She’s spoken with people in eastern Europe that say they drink the raw sauerkraut juice, and use the leftover cabbage in cooked meals. I’d like to say more about why that is, but I’m afraid I might be remembering something incorrectly.
All this info isn’t directly related to this blog post, perhaps, but it gives another example of how learning is a PROCESS. She’s been at this learning process for many years, adding bits of learning to more bits of learning, until she’s accumulated a mountain of information. It takes time.
I’m looking forward to reading and learning more from both the Pickl-It website and from KerryAnn!
Cheryl
Do you have a recipe for the fermented carrot juice?
Thanks!
Angela
No, I don’t. I was going to look on the Pickl-It site.
Thank you for spending an enormous amount of time and energy to provide us with well-researched, thought-provoking information! You are such a blessing!
Kelly @ The Nourishing Home recently posted..Avocado Egg Salad (GF)
After several failed ferments last summer (it was my first try) I just went out and bought some Bubbie’s Sauerkraut. That way I knew what the stuff was supposed to taste and smell like rather than the foul smelling concoction that overflowed all over my countertop. I forayed into ferments because I’m trying to heal my gut but after trying Bubbies I just don’t like sauerkraut. I want to try making beet kvas this year and I’m crossing my fingers that I might like it better. Good to know about fermented carrot juice since I LOVE carrots.
Baffled recently posted..Dark Chocolate Ice Cream