What I Choose to Buy at
the Co-op... and Why

by Donna Aitoro, Nutrition Committee

#4 in a series of monthly articles from members of the HWFC Nutrition committee

Synergy and the Wonder of Fermented Foods

The wonders of lactic acid fermented food have long been touted. Naval explorers knew of its benefits, storing barrels of sauerkraut on board ship for long voyages, not only to feed their crews, but also to ward off scurvy, which had wiped out sea crews for eons. People were soaking veggies and hanging them from clay walls as early as 200 B.C.E. in China. Such is the wonder of fermented foods.

The fermented kombucha tea, Synergy, is one such wonder food found at the Co-op. Synergy makes a sibilant “Pffffftt!” when you decant a bottle, indicating a fermented drink literally alive with flavor and nutrition. Wisps of culture swirl through it, reminiscent of the “mother” one sees floating in apple cider vinegar. People confuse kombucha with mushrooms, but it has no relation to fungi. Because the culture is round, and looks mushroom in shape, people in Japan started calling it “kombucha.” Kombucha is the vegetable version of kiefer, a cultured milk product related to yogurt and sauerkraut. However, green tea constitutes the base for the culture. In the process, the culture feeds off of the initial chemical make-up (the tannins), converting the sugars into organic acid, enzymes and probiotics. Nutrition committee member Louise Frazier, who studied lactic acid fermentation in Sweden, says people with yeast or candiasis problems need not fear kombucha, as “a good lactic acid fermentation balances yeast, and keeps it under control — something that happens around the third day of the fermenting process, and which continues right down to the consumer — and their digestive system.”

Millennium Products, the makers of Synergy, was founded five years ago in California by owner G.T. Dave. His mother’s friend had brought a batch of kombucha culture back from the Himalayas, and she took to drinking it every day. Several years later, doctors found a cancerous breast tumor and were astonished to find it hadn’t metastasized. The bottle’s advertising claims that Synergy “cures” everything from aging to cancer to acid reflux. I have found this to be true. After mainstream regimens of pharmaceutical drugs to calm an acid-reflux problem, Synergy has completely alleviated my years-old digestive ailment.

Beneficial bacteria, like acidophilus, are the basis of fermented foods, which convert nutrients into something beyond their former selves. People intolerant of caffeine will be happy to learn that Synergy and other kombucha teas (the Co-op carries several brands) have approximately 8–14 mg of caffeine per serving, depending upon the batch. Decaf has 5 mg, and a high-test cup of coffee, 100 mg. That’s because fermentation neutralizes the caffeine, converting the sugar into glucosamine, a lactic acid, as part of the fermentation process. So even people who are extremely sensitive to caffeine report they do not react to kombucha the same way they do to coffee, as the caffeine is in a natural state.

Wikipedia defines fermentation as the turning of sugar into alcohol, through the process of souring. Chemically converting carbohydrates into alcohols or acids is what fermentation is all about. Zymology, the science of fermentation, tells us that a nutrient molecule, like glucose, is anaerobically broken down, converting the sugar into a simpler state. More broadly, fermentation refers to the bulk growth of microorganisms on a certain growth medium. No distinction is made between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism when the word is used in this sense — it all goes into the mix, so to speak. With vinegar-based preservation, you have to cook the vegetables, which leaches out all the vitamins and minerals.

Lacto-fermented foods pick up the spores, yeasts and molds inherent in any given environment, mixes with air, and converts the sugar into a fermented state. The natural antibodies come from the air we breathe. So when we consume naturally fermented foods, we build up natural allergens to that environment. Vitamin C, natural antibiotics and digestive enzymes are other beneficial by-products of the fermenting process that keep us healthy.

In Wild Fermentation (Chelsea Green, 2003 — available through the Co-op), Sandor Ellix Katz says fermentation converts starches, like the hardto- digest ones in milk and wheat, into much more gut-friendly ones. This happens by turning the starch into lactic acid. Fermentation also removes toxins from foods, even lethal ones like cyanide (found in several cassava varieties), and phytic acid found in all grains, which can block absorption of zinc, calcium, iron, magnesium and other minerals, and lead to mineral deficiencies. Fermenting grains by soaking them before cooking neutralizes phytic acid, making the grain far more nutritious. Nitrites, prussic acid, oxalic acid, nitrosamines, glucosides and other potentially toxic chemicals found in foods can be reduced or eliminated by fermentation.

Synergy comes in exotically named flavors like Passionfruit, Guava Goddess, Cosmic Cranberry, Ginger Bliss and Multigrain, which contains super blue-green algae. They retail at the Co-op for $3.99. You can also buy a starter bottle of Synergy and make your own kombucha. Just go to www.kombu.de/anleite.htm, and find out how. Kombucha needs the right temperature, so winter climates below 60°F need a bit more imagination to create the culture, perhaps using a terrarium.

I heard about Synergy in an aisle of the Co-op, where things happen. A conversation here, a bit of folklore there, and before you know it you’ve got another physical challenge licked. This is why I’ve been a member here for over 15 years. Everything about the place works for me: the people, the products and, most of all — the synergy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more about the benefits of fermented foods, see the November 2006 Coop Scoop.

Fermented Vegetables

Other fermented foods can be found at the Co-op. Seth Travins is the lactic acid vegetable fermentation specialist at Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent. In the process of making fermented vegetables he uses a cabbage starter, then adds spice to preserve and flavor them, and packs them into barrels until they reach an anaerobic state. This produces the ripening environment that is essential to fermentation. Hawthorne Valley’s line of organic, raw fermented vegetables are vinegar free, and include traditional sauerkraut with caraway, jalapeno or plain; red cabbage kraut with bay leaf; garlic-ginger carrots; dilly green beans; kimchi and curry sauerkrauts. You can find them in jars in the refrigerator section of the Co-op.

Because lactic acid fermented vegetables are not milk-based, they are ideal for those individuals with a lactose intolerance. The process creates a vegetable that aids human digestion by replenishing the good bacteria in our guts, thus maintaining a proper pH balance in the digestive system. Fermented vegetables are often served with meat, and the lactic acid in them helps digest animal protein. The Asians and French know what they’re doing when they eat some kind of pickled vegetable with meat. It’s called the “art of balance.”

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