On a sunny Friday morning in Janda Baik, Pahang, a small group of men and women head out to harvest fruits and vegetables, picked fresh from the sprawling organic farm, A Little Farm on the Hill. These farm-fresh produce would then be used to make a range of fermented products. The group is a diverse one – there is a mother-and-daughter keen to learn more about fermentation; a Japanese chef who wants to implement it at his restaurant; a mum hoping to utilise her surplus food waste; and even a young student interested in the intersection of food and agriculture.
After filling their baskets, the group heads to demo tables that have been set up and huddle excitedly around fermentation expert Rachel de Thample, listening in rapt attention as she explains how to ferment radish and torch ginger flower into a modern interpretation of kimchi. “We’re going to be making kimchi today. All the vegetables will be rich in minerals and nutrients, especially because we’re picking them and putting them in the jar.
So they’ll have have even higher good bacterial content, but also higher nutrients. De Thample holds fermentation workshops all over the world and has personally noticed just how much her own health has improved from consuming fermented foods. — ABIRAMI DURAI/The Star “And when you put them in the jar and ferment them, you actually increase that (nutrients) by up to 50% so you get more.
So I love the fact that you can take something that’s already good for you and ma.