Feng Shui & Fermentation (Part 1)

Here’s my husband, Steve, pouring the inoculated milk into quart jars to ferment and make yogurt.

Some things don’t easily fit themselves into yin/yang categorization. Being a Libra/Rabbit and gay, I have no problem with that. The Universe is a complicated place and anything involving yin and yang is relative. Fermentation is yin and yang at the same time. If you do it wrong—it’s totally yin and rotten. If you do it right, it’s heavenly yang and delicious, nutritious food. My husband makes yogurt—big batches, that go into the fridge or are given as gifts.

Here are six quarts of inoculated milk that will become yogurt in about five hours. The lid will go on the big, warm water container and a blanket will be wrapped around it for insulation.

I don’t do too well with most dairy products (occasional goat butter being the exception) so I make a fermented grain drink that’s rich in lactic acid, called rejuvelac (which is not my favorite invented word—I would have called it rejuvelactic, just to avoid the ambiguity that it has might have something to do with being a laxative, which it’s not). I’ll share my personal recipe for rejuvelac in Part 2 of this two-part blog post. It’s about as simple as it gets for fermented foods.

During a yin hunkering-down time, it’s a good time to establish (and reinforce) good food habits.  Adding the yang of home-fermented foods to your diet is good for you and the feng shui of your home. The habit of using your home to make fermented foods is the part that’s good for your home. The part that’s good for you is the final product—yum.

This is THE BEST book on the subject!

The best book on fermenting is The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz (who taught a fabulous workshop here in Kona that I attended a few years ago). I recommend adding it to your home library. It’s a big book and it covers almost everything there is to know on the subject.