8 minute read
Fermenting Food in France
Sophie is in her 30s and French. She studied and worked in the UK and Senegal, before moving to Canada. The time she spent in the Yukon changed her life for the best. She developed a true interest for quiet, wild spaces and a more-rural life. She is now back in France, starting a goat farm in the countryside and sharing stories from Europe!
‘LITTLE LIVING THINGS’ IN OUR FOOD
Communities around the world have been preserving food and beverages since the Neolithic Age, in order to extend their shelf life.
In the Yukon, First Nations traditional foods include, for instance, dried meat and fish, or meat preserved with animal fat. On the coast, for Indigenous communities such as the Nuxalk, fermentation processes are widely used for preserving salmon heads, beaver tails and seal flippers.
So, what is fermented food?
Fermenting is the process of transforming a food, usually in the absence of oxygen (thanks to the action of micro-organisms, such as bacteria and yeasts, which produce energy).
Several types of fermentation exist. The most-popular ones are ethanol fermentation (for beer, wine and bread) acetic fermentation (for vinegar), and lactic acid fermentation (for all fermented dairy and veggie products).
ETHANOL FERMENTATION— WINEMAKING AT HOME
Ethanol fermentation happens when sugar is changed into alcohol in a liquid without any air, at room temperatures of up to 30℃ or 86℃. We can find microorganisms everywhere in nature. Fruit is covered with bacteria and yeasts (the thin white layer on the skin of grapes, for instance).
Traditionally, wine is made by crushing grapes, using hands or feet, to get the must (unfermented juice) containing the skins, seeds and stems. The natural yeasts then spread into the juice and start the fermentation process in a closed container or wooden barrel. Thanks to the yeasts, the sugar contained in the fruit will be transformed into gas and alcohol. Once the fermentation is done, the must is removed and the juice is filtered and can be drank as is, or it can go back into the barrel for the wine to mature, in order to get a more-pronounced flavour.
This method can be used with any fruit that you have in your garden or that you have harvested in the forest, as long as no chemicals have been sprayed on them! Currants, haskaps, Saskatoon berries or sea buckthorns can be used and mixed together according to your taste.
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VINEGAR OR ACETIC FERMENTATION
Vinegar (literally, sour wine) is made with alcohol. This fermentation occurs after the ethanol fermentation and it needs oxygen. The ethanol is transformed into acetic acid, thanks to the acetic bacteria available in the environment (as on fruit flies) and in the presence of air.
A vinegar “mother” (scoby) will form at the top of the liquid after a few weeks or months.
HOMEMADE VINEGAR
Ingredients:
Natural wine (fruit only— nothing added to the fruit or in the process), around 7–10°C for alcohol. If your wine is too concentrated in alcohol, let the open bottle rest for a few days. The alcohol will partially evaporate.
Natural vinegar (not pasteurized or filtered), where you can see some “layers” at the bottom of the bottle (the mother).
Method:
The mother …
Pour 1 cup of wine into a large pot (or into a jug with a large opening).
Add 1 cup of vinegar.
Cover with a clean linen or a paper towel (so the bacteria can breathe), but avoid anything else coming into the liquid.
Let it rest at room temperature and wait 2–3 months for the mother to begin growing (the colder the room is, the more time will be needed).
The mother can then be split into different jars to make several vinegars. The scoby can be kept in a pot (jam-jar type), with a gauze and a lid on top (not sealed), so the mother can continue breathing. Add wine to cover.
The vinegar …
Put a piece of the mother into a large glass jar.
Add wine.
Cover with gauze or linen, so the lid is not sealed and put a plate on top. Do not leave in the sunlight, but keep in a dry, dark place such as a cupboard.
Wait for a month or so, then taste it. The mother is usually at the top of the jar, with dead bacteria, and the vinegar does not taste like wine anymore. Those characteristics mean the vinegar is ready and the mother needs to be fed again.
You can extract the vinegar into a clean bottle and add more wine to the jar, with the mother, to start the process again.
PHOTO: Rajesh Raj/Pexel
Good bacteria help make the best vinegar
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Good bacteria are all around us on fruit, flowers and fruit flies! They help make the best vinegar
PHOTO: Balázs Burján/Pexel
Vinegar is delicious as is, but it can also be flavoured, according to your taste and to the season, with seasonal fruits, plants, flowers. Let the flavours develop in the vinegar for two weeks before consuming.
THE WIDELY KNOWN LACTIC BACTERIA
Following the same principles as for winemaking, vegetables have a layer of microscopic fungus and bacteria on their skins. If cut and placed outside for a long time, they would decompose.
However, with salt but no air, lactic fermentation will occur, eating the sugar from the food and transforming it into lactic acid. This acidity prevents any risk of spoilage.
This fermentation is used for a wide variety of foods: sourdough, yogurt, cheese, salami, and fruits and vegetables such as sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, lemons, olives, garlic, beetroot, carrots, etc.
More fermentation recipes to come in the next columns! n
MINE UPDATE
Wildlife Protection at the Eagle Gold Mine.
At Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine, wildlife protection is an important element of the Company’s corporate culture and the entire team’s commitment to environmental responsibility.
“Victoria Gold is committed to the success of the Eagle Gold Mine and to ensuring that its operation and closure have positive e ects in the Yukon as we work to minimize our environmental impact,” says Victoria Gold President & CEO John McConnell. Personnel at site are educated about the area’s wildlife monitoring and mitigation measures and how to adhere to them through initiatives including mandatory site orientations, tra c control policies and the implementation of management plans such as bear awareness and a wildlife observation reporting program.
The site’s wildlife observation reporting program entails personnel recording wildlife sightings and encounters on wildlife observation cards: a tool used to track and evaluate the frequency of animal encounters. These observation recordings help to monitor species at risk and notify site personnel of potentially dangerous animals around work areas. Observations are compiled on a quarterly basis and submitted to Yukon Energy, Mines and Resources in accordance with the mine’s permitting requirements. Routine observations include an assortment of large and small animal species including moose, bears, lynx, marten, porcupine and a variety of birds. The Eagle Gold Mine’s Environmental Department provides ongoing wildlife and reporting education for site personnel through site-wide bulletins, collaboration with mine department leads and presentations in meetings. In addition, the department coordinates and participates in a number of wildlife surveys including late winter moose surveys.
The Eagle Gold Mine is situated within Victoria Gold’s 100 per cent-owned Dublin Gulch Property located approximately 375 kilometres north of Whitehorse and 85 kilometres north, northeast of the Village of Mayo, within the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun (FNNND). The company employs over 500 workers and contractors; half of which are Yukoners At Work and many are FNNND citizens. If you are a Yukoner with mining experience, Victoria Gold encourages you to become a Yukoner At Work. Visit the “Work For Us” page at vgcx.com/contact/work-for-us/ and send your resume to greatpeoplework@vgcx.com.
