COLUMNIST: grass roots remedies
When we see this autumnal abundance, it can be tempting to gather baskets upon baskets of berries to fill the cupboards with jam or the freezer with nutritious fruit for the year. Sometimes though, less is more. Sometimes picking a few berries to eat as a wayside snack is more enriching than making so much jam that it is a struggle to give it away or filling the freezer to bursting point.
Another option is to create a nutritious, fizzy drink called kvass by fermenting a handful of berries. This takes only a few days and drinking kvass can do wonders for the gut microbiome. Kvass is traditionally made from raw beetroot, though brambles are a lot less messy.
Pick a large handful of fresh berries - brambles are very good for this.
Place them in a small jar and fill with purified water - either by boiling it in an open saucepan for 10-15 minutes then cooling or using a water purifier.
Close the jar tightly and leave for 2-4 days somewhere with regular temperature (see temperature notes), checking from day 2 for bubbles starting to form at the top of the liquid.
When bubbles start to form, open the jar gently.
Strain, and the liquid is your kvass. Drink immediately as a probiotic or keep refrigerated for a couple of days to drink later.
Use the leftover berries in smoothies, with oats, or in other sweet things. They are great for your gut microbiome if eaten raw - cooking them will deplete this effect.
Kvass is one of the easiest ferments to make, but there are a few general trouble-shooting notes to consider.
Do take care to clean containers fully, along with any utensils, and observe good hand hygiene. Using a dishwasher is one way to get containers and utensils very clean. Alternatively, boil jar and bottle lids in an oven to kill off unwanted microbes. The easiest way for a ferment to go wrong is for the wrong kind of microbes to get in and disrupt the process. Don’t worry if/when this happens, most of us have had a ferment go mouldy at some point - the smell may haunt you but it is something of an initiation rite of the true fermenter.
Ferments happen more slowly in colder environments and quicker in warmer environments, so the time of year will affect how long something takes to ferment. From feedback from dozens of people who have been on fermenting workshops and from our own fermentation experiments, we have found that the exact temperature of the environment isn’t the most important element. It is in fact consistency of temperature that is the most important aspect.
For this reason, finding a perfect fermentation spot means avoiding windows (direct sunlight), doors (drafts), and radiators or fires (direct heat). A shelf out of the way of these things, or even the top of the fridge if this isn’t too high, are perfect places for fermenting. For additional temperature consistency, insulate the fermenting container by wrapping a towel or tea towel around it.
For first attempts with fermentation, use plant material that is ripe and therefore full of natural plant sugars that aid fermentation. As fermenting skills develop, start experimenting with over-ripe fruits, but this is something to be a wee bit cautious with as there is a very fine line between over-ripe and mouldy - see above about unwanted microbes. Foraged, or organically grown, plant material will be covered in plant yeasts so will ferment more quickly - please, don’t wash them, they’ll lose most of their lovely yeasts.
As well as wild berries, fermentation also works well with home-grown fruit, especially soft fruit like Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) and Loganberries (Rubus x loganobaccus), or have a go at making saurkraut with a cabbage glut and any seasonings, wild, grown, or shop-bought that are available.
Catriona Gibson (she/her) is a medical herbalist and foraging tutor with Grass Roots Remedies Co-operative who has a herbal clinic at Woodland Herbs in Glasgow.
Grass Roots Remedies shares practical knowledge about growing, foraging, and making remedies with abundant local plants and also runs an award winning low-cost clinic in Wester Hailes, South Edinburgh. To find out more about courses, including seasonal foraging and home remedy making, click HERE. For more information on the work of Grass Roots Remedies, including volunteering opportunities in Edinburgh and Glasgow, email hello@grassrootsremedies.co.uk.