FAQ

Shipping fermented foods is such a challenge for us. We've been shipping for a very long time, at least a decade, and we've gone through so many idiosyncrasies on shipping. Shipping fermented foods uh creates gases. We don't refrigerate when we ship. So, your product will start fermenting again and go into really active ferment. So, your your lids might bubble a little bit, it will probably leak. And the only way to really stop all of that is to pasteurize your product and heat seal your jars. And both of those are things that we just refuse to do. It will affect the integrity of our products. So, we just buckle up and ship and wrap and bag as best as we can do. If your product comes leaked, uh we just ask that you rinse the bottles off and place them in the fridge. the lids if they've bubbled, know that that's an active ferment. So, they're actively fermenting and that's going to the gases are going to push the lids up a little bit and make them bubble. If your sauerkraut is bubbling, that should put a smile on your face because you know that it's an active ferment. It's a live food and that it's doing its job. It's fermenting.

If you look at other cultures, say for instance the Indian culture, they have something sour almost at every every meal. Europeans, you know, they have pickled something at every meal. So the optimal in in my view, in my mind, it would be having a shot of beef kebabs in the morning to get your day started and everything rolling and then having sauerkraut with your meal at night. That way you're constantly feeding your microbiome, beneficial bacterias to keep digestion going and just having everything moving through. In a perfect world again, I would say of something fermented at every meal and it can be yogurt is fermented, kefir cheese is fermented. I mean cheese is fermented. So there's a lot of variety out there for you to get something fermented in every meal. But two to three times a day is optimal.

Your intestines contain billions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

You truly are what you eat. Food can affect this area in your gut called your microbiome. And experts say that can impact your health. Susette Smith of Garden Goddess Fermentss explains how some foods may benefit your gut. First, here's a look at your gut microbiome.

Your microbiome is 2 to 3 lbs of bacteria that sits in your gut. It sounds gross, but all of that bacteria, it's a good thing. There's some strains of bacteria that's really beneficial for our gut that you can only find in fermented foods.

Dr. Christy Alexon teaches nutrition at Arizona State University. The gut microbiome, it's kind of like a rainforest and you need biodiversity. And what happens as we age or when we go on antibiotics each time, it reduces the diversity of the gut microbiome.

She says fermented foods like yogurt, kombucha, tea, and kimchi can be a big win for your microbiome. That's one of the values of fermented foods is they help replenish the good bacteria in your intestinal tract. These good bacteria can crowd out the harmful kind, supporting digestion and boosting your immune system.

Hypocrates said all disease begins in the gut. So, we've known this for thousands of years. I think we've lost our way a little bit and now we're being forced to go back into really addressing our health.

So, what are fermented foods exactly? Fermentation actually is a process of food preservation. People started fermenting foods centuries ago to preserve them so they'd be edible longer. We just add some salt to our vegetable, cut off the air, and then that starts breaking down the vegetables.

During fermentation, microorganisms like yeast and bacteria break down foods. Cabbage itself is loaded with vitamin C and then when you break down that vegetable, then it creates these great bacterias.

She also swears by this tonic made from fermented beets called beet kas. It's been around for thousands of years, but we've just rediscovered it as a very powerful health tonic that's just really changing people's lives.

So, how can fermented foods possibly help your microbiome? Have you ever started in the morning and had something sweet and then the rest of the day all you want to do is eat sugar? That's the bacteria in your gut responding to the food that you're eating.

Susette says a daily shot of beet kibbas or simply tossing sauerkraut on a sandwich, a salad, or on the side of your plate may help you crave healthier options and eventually you should feel the health benefits.

You can sleep better. You have more energy. You feel better. Your skin is clearer. Your joints don't ache. I get brought to tears because people are calling me crying because they feel so much better.

Fermented foods. Some say they're the key to a better microbiome and better health.

Research reveals nearly every fermented food shields the brain from stress and cognitive decline. Fermentation doesn’t preserve food. It recreates it into something even stronger. When a food ferments, it begins producing molecules that were not present before, including GABA, antioxidant peptides, and anti-inflammatory compounds that interact directly with the brain’s protective systems. These compounds lower cortisol, support neuroplasticity, and guard neurons from degeneration. Unfermented foods can’t do this. Research from 45 human, animal, and cellular studies reveals the same pattern over and over, and the brain benefits were never tied to any specific type of food. They were tied to the act of fermentation itself.

My favorite changes. Every time I think I have a favorite, I try go back to another flavor and I'm like, "Oh, no. This is my favorite." I really enjoy the cowboy kraut with my meals at night. But I love the power kraut tossed with some cucumbers and tomatoes. So, it's summer season now, uh, going into, uh, vegetable gardens, and it's a great it's a great compliment to, um, toss with your salad. Dilly Hot is better than eating a bag of chips. So, there they all have a really special place in my heart, but also on my on my plate, too, just depending on what we're having at the time as to what jar of kraut we pull out of the refrigerator. We started making jerky, kraut jerky about a year ago and I just really love the kraut jerky. It's so portable, so fun to have in the car and instead of eating, you know, salty chips, the kraut jerky is a great alternative. I just recently went out of the country for 2 weeks and took a couple of jars of kraut jerky with me just to keep my immune system up, make sure everything kept moving, and it worked wonderfully. So, I I'm really excited about the trout jerky.

So, we have four different flavors of sauerkraut, and I have accompanied a kraut jerky with each flavor. And it's truly dehydrating our original flavor, the sauerkraut. And this has been so much fun.

Just a little bit. Um, gives you a great snack. It gives you something to chew on. It's salty and it's got a lot of flavor to it. This travels so well.

I just recently went out of the country for 2 weeks and took a couple of jars of kraut jerky with me and it was a lifesaver. We dehydrated at a very low heat level so that it maintains the probiotic integrity.

So if you haven't tried the kraut jerky, give it a shot. It's uh it's a lot of fun. It's something new. Nobody else is making it out there like we are.

Because it's dehydrated, it can last for years really. I mean, any dehydrated food has a an extended shelf life on it, but this is a great way to stock up. It's great for sports and activities, hunters, uh, travelers like me. It's a winner.

So, I came up with the idea to dehydrate it, and it's taking off really well. It is so fun. It's so yummy.

It's going to be a little salty for you, but it's loaded still with probiotics. We dehydrate at low temperatures so we can maintain that probiotic activity.

These are all designed to be a snack when you're having a snack attack, a replacement to chips that are oftentimes fried in canola oil or seed oils that are not good for you and are high in carbs.

So, this is a great alternative to still get that salty, chewy sensation or a snack, snacking on something that's helping your body and not hurting it. That's their whole intention.

Dehydrated kraut – you can sprinkle it on a sandwich. You could sprinkle it on your salad. It's kind of chewy. Sometimes you get a little bit of a crunchy end. You can keep it in the cabinet. We put this in plastic jars, so it's very, very light and very mobile and easy to travel with. When you dehydrate it, it makes it salty. So, it's a good salty, chewy snack. It's loaded still with probiotics. We de dehydrate at low temperatures so we can maintain that probiotic activity. These are all designed to be a snack having, you know, when you're having a snack attack, a replacement to chips that are often times fried in canola oil or seed oils that are not good for you and are high in carbs and just not they're not good for you. So, this is a great alternative to still get that salty chewy sensation or a snack feeling, but snacking on something that's helping your body and not hurting it. That's their whole intention.

Beet kvass is actually it's a fermented beet tonic and it's not a a drink the whole bottle in one day you actually only drink an ounce a day to get a great probiotic lift uh for for gut health um great support um for probiotics not only that it has the nitric oxide to it too everything the beet does by itself the fermented beet does better because the oxalates are broken down the sugars consumed out of the vegetable when you ferment it and these probiotics these unique probiotics are created during the fermentation process so uh that's what makes it so special is is fermenting it.

Pickling uses acid, usually vinegar, to preserve food. Pickling in an acid environment prevents harmful bacteria from growing, essentially “pausing” the food in time. Fermentation uses beneficial bacteria to create acid naturally over time, transforming the food’s nutritional profile in the process. Fermented food is more nutritious than what you started with. Those beneficial bacteria produce probiotics and enhanced vitamins that help mineral absorption.

Welcome back. We all know how difficult it can be to eat well when we're always on the go, when our lives are super busy. But if you're feeling crummy physically or mentally, the problem may be in your gut. Yes, Jackie Baker explains how certain foods might be impacting your microbiome and how that can affect your overall health.

Your intestines contain billions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. You truly are what you eat. Food can affect this area in your gut called your microbiome, and experts say that can impact your health.

Suzette Smith of Garden Goddess Ferments explains how some foods may benefit your gut. First, here's a look at your gut microbiome. Your microbiome is two to three pounds of bacteria that sits in your gut. It sounds gross, but all of that bacteria, it's a good thing. There's some strains of bacteria that's really beneficial for our gut that you can only find in fermented foods.

Dr. Christy Alexan teaches nutrition at Arizona State University. The gut microbiome, it's kind of like a rainforest, and you need biodiversity. And what happens as we age or when we go on antibiotics each time, it reduces the diversity of the gut microbiome.

She says fermented foods like yogurt, kombucha, tea, and kimchi can be a big win for your microbiome. That's one of the values of fermented foods is they help replenish the good bacteria in your intestinal tract. These good bacteria can crowd out the harmful kind, supporting digestion and boosting your immune system.

Hippocrates said all disease begins in the gut, so we've known this for thousands of years. I think we've lost our way a little bit, and now we're being forced to go back into really addressing our health.

Exactly. Fermentation is a form of food preservation. People started fermenting foods centuries ago to preserve them so they'd be edible longer. We just add some salt to our vegetable, cut off the air, and then that starts breaking down the vegetables.

During fermentation, microorganisms like yeast and bacteria break down foods. Cabbage itself is loaded with vitamin C, and then when you break down that vegetable, then it creates these great bacteria.

She also swears by this tonic made from fermented beets called beet kvass. It's been around for thousands of years, but we've just rediscovered it as a very powerful health tonic that's just really changing people's lives.

How can fermented foods help? Have you ever started in the morning and had something sweet, and then the rest of the day all you want to do is eat sugar? That's the bacteria in your gut responding to the food that you're eating.

Suzette says a daily shot of beet kvass or simply tossing sauerkraut on a sandwich, a salad, or on the side of your plate may help you crave healthier options, and eventually you should feel the health benefits.

You can sleep better. You have more energy. You feel better. Your skin is clearer. Your joints don't ache. I get brought to tears because people are calling me crying because they feel so much better.

Fermented foods. Some say they're the key to a better microbiome and better health.

the Beets kvass is actually it's a fermented beet tonic and it's not a a drink the whole bottle in one day You actually only drink an ounce a day to get a great probiotic lift for for gut health Um great support um for probiotics Not only that it has the nitric oxide to it too Everything the beet does by itself the fermented beet does better because the oxalates are broken down the sugars consumed out of the vegetable when you ferment it And these probiotics these unique probiotics are created during the fermentation process So uh that's what makes it so special is is fermenting it

Once I started with the sauerkraut, then I started hitting every fermentation festival that I could find, you know, in our area in the Southwest, and I was at a farmers market in California and I ran across a booth that sold sauerkraut too. So, I was so excited to talk to them and they had this beet kvass and I'm like, "What is that?"

And she's like, "Um, I don't sample it." She didn't want to sample it, and uh, you just bought it. So, I just bought a bottle and I didn't think it tasted bad, you know. I quite enjoyed it. And then I looked at the history of it. I started making it at the kitchen and I would take it to the farmers market and just pour it from there if somebody wanted, because I knew nothing about it.

Nobody had any information out there about beet kvass. And we just really went from there. And we started getting reviews and testimonials about the beet kvass. Awesome.

At Garden Goddess Ferments, we're really happy about the new food pyramid. It's more of a focus on whole foods and less processed and packaged foods.

And did you notice what was behind the olive oil? Zoom in really close. Ah, yes. It's the whole Garden Goddess Ferments family of products.

Don't forget to feed your gut healthy bacteria and get your probiotics. Shop at Garden Goddess Ferments today.