Fermentation of an idea

Fermenting food is one of my hobbies. I love to make cheese and fermented vegetables! I have been at it for only a short time as the process is intimidating to say the least. Here I am rotting food and then eating it. Funny, but that is the basic premise behind all fermented food products! Beer, wine, cheese, vinegar, kombucha, sauerkraut, pickles, kimchee......the list of foods we eat that fall into this category are endless! 

Now I am not here to convert anyone over to the dark side of foods, eat what you like, but I have found the health benefits from some fermented foods to be beneficial to my happiness. I digress. What I really wanted to talk about was how my two pass times are starting to come together, clay and fermenting. Enter the clay follower or fermentation weight.

A rather simple contraption. Specially designed to fit our existing 1/2 Gallon or wide mouth Quart canning jars. 

Now the fermenting crocks are nothing new. Open style fermenting crocks for fermenting cabbage have been around for decades in America and this tradition goes back even further in cultures such as Korea or Germany. However the cost of shipping crocks, storage of shipping crocks once they are in your abode, and the filling up of a crock for those who do not have a large garden or direct access to a farmer can be prohibitive. These factors as well as others have led to small scale fermenting. This type of fermenting is on the rise. It allows for freer experimentation with less waste (if you find the finished product to be not to your liking) as well as using a crock you already have, the canning jar. It can be a great way to eat up some of those CSA (community supported agriculture) goodies that are starting to go soft in the fridge.

Now I must admit before we go any further I cannot take credit for this idea. It was handed to me by a close friend. Some of the best ideas come to us this way. As a crafter you struggle to carve out living in this mechanized world. So when a product like this falls into your lap of course you wrap your lovin' arms around it and embrace it's existence. 

I have been working on these followers for about a year and we now sell them to folks in Australia, Holland, Canada, and just about everywhere in the US. Of course it's a niche market so sales are to a small group of adventurous folks. However this type of DIY thinking spreads like wildfire so I am hopeful and now ready to supply a larger audience with these followers.

I know it's nothing glamourous like making mugs and platers splashed with color and artful images but it helps keep me in the studio working with the material that I love. So when I go to the studio and think about making new types of cups or teapots I remind myself to keep my nose to the grindstone and embrace what the universe has given me. 

Wide mouth pint followers.