The Holistic Women Series: Sarah of St. Pete Ferments
I am so excited to present the second woman to be featured in the Holistic WOmen interview series, Sarah Arrazola- founder and fermentationist behind St. Pete Ferments. THIS SERIES WILL FOCUS ON WOMEN IN THE ST. PETERSBURG COMMUNITY AND BEYOND, WHO INSPIRE BALANCE, SELF-CARE, INNER AND OUTER BEAUTY AND LIVING THEIR TRUTH FEARLESSLY AND AUTHENTICALLY. THEY ARE MAKERS, MOVERS AND SHAKERS, SHINING THEIR LIGHT ON THE WORLD THROUGH SERVICE.
I had the honor of talking to Sarah Arrazola, founder and fermentationist behind the tastiest and most-talked-about ferments in the Burg- St. Pete Ferments. Sarah is a warm and passionate soul who is committed to food justice, to the ancient tried-and-true methods of fermentation and preservation, to teaching practical food preservation skills to the community, and to advocating the powerful and healing role of bacteria in the human microbiome. Sarah ferments delicious varieties 0f sauerkraut, kimchi, seasonal vegetables, kombucha and beet kvass in small batches. Her products are available at the Saturday Morning Market and various other local markets, and at retailers in St. Pete and beyond. Sarah truly embodies a holistic and sustainable approach to living and understands that healing happens in many forms.
Through her own health journey, Sarah has found that eating living, bacteria-rich, fermented foods is a strategy for healing in both a mental and physical capacity. She has also found that fermentation is a practice that is accessible to anyone- no fancy equipment or expensive ingredients required- making it an important component of empowering others to create health in their own kitchens, easily and affordably.
Tell me about your journey thus far.
I am a writer by trade, so I was a paid content writer for different PR firms and freelance jobs and marketing firms- so that was like the opposite of fermentation! But I was fermenting at home- I started that about 5 years ago making kombucha. I didn’t know what fermentation was, I just really liked kombucha. My mom was actually the one who turned me onto it. She was the one who got both of us a fermentation kit for kombucha- which is pretty cool because I think a lot of people view fermentation as like a hip, trendy thing that’s happening now even though it’s the most ancient form of food preservation- so for my 60 year old mother to be the one to introduce me to it was pretty cool.
At the time I was living in a tiny apartment in Historic Kenwood and I kind of became obsessed with fermentation. I was working remotely also- there was a span of time when I moved to Miami and wasn’t fermenting as much- but there was a span of time when I saw more of my food made outside of the refrigerator- more and more growing things, growing herbs, growing plants outside, making my own bread, making sauerkraut, kimchi, ginger beer, all kinds of fermented veggies, fermented pickled eggs- everything was becoming more and more of a laboratory.
My kitchen was literally divided-on one side was all of the stuff fermenting and growing and full of life and bubbling and making noise and the other side was just the hum of a very empty refrigerator. So I got inspired from that to be more sustainable and less wasteful- fermentation taught me to be less wasteful. Then I got inspired to work on farms and like, quit my life. So I started working on farms- some of them didn’t know anything about fermentation. Once I started working on this permaculture farm I lived there for 3 months and fermentation was huge. That really brought together the “farm to ferment” aspect, like just beyond fermentation but creating sustainable local food systems, food accessibility- we have a lot of food deserts and food insecure people in Pinellas county. Addressing this and providing education-those are my goals for 2018- those three categories.
How do your products help to cultivate whole body wellness?
So I make a variety of ferments- sauerkraut, kimchi, beet kvass and kombucha. I also do fermented vegetables- pickling in the fermented style, so we do seasonal vegetables- anything from ginger carrots to turnips-anything that is in season basically. The reason that I make a variety of fermented foods is because your body really needs a variety of microbes in order to function. So where I kind of separate from the world of probiotics into the world of fermented foods is I see fermentation in the sense of holistic health as having multiple answers and not having a “silver bullet” supplement.
So I haven’t taken a probiotic supplement in several years just from eating and drinking ferments. I feel like it’s redundant to take a supplement! It's better to eat the live foods because the bacteria actually makes it to your gut and does the job of predigesting your food. A reason why you see so many people with gluten allergies, dairy allergies, and soy allergies- because at one point in history those foods were only eaten fermented. With the industrialization of the food system we have seen quick-rise bread, soy that isn’t fermented and milk that is pasteurized. I believe that people have gluten intolerances, but I also think there are alternatives to how food is prepared to avoid allergies. The body is an orchestra of bugs and bacteria- we are 90% bacteria and yeast- and 10% human.
In my personal health, every year or so is different. I’m not in perfect health- I think that we become to orthodox in our health and become critical and hard on ourselves when we have health problems but I see it as an opportunity because I never have the same health issues. I have had chronic skin disease- largely due to candida, I have been anemic and faced body image issues, in college I gained weight and then I became a vegetarian. I have faced mental health issues and was prescribed anti-psychotics around age 23 and I felt horrible. I would rather be unwell than take these medications- but that was when I discovered fermentation!
And now I know that most of our hormonal and emotional imbalances have to do with what’s created in the gut- 80% of serotonin is made in the gut. So when people are taking antidepressants or antipsychotics and they aren’t working, they are only addressing 20% of the problem. So I have been off of those medications for four years. I do my best to eat a variety of fermented foods everyday!
How do you use your unique gifts and authenticity in your business?
I see St. Pete Ferments each day, more and more, as an education platform. Also, it’s a business so I have to make money but sticking to the traditional method of fermentation is very important to me. It’s kind of like, every day is a lesson to teach people- like for wholesale accounts, they might want something right away but I have to say “it’s going to be at least 14 more days” or something like that-so reminding people of the slow process that it is.
I do everything in very small batches. We are still pretty small and only a year old, but doing things in small batches helps me maintain control of the process and I am all about slow growth. I want to help people be more self-sustaining so teaching workshops is what I really wanted to do from the beginning. We try and teach one or two workshops every month and I will say that if I could just teach I would die happy. Teaching and being in the creative process for me are tied.
I don’t think i'm as good at the business side but I try to remain true to the fermentation process and not sugarcoating the process itself. It’s kind of taboo! It’s taboo because people are afraid of what they can’t see. There’s either fear of what you cant see or recognizing that its magical. People are either super grossed our or extremely fascinated and want to learn more. When people get into workshops they are blown away. My method is to make everything as accessible and easy as possible, break the barriers of fear, and make people realize you don’t need to buy fancy equipment, you don’t need to buy all organic or spend a ton of money. Just use what's in your fridge first and use a mason jar, a cut up tshirt and a rubber band. Anyone can do it.