Hi All,

I'm happy to say that I am finding my way as a vendor at the Waterbury Farmers' Market on Thursdays from 3-7pm on the Waterbury Village green. What a nice group of folks there as vendors, and the visitors have been friendly and supportive as well. We lucked out last week with perfect weather, and this week, the Concert in the Park series begins. So come and listen to the music, have dinner and pick up food and other household goods to bring home.

I'll be there with a strong line up of fermented veggies and diverse flavors of kombucha. I'll have three kinds of sauerkraut. On the simple side, I have Just Kraut (organic cabbage and Celtic sea salt), my ever popular Celtic Kraut (organic cabbage, leeks, dill weed, and dill seed), and I'll be introducing Firecracker Kraut! This sauerkraut is spicy with great depth from jalapenos, habaneros, horseradish and garlic. Yum! I don't even like spicy food, but a few tablespoons of this transforms scrambled eggs, enlivens roast beef and amplifies grilled chicken.

In addition to the three sauerkrauts, I'll have spicy and mild kimchi, and spicy and mild half-sour pickles. The spicy pickles get their heat from habaneros and jalapenos, and if you're lucky, you'll buy the jar that has the whole fermented habanero it.

I've been having a ball experimenting with different infusions for my kombuchas. I started out this winter, infusing hops on the suggestion of the folks from Catalyst Kombucha in Greenfield, MA. Really nice folks, and they were on to something with the hop infusion. This got me thinking though.... what else could I infuse? Historically, I've flavored my kombucha with purees, concentrates, strong teas (another name for infusion), and homemade syrups. But I'm interested with using more locally and seasonally available crops and in being able to use them raw if possible.... So, next I infused-- this means placed the ingredients right in the finished kombucha and then let them sit for varying amounts of time-- strawberries and fresh basil. Delish! Then, I moved on to currants, ginger and lemon balm. Score! And today, I added wild blueberries and lemon balm to my finished kombucha.... Hooray!

At the market, I'll have one flavor available to sample, and I hope to be able to offer kombucha by the cup, mason jar and the bottle every week. Stop by my table and fill me in on the wonderful flavors in your house this time of year. I've got this rosemary plant that is going gangbusters at the moment. Has anyone experimented with rosemary and tea before?

For kombucha flavors this week, I'll have blackberry ginger, hops, strawberry basil and black currant ginger. Come by and wet your whistle if you get a moment.

I'll look forward to seeing you at the market sometime soon..

Be well,

Beki Auclair
Vermont Fermentation Adventures
www.RebeccaAuclair.com

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