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Ginger Beer | Felton Fermenter

April 8, 2023April 30, 2023 slvpost.com0 comment

By Tom Andersen When I was a young boy my family would load up the station wagon and head to my grandparents’ farm in Viborg, a small town in rural South Dakota. My grandmother made just about everything from scratch, including soda pop. Root beer was the favorite but a pretty involved process, while ginger ale was a close second… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Mountain Fermenters: A Taste of West Country White Ale

February 17, 2022August 29, 2024 slvpost.com0 comment

By Mike De Smidt and Greg Roe This month, we’re going on a fermentation adventure. West Country White Ale, sometimes called Devon White Ale, is a seemingly odd beer with roots back to at least the 1500s, perhaps even the Middle Ages. An ale variety that existed before hops were a common ingredient, it was traditionally brewed in Devon and… Read More

Mountain Fermenters Greg Roe and Mike de Smidt

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Cover Photo: The Mountain Fermenters

June 1, 2021July 6, 2021 slvpost.com0 comment

Post columnists Mike De Smidt and Greg Roe have been co-authoring the Mountain Fermenter column since the paper launched. Covering fermented food and beverages, they offer up their topics and homebrew recipes in a way that the layperson can understand and readily undertake. Mike is a local attorney who lives in Ben Lomond. Outside of spending time with his family,… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Mountain Fermenter: Making Your Own Gin, Santa Cruz Mountains Style

April 5, 2021April 25, 2021 slvpost.com0 comment

By Greg Roe and Mike Desmidt How can I make gin at home without a still, you ask? Well, you can skip that part, because someone’s already done the distillation for you. It’s called vodka. Gin is pretty much a vodka with botanicals added. Gin distillers extract most botanical flavors using the distillation process, but you can simply steep the… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Green Tea and Honey Jun

December 7, 2025December 22, 2025 Thomas Andersen

Crafting a Maui Inspired Kombucha Style Beverage By Tom Andersen Yes indeed you can make a kombucha style beverage with green tea and honey as the sugar. It’s called “Jun,” possibly derived from the Chinese word for pure, some say Tibetan origins. Unfortunately, as I discovered, honey is a pretty good antiseptic and antimicrobial. Needless to say, it killed one… Read More

Columns Columns: Tom Andersen Food & Drink Recipes

Spicy Fermented Honey

August 23, 2025August 30, 2025 Thomas Andersen

By Thomas Andersen Of course most of us think of the Viking mead when there is mention of fermented honey. Mead, if you have never had it, is a little sweet and quite complex in flavor because honey itself is as varied as the pollen from which it is made. It can also be quite potent, beyond 15% alcohol even.… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Loquat Wine

July 20, 2025August 2, 2025 Thomas Andersenwine

By Tom Andersen The loquats are out and they won’t last long. In my neighborhood it’s the squirrels vs. man – that being me, although this year they are also taking on my cats. The cats crouching behind the screen door, squirrels sitting in the loquat tree confident that the door is latched, taking one small bite and throwing the… Read More

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Summer in Full Swing | July 2025

July 1, 2025July 13, 2025 slvpost.com

By Mary Andersen and Julie Horner Welcome to the July edition of the San Lorenzo Valley Post, your essential guide to life in the Santa Cruz Mountains! Summer is in full swing, and the San Lorenzo Valley is abuzz with excitement. The Vision Plan for Big Basin Redwoods State Park is coming to life, with progress toward a fuller reopening… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Kvass: A Traditional Russian Fermented Beverage

July 31, 2024August 12, 2024 Thomas Andersen0 comment

By Tom Andersen I have for you another leap of faith. Those who have trusted me in the past have not been disappointed. At least that’s what they tell me. Let’s begin like this: Who doesn’t like fermented beverages made from toasted grains? If you do, let’s keep going. If you are a believer in not wasting stale bread as… Read More

Columns Columns: Tom Andersen Food & Drink

A Better Butter

April 12, 2024August 23, 2024 slvpost.comfermenter0 comment

By Tom Andersen Fermented butter? Who’d have thought, but yes indeed it is. Nowadays they call it “cultured” butter and it is a premium, but in my grandma’s notebook from 1917 it is called “ripened.” Ripened as opposed to “sweet cream.” She typically cooked and baked with sweet-cream butter because it had a lighter flavor and was usually not salted,… Read More