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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, 2022March 2, 2022 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 Columns: Tom Andersen Food & Drink

A Better Butter

April 12, 2024May 2, 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

Columns Food & Drink

The Sweet Taste of Honey Wine

February 1, 2024February 1, 2024 slvpost.comfermenter, homebrew0 comment

By Greg Roe and Mike De Smidt There are a number of theories as to how humans first discovered fermented beverages, but one of the leading ones concerns mead, or honey wine. The theory goes something like this. Our hunter-gatherer forebears were out one day, harvested some honey from a tree, placed said honey in a vessel of some sort… Read More

Welcome

Resolution

January 1, 2024February 3, 2024 slvpost.com0 comment

By Julie Horner and Mary Andersen The still of winter is a conscious thing. In the lee of Ben Lomond Mountain shadows are resolute, the treetops shrouded in mist. Crisp walks beneath dripping boughs bolster the imagination, and there is much to look forward to as we enter this new year. Each of us has a chance with this symbolic… Read More

Business Food & Drink

A Call to Gathering: BaleFire Brewing Opens in Live Oak

November 28, 2023December 6, 2023 Julie HornerBalefire, Brewery, Leslie Buchanan, Santa Cruz, small business, Women in business0 comment

By Julie Horner Craft beer lovers will be stoked to notice that a new brewer has come to town in the Live Oak district of Santa Cruz. Former Boulder Creek locals and KBCZ 89.3 FM Community Radio alumni, Leslie and Matt Buchanan and business partners Stephanie and Nate Murphy have signed the lease in the East Cliff Village Shopping Center… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Beer Bread

September 22, 2023October 3, 2023 slvpost.comFood0 comment

By Tom Andersen I grew up in the 60s in south Felton. My mom, having four kids, had a culinary routine of baking bread twice a week; mostly standard white bread and occasionally whole wheat. In addition to these, dad liked odd stuff — dark breads, nut breads, and rye breads. Mom ran this routine until we were all off… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Crafting a Sourdough Starter

June 6, 2023October 15, 2023 slvpost.com3 Comments

by Tom Andersen I went to the store a few weeks ago to grab a loaf of French bread, planning to make sandwiches and pizza bread. I read the label. Never should have done that — 13 maybe 14 ingredients beyond water, flour, yeast, and salt. I bought it anyway and it was good, but wow! There’s a better way. … Read More