Incorporating the goodness of fresh, health-giving fermented foods in your lifestyle has never been easier – nor tasted so good.
Promoting good bacteria in your gut by including fermented foods in your diet has proven highly beneficial for thousands of years, improving gut health, digestion, and immunity.
Unfortunately, these days, not many people make these age-old recipes and finding high quality fermented foods on supermarket shelves is not so easy.
Thanks to two holistic-minded Kiwi women, now you can get the fresh, gut-loving goodness of artisan, batch-brewed fermented tonics delivered straight to your door.
Clover Ferments is a new business set up by Stephanie Campbell and Mary-Anne Parker that breathes new life and convenience into traditional recipes with a trio of tasty tonics that are earthy, salty, sour, and savoury. Designed to be taken together, daily and in small doses, the tonics are simple but powerful, lovingly handmade using certified-organic produce wherever possible.
Stephanie and Mary-Anne found their inspiration for the business in a little girl with debilitating gut issues.
From just a few weeks old, Stephanie’s daughter Clover was always screaming in pain. She suffered with rashes and hives all over her body. Her full nappies were stained with blood and she found it difficult to sleep.
“The only safe foods both Stephanie and Clover could eat were lamb, leek and beans, or else there would be carnage.”
As a vegan, that was particularly tough for Stephanie. She had taken Clover to doctors, paediatricians and naturopaths, and tried many remedies. Nothing helped. At her wit’s end, she turned to an online community of mums all around the world and discovered they had experienced similar challenges.
“It was a relief to find out I wasn’t the only one,” says Stephanie. “They told me about lacto-fermentation and I got onto it over the lockdown last year.”
Lacto-fermentation, she explains, is the process by which you submerge vegetables in a water brine to break down sugars, kill bad bacteria and allow the good bacteria to flourish. It converts the lactose and other sugars into lactic acid. Lactic acid-producing bacteria are the most commonly used probiotics in food.
“With processes like pasteurisation designed to kill bacteria, most of the food we eat is dead,” explains Stephanie. “But your gut is only as good as the food you eat.”
After waiting patiently for products to arrive from Australia, Stephanie finally started feeding Clover the fermented tonics she had made using beetroot, cabbage and carrot.
“Within a month of supplementing her food, Clover had miraculously advanced to being able to eat more than 50 different foods including many fruits and vegetables and she was symptom-free.”
While on a family holiday on Stewart Island together in January, her accountant friend and mother of two boys, Mary-Anne tried the tonics and loved them.
“I have a strong interest in natural ways of keeping healthy,” says Mary-Anne, who was inspired by Stephanie’s story,
especially the amazing improvement made by Clover in such a short time. She was so impressed with the results she suggested turning the project into a business to support other Kiwis with gut and digestive issues.
They undertook a trial in Wānaka with a small group of people, then found a site in Auckland where they began making the tonics commercially.
Available through the website, the tonics can be enjoyed as a shot or mixed into smoothies, soups, sparkling water, or salad dressings. Soon Stephanie and Mary-Anne will release a recipe e-book to accompany the tonics to make them even more versatile.
Taken regularly, the combination of natural tonics support the body to reduce bloating, increase food tolerances, boost energy, and aid in digestion.
As zero-waste warriors, the women also prioritise sustainability. Not only do they drop off and pick up the bottles to recycle them just like we did with the old milk bottles, but wherever possible, they compost all food scraps and re-use the packaging.
Incorporating the goodness of fresh, health-giving fermented foods in your lifestyle has never been easier – nor tasted so good.
