- Yeah, it's not a, I mean fermented food isn't it a trend?

I think the research behind why fermented foods are so good for you is really beneficial and a lot of people are catching on to that.

I know it was for me.

I mean, when I started eating these lacto-fermented vegetables, over even like vinegar pickles, I could tell the difference in my health, like how my immune system has reacted to eating these foods now for three years, like a lot of them.

I can tell when I don't eat my fermented foods.

Okay, so I would say that there are three really main reasons why fermentation, and thinking of mostly lactic-acid fermentation, is really beneficial for us.

So, the first thing that I always think about is really sort of the health benefits, right?

So, you're creating this environment and where the bacteria on the vegetable basically eats the sugars and the starch to preserve the food, to preserve that vegetable, but then it also creates these amazing B vitamins and enzymes, you know, various strings of probiotics, which are really good for you.

So that's like one thing, and you can honestly tell the difference when you start eating more fermented foods.

Second, that they're so great for you is that, you know, you really are thinking about your local economies.

I will say up here and what we call down "the bold North" is that you know, we have a very, our growing season in Minnesota is really amazing and it's intense but it's very short and so, you know, it is important to support those farmers, it's important to buy as much produce as we can cause like I said, we buy as much produce as we can and we have it through the winter.

I mean, we still have our fermented tomato paste that we're throwing in our tomato soup.

And then that brings me to the third point I would say that why fermentation, or why, you know, again, people are starting to really love this so much is because it really does add this different dimension to flavor profiles.

So it's just, you know, it's really kind of your salt and your acid all in the same thing.

So Gyst is a really fun and different dining experience.

We've had a lot of people come in here and say, you know, again, this is very different and how much fun they've had.

- Products are ingredients that we use here that are all products of fermentation.

Our favorite everydays are going to be cheese, cured meats and salumi, certain type of olives, miso, all of our lacto-fermented vegetables, anywhere from kimchi to sauerkraut to carrots, leak, and thyme.

We're making our own sourdough breads or pizzas.

Oh yeah, we have fermented honey, kombucha, sweet potato fly, shrubs.

We use the brine even from our lacto-fermented vegetables as brine shots.

Those are the main, oh yogurt, wine, beer, cider, sherry, madeira, they're all different products of fermentation.

So the idea, too, when developing the menu is to find ways of making these fermented foods really approachable.

So, think about the Sand Door, the peanut butter and kimchi.

When we put it together it really has kind of these more pad Thai flavors that maybe people are a little bit more used to.

Or our yogurt, so we make a really lovely, just housemade yogurt, but when you add herbs and a little bit of fermented herbs and mix it all together it becomes this awesome ranch that you can dip Old Dutch potato chips.

So, thinking the idea of fermentation can be maybe a little scary or you're not quite sure, but then adding it into foods that are just amazingly delicious that we would eat every day or that we've eaten all along, like grilled cheese and then adding the sauerkraut to it is just a way to get a little of that fermented, it's good for the gut but it also adds flavor.

- Making fermented foods is like the easiest thing you can actually do.

It really is.

You can make your own kombucha at home.

It's so easy.

We do kombucha classes here.

Fermentation, I mean lactic-acid fermentation it's easier than jarring or canning anything.

It's really, as long as you follow directions of making sure that your vegetable is under the brine that you create, and they say, "All is fine when under the brine," and as long as you can remember that it's the easiest process.