FERM Kombucha

FERM stands for different things. It comes from “Fermentation” but also has a Dutch link meaning ‘good’ and ‘strong’. The company was founded by Wouter who had long been a restaurant manager and chef. Since the early teens, customers were increasingly asking for low sugar alternatives and alcohol free options.

Fermentation became a fad a decade ago. Sauerkraut, which has a thousand year history in the Northern hemisphere, was revived. Kimchi, the Korean fermented cabbage, ginger beers and water kefirs, they all resurfaced. Merits go to a very large part to American fermentation enthousiast Sandor Katz. His “The Art of Fermentation” is already a classic in culinary circles.

Wouter took a deep dive in the world of fermentation. A few years later he resurfaced. With a lightly effervescent and mildly sour bottle. It smelled like lambic beer, though tasted like nothing other. Kombucha wasn’t invented in the West. It probably originated thousands of years ago in a forgotten jar of s…