My story
My name is Amy Slocombe and I am the founder & owner of the Snowy Mountains Fermenting Co. I have a background in environmental science and am passionate about growing my own produce, eating seasonally, living sustainably and connecting with community. I’m also passionate about fermenting.
I can’t quite pinpoint where my love of fermentation began. Was it in the science? The undisputed health benefits for my family? The elegant descriptions and photographs in cookbooks I had leafed through over the years, or perhaps the opportunity for me to turn my home grown produce into something that lasted well beyond the season? Or maybe it was just inspired by the undeniable deliciousness of the end product. Probably a combination of all the things, mixing and melding and bubbling away together – not unlike the contents of the many jars you will usually find on my kitchen bench.
Working at my bench, the repetitive but therapeutic chop of the knife as it slices through cabbage, cauliflower, carrot and chilli providing the only soundtrack I need, I’m in a calm and meditative state. The kids are in bed, my jars are freshly sterilised, my river rocks are sitting patiently, ready to weigh down the vegetables beneath the brine. In my dehydrator I have some cinnamon apple ‘scoby chews’ releasing their moisture (‘scoby chew’ I ask myself? Where’s that descriptive eloquence when I need it!) but anyway, my little fermented chews will be probiotic powerhouses come morning.
When day breaks I make my girls a kefir smoothie, dollop some lemon-dill kraut beside their eggs, and send them off to school with a kombucha gummy in their lunch box, knowing I’m giving them a pretty good start to the day. As for myself, a large spoonful of fermented chilli relish is the perfect accompaniment to my own plate of eggs, which adorn some toasted sourdough - not mine, I failed miserably at sourdough - slathered with kefir butter. My belly is full of the good stuff and I feel happy.
I guess that’s why I do it.
