When it comes to the regional delicacies of Southwest Colorado, sauerkraut isn’t the first thing to come to mind. Given enough time, however, Love Krauts, a Mancos-based company, may challenge that notion.
A one-woman show created and run by Lizzie Gregory, Love Krauts produces a variety of organic krauts as well as jun, a fermented drink similar to kombucha but produced by bacteria feeding on honey and green tea instead of sugar and black tea.
Love Krauts came into existence in August 2016 as a result of Gregory’s love of fermented vegetables.
“I’ve been fermenting vegetables and tea and that kind of thing for quite a few years ... and I had a friend that just suggested ‘I’d be interested in somebody making me a box of fermented vegetables,’” Gregory said. “I called her up a week later and said ‘Well, I think I’d like to do that for you.’ So I started doing that for a few friends and recipe testing and figuring out what people like and what went over well.”
Since then, Gregory’s project has grown into a business that sells krauts wholesale to grocers like Durango Natural Foods and Nature’s Oasis. Love Krauts’ jun and ginger beer can be found at the Living Tree salad bar in Durango.
Local foodsOne of the details that differentiates Love Krauts from other krauts on the shelves is the source of the ingredients.
“I’m really interested in preserving local vegetables and supporting local food,” Gregory said.
A major goal of her business was to source foods from this area and employ traditional techniques for preserving them. As such, availability of ingredients and seasonality tend to determine what krauts she ferments.
Gregory’s Jalapeño and Apple Kraut, for instance, includes kohlrabi from Mountain Roots Produce and garlic from Banga’s Farm in Mancos, apples from Clearwater Farm in Hesperus, jalapeños from the Old Fort and salt from Utah.
If something isn’t available in the area, Gregory occasionally sources specific ingredients from distant areas, such as cranberries from Massachusetts or seaweed from Maine.
Once she has ingredients in hand, the fermentation of kraut and beverages is largely a waiting game.
“It’s introducing a little bacteria and letting it sit and do its thing,” Gregory said.
Her krauts take about six weeks to make; jun, ginger beer and root beer take three to five days.
Taste and healthfulnessAs with many members of the local and living food movements, Gregory is concerned with the nutritional benefits of her products, including enzymes that aid in digestion and helpful vitamins. But she considers the healthfulness of her krauts secondary to their flavor.
In addition to supporting local food and spreading awareness, the point of Love Krauts is to offer something that tastes good, Gregory said.
“Talking about health is a really important thing, but if people just want to eat the stuff, then you’ve got two reasons to eat it,” she said “It’s not meant to be a supplement. It’s meant to be ‘I’ve got to have this with my sandwich.’”
Her products are somewhat milder in smell and sour taste than traditional sauerkrauts.
“My intention was to make them accessible to someone who isn’t familiar with the taste of fermented vegetables,” she said.
The products also include suggestions about how best to serve them as condiments, Gregory said, so they don’t “sit in the fridge forever.”
ngonzales@durangoherald.com