Pigs vs. Cows and the Origins of Fermentation

I've read far too many things about the origin of wine not to wonder why you guys still hang out with me. The theories are amazing, though! The most classic coming from good ol' Mesopotamia, where some fortunate tribe stumbled upon a berry bush, filled their baskets heavily, then discovered over the week that the juice at the bottom of the baskets had become delightfully fizzy. After experimenting with the magic of this, they found that if they crushed the berries, gathered the juice, covered it and let it sit, they would have a safe beverage to drink that rewarded them with a buzz––but that's not why they knew it was important. Between beer and wine (beer being discovered in a similar fashion––neither was "invented"), they almost single-handedly caused the agricultural revolution. However, as my oft-quoted fermentation guru Sandor Katz once told us, animals were well-aware of fermentation before they started walking upright, and those people who discovered how to intentionally make wine, were well of aware of it, too.

I have some theories, and they lie in the difference between pigs and cows.

Fermentation is a necessary part of our digestion. Like pigs and dogs, humans are monogastrics, or single-stomached creatures. Cows and lamb for example (called ruminants), have four stomach compartments, mostly for fermentation. That is to say, they do their own fermentation inside of their stomachs, whereas humans do their fermentation before or while they consume. However, both creatures require it to digest their food, and draw out all the microbial life (the enzymes, vitamins, etc.) that contribute to your immune system and digestion, as well as microbial diversity. It's why we salivate, and why we put vinegar on our salads, and why we like yogurt: fermentation helps to break down the food and provide the nutrients we cannot obtain through food alone. Although pigs are great foragers, there is a reason they like their food disgusting.

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We had a great deal of bruised tomatoes and squash last year that we couldn't give to our shareholders, so we put them in our slop for the pigs. However, put a raw butternut squash on my plate and I'll laugh at you. so will pigs. I discovered that if I packed them in a bucket, covered it with water, and let it sit for a few days, all of the sudden I was feeding the pigs lobster! They loved the freshly fermented squash, fought over them, and devoured them. They love things to be cooked, fermented or rotting, because they, like humans, require a balance of fermented and raw food in their diets.

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Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions writes that, “The enzymes in raw food, particularly raw fermented food, help to start the process of digestion and reduce the body’s need to produce digestive enzymes.” then goes on to say, “A diet composed exclusively of cooked food puts a severe strain on the pancreas, drawing down its reserves, so to speak. If the pancreas is consistently over-stimulated to produce enzymes that ought to be in foods, the result over time will be inhibited function.”

These ancient tribes were well aware of this "inhibited function" and fermented out of necessity. Things like kimchi, kefir, yogurt, pickles, coffee (yep, fermented), and chocolate (fermentation's getting cooler, right?) all have ancient origins, preservative, and biological practicality.

So when I talk about wanting to come to Kentucky and make wine, I don't mean some gimmicky grape wine, I mean anything I can ferment––my motivation is health; my motivation is the same thing that motivated Mesopotamians to start fermenting their own beverages: necessity. It should be mentioned that although most of what you find in the grocery store is legally allowed to call itself wine, it's negligibly related to it. A lot of those wines (non-natural wines) are made more like soda than wine (or "pop" depending on where you're from), and albeit tasty, they lack the beneficial qualities of fermentation. (Sally Fallon also has one of my favorite quotes about mass-produced fruits and vegetables, "Some commercially raised oranges have been found to contain no Vitamin-C," which you can apply to anything commercially raised or produced. Especially wine). My advice is make your own fermented anything. If you eat a lot of cooked food, drink more fermented fruit, eat more fermented food––even pickles!––but make them yourself for best results, or buy them locally.