As many readers might know, I am a nature enthusiast and work to preserve what we have left of our natural world including trees, salmon, birds, creeks, eel grass and much more. I am also an avid gatherer of nature’s bounty and in our part of the world, (PNW) there is much to gather. This diary is about my gathering fruits and berries and preserving them for later use through the long dark and wet winters we endure. In this case the preserving process is fermentation.
The origins of fermenting fruits are lost in the fuzzy haze of neolithic time. The current best archaeological evidence suggests that our ancestors were making wine as long ago as 9,000 years in China based on analyses of residue found in a clay jar containing rice, honey, and fruit. Grapes as wine fruit have been documented in the Western Asia, the middle east, Mediterranean area and the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, again in pottery jars as far back as 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. The oldest documented winery was found in a cave in Armenia dating to some 6,000 years ago.