WHS grad publishes guide to fermented foods

Wardeh Harmon has seen the power of a natural diet, especially one featuring fermented foods.

Roughly a decade ago, after getting married and having children, Harmon was searching for a way to improve her family’s allergies.

“I began to look to traditional food preparation to help,” she said. “People in the past didn’t have many of the modern diseases we do and a lot of that comes from the way we eat. One of the big differences is fermentation — sauerkraut, probiotic beverages and sourdough bread.”

After switching to traditional foods, Harmon saw her family’s allergies improve.

“It was an awakening,” she said. “I’m not the only one saying there’s something wrong with how we eat.”

It was Harmon’s experience with fermented foods that grabbed the attention of Alpha Books. They were looking for someone to write about fermentiaotn and asked Harmon to submit a few sample chapters.

Harmon subsequently wrote “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermentation.” The book covers the basics on fermenting works and includes more than 150 recipes with specific fermentation techniques.

Harmon, whose maiden name is Bisharat, graduated from Whitefish High School in 1992. She now makes her home in Oakland, Ore., with her husband, Jeff, and their three children, Haniya, Naomi and Mikah.

Harmon teaches online classes in the fundamentals of traditional cooking and blogs through her website www.GNOWFGLINS.com, which stands for God’s Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season.

The guide was a three-month project for Harmon as she wrote and tested recipes last summer. She describes the book’s approach as conversational while helping readers master the topic. It was her first time writing a book.

“I was surprised,” she said. “I’ve been teaching the online classes and I thought this would be the same, but when I sat down to write I realized my audience was different. On my blog the readers are already familiar with traditional cooking and I was writing the book for all kinds of different people.”

Fermentation is the traditional methods of preserving and improving foods and was the origin of the first breads, wines and cheeses. The yeasts, molds and bacteria used to created fermented foods give off organisms that are alive. The fermented foods are good for the body because the organisms improve digestion by increasing enzyme consumption. Vitamin consumption and absorption of more nutrients result from these foods.

According to Harmon, the Egyptians likely discovered by accident grain fermentation and sourdough leavening. The use of fermentation was used for thousands of years across ancient civilizations and still in use in households in the late 19th and 20th centuries. However, food fermentation isn’t suited for modern large-scale food production, which demanded convenience and longer shelf life and subsequently pushed fermented foods out of most people’s diets.

“What people don’t realize is these foods are beneficial,” she said. “These foods are so healthy.”

The book, which was released this spring, is doing well. Harmon said she enjoys having a way to pass on her knowledge.

“I love to share — to be of service,” she said. “If I have information I want to share it with people. If I can do that by cooking a meal then that’s good too.”

Harmon dedicated the book to her parents, Ibrahim and Martha Bisharat, “who filled my childhood with yogurt, cheese, olives, and pickles and who gave me my love for cultured foods,” she writes in the book.

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods” retails for $18.95.