Profile: Companhia dos Fermentados, São Paulo, Brazil

The day before CONAKOM, I visited the fermented food and beverage bar in Sao Paulo, which is the showroom for the products produced by Companhia dos Fermentados in their factory located in Barueri, in the northwestern part of the Metropolitan Region. I met company co-founder Leonardo Andrade, who started the company 10 years ago with his husband, Fernando Carvalhaes.

Their company creates innovative fermented products rooted in Brazilian biodiversity. In addition to producing over 80 original foods and beverages, they provide training, publish books, and develop products and projects for brands, industries, restaurants, schools, and businesses. Products include kombucha in various flavors, kombucha vinegar, shoyu, miso, wines, and more. They employ 40 people and teach fermentation classes, both in person and online.

Their 2020 book Livro Fermentação a Brasileira (The Brazilian Way of Fermentation, available in English)) and the more recent Livro Açúcar, Álcool e Vinagre (Sugar, Alcohol, and Vinegar Book) are part of a concerted campaign to bring fermentation into Brazilian kitchens. A new book on fermenting solids like cheese, bread, and miso is in the works.

Kombucha flavors

• Cashew
• Hibiscus, Ginger, and Pink Peppercorn
• Jabuticaba
• Passion fruit and lemongrass
• Mate with lime
• Green grape with mint

Selected quotes

People started to talk about us. Asking who are these guys fermenting foods, kombucha, fruit wines, and vermouths? And in less than two years, we had to move to another place. And that year, we produced kombucha for a big chain of pharmacies in Brazil. We started to produce 50,000 bottles of kombucha per month and that then grew to 1000,000 bottles a month that were distributed across the whole country.

The shop functions as both a bar and a showroom. It’s a place to try out new flavors. Every day that someone comes into the shop, we have to teach them about fermentation, and what this kind of fermentation is, and what’s kombucha, since it’s not so common. We show them how to add juice, to make it more like a soft drink, and also how to use in the kitchen. For example, adding a garnish to the drink, and so on.

We like to show how we can apply the flavors of Brazilian fruits. For example, you were drinking a kombucha made with jabuticaba, a Brazilian fruit. While it is common to have pineapple, or apple, or spices in kombucha, it’s not so easy to find kombucha with Brazilian fruits. So, here we like to do this kind of thing.

In Brazil, I realize that everybody is starting to talk about fermentation. We have a lot of bars that are making their whole menu based on fermentation. I was in one yesterday. Everybody is looking into fermentation and asking how they can apply it. Chefs are realizing they can bring a new flavor to an ingredient. It can be raw, it can be cooked, or it can be fermented. Each one of them will bring a new way to prepare a dish.

Podcast

Check out the podcast to hear my conversation with Leonardo.

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