Contraband Ferments

Contraband Ferments came about in 2012 by pure accident. One hot steamy summer in Brooklyn, Cheryl Paswater started fermenting after a lengthy stare down with a Kombucha SCOBY. She started fermenting and then started fermenting too much, next thing she knew she was giving to friends, then selling to friends and then started a rogue Fermentation CSA in Brooklyn. Little did she know that CSA would blow up and be the birth of Contraband Ferments. While Contraband Ferments no longer works in production, we have continued to bring fermentation education to the masses. Whether you catch us in a community group workshop, corporate workshop, fermentation festivals or even as contributors to books, the heartbeat of Contraband is to help others grown microbes through food and feel confident about doing it!

Cheryl Paswater,  Chief Fermentationist & Functional Medicine Health Coach

Cheryl Paswater is the Chief Fermentationist and owner of Contraband Ferments as well as Functional Medicine Practitioner, Health Coach, Sous Chef, Artist and Writer. She has co-organized the NYC Fermentation Festival and the NYC Ferments Meetup. She’s been a contributing writer for Edible Magazine as well as a contributor to the book “Miso, Tempeh, Natto” by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey and is currently working on her first book on fermentation due out sometime in the not so near future. You can also catch her co-hosting the podcast Peeling the Onion Podcast with co-host Nancy Campbell (www.peelingtheonionpodcast.com) and working with clients on their health & wellness journeys in her Functional Medicine Practice (www.cherylpaswaterfunctionalmed.com). When Cheryl isn’t teaching workshops, speaking on fermentation and health regionally and internationally you will find her splitting her time between New York City and Atlanta, GA.