Our Story

We started our business in 2002 as a one-product company, manufacturing and selling indium, a trace mineral supplement. Although indium is a wonderful supplement for a specific segment of the American population, its benefits are due to its pharmacological action (specifically, its complex interaction with other minerals) and thus has limited value to the general public.

Our ambition has always been to provide a great product that is beneficial for everyone and designed to support good health rather than try to fix it. So when we discovered the fermentation process we now use to make Fervita™, we immediately knew that it was something real and exciting, something we wanted to associate our future with as a company. There were four main reasons for our excitement: fermentation, molasses, rice bran and sea salt.

Fermentation is a time honored tradition associated with healthy food preparation. The microorganisms used in the fermentation process tend to digest all inferior and harmful ingredients and replace them with valuable nutrients like vitamins and antioxidants.

Blackstrap molasses are full of the minerals and antioxidants that naturally occur in sugar cane grown in the fertile soils of the Caribbean countries. It is a sad paradox of our time that we either throw away the most nutritious parts of foods like sugar cane, feed them to animals, or use them for soil conditioning, while choosing for our own consumption refined, empty calories that slowly but systematically destroy our health.

Our society repeats the same foolish mistake with rice and other grains. Rice bran has been labeled by some as the largest source of food waste on earth, but we are glad to provide it for human consumption once again in our Fervita™ product.

Finally, salt has been condemned by the majority of nutritionists who do not bother to make a distinction between unrefined mined or sea salt and the sterile chemical compound sold in our supermarkets. Yet those familiar with traditional food preparation techniques know that adding salt to the fermentation process makes the yeast happy and is necessary for a successful outcome. Yeasts know that the minerals in salt are good for them, and if salt is good for them it is good for you as well. We would rather trust yeasts than nutritionists.

So far, we had an idea for a great product, now we just needed to find a way to make it a reality. Rather than start from scratch by learning about microbial cultures and the craft and art of making fermented brews for human consumption, we decided to gather as much knowledge as much as we could from established experts in the field. But even as we did so, we still felt like we were pioneering new frontiers. As exciting as it was to be in the front lines, we were acutely aware of the risks we would have to take and the challenges we would have to face. But we also knew that we possessed unique strengths and qualities and believed that we would ultimately be successful in this venture.

Learning Experiences

As much as we wanted to set up the production of Fervita™ as a strictly controlled technological process, we quickly realized that art was a major factor that could not be ignored. For example, in deciding when to add specific ingredients to the brew, we wanted to be guided by measurable parameters such as pH and ORP. In reality, it was culture activity that indicated the proper timing of vigorous fermentation, by imparting a certain smell and taste. These turned out to be much more reliable indicators that the fermentation process was on the right track and correct in its timing.

Different batches of microbial cultures take different times and go through different stages when making the transition from a dormant state to a state of vigorous fermentation. The quality of molasses is also of paramount importance. A batch of molasses can completely change its characteristics when stored for a week - we learned the hard way to use only freshly purchased molasses.

We also learned that microorganisms cannot be hurried and they do not necessarily follow our business plans. We tried to rush our first batch of product to the market and some of our customers reported that their Fervita™ bottles had swelled and deformed. Although swelling indicates only that the fermentation is still vigorous and there is nothing actually wrong with the brew, we realized that we needed to prolong the brewing period substantially if we wanted to manufacture the product within reliable parameters.

Though we experienced many failures, we remained very excited about the new discoveries that we were now making on almost a daily basis. Our knowledge of proprietary secrets grew, and we felt increasingly confident in our ability to deliver high quality products to our customers.

A New Line of Health Products

Both my business partner and myself grew up in Europe and were raised in a culture that valued traditional, old-world techniques of food preparation. Fermentation processes were a major part of that tradition, and so was a common knowledge of herbs and their health benefits. So getting into the business of using fermentation to manufacture and sell health products was something we felt very comfortable with.

What was new, however, was the revolutionary microbial cultures we now used to take fermentation techniques to an entirely new level. As part of our ongoing experiments, we tried using these new microorganisms in traditional fermentation processes such as making pickles and pickled beets. We were amazed by the results, which were truly excellent. This experience made us more serious and confident about developing several fermentation-based herbal preparations.

The first new formula to be released of what we hope to be an entire line of herbal Fervita™ products is Fervita™ Immune Support - a preparation specially designed to help our immune systems cope with the cold season. The ingredients we use in this new formula are the same herbs we know from our childhood plus a few more that have recently gained acceptance and recognition in the scientific community.