Frequently Asked Questions

Eat your fermented foods straight out of the jar (with a clean spoon) or on your favorite sandwich, wrap, salad, baked potato, egg scramble, rice bowl or anything else of your fancy.  Check out a complete list of recipe ideas and fermented food resources.  (LINKS)  To get the maximum bang for your buck eat at least a tablespoon of our fermented foods a day with your meal to help build digestive health while adding a vibrant flavor to your dish.  Just a tablespoon of our product contains billions of digestive enzymes and probiotics that will immediately get to work healing and nurturing your body every day.

We don’t add anything to our fermented foods other than organic vegetables, herbs, spices and sea salt. There are no preservatives or added cultures, just our hard work and love for great food that will nourish every customer.

See our health benefits page (LINKS).

Better digestion, better immune function, increased nutrient absorption and overall health and wellness. See our health benefits page for a complete rundown of health benefits and how fermented foods can help you. (LINKS)

Because many people are deficient in good bacteria and digestive enzymes, introducing them to your system can cause more rapid digestion and bloat or gas. This is normal and healthy and will go away after your body is restored to a more balanced and efficient mode of digestion. We recommend that people who have never eaten fermented foods start with one bite at a time while re-building their digestive health and getting used to having the aid of digestive helpers on hand.

The amount of salt in each serving is small. Salt is a necessary ingredient in the fermentation process; preserving the food for the first few days of of while the good bacteria get to work.  We only use high quality Celtic sea salt, which is actually very nourishing for the body in moderation. For more information about the health benefits of salt check out some of the new information being published about the positive side of the salt debate.

Because our products continue to ferment after the jarring process, pressure from the fermentation process can result in difficulty opening the lid. We suggest you run hot water over the lid for 20 seconds and give it another try.

After purchase keep your Firefly Kitchens’ products in the refrigerator. If you are traveling or are not able to chill them immediately it is not going to harm the product over a few hours or up to 2 days but keep out of direct sunlight and heat.

Usually around 4 months in the refrigerator. Keep all your fermented products chilled after purchase, try not to introduce any foreign substance to the jar and keep as much brine (liquid) in the jar as possible to keep the product moist and fresh.

NO. If you are a straight out of the jar kind of person, use a clean utensil to scoop the product out. A utensil that has touched your mouth, a cutting board or the floor can introduce other strains of bacteria to the fermented food and cause the product to mold or spoil.

Right now we have 5 staple products: Classic Kraut, Ruby Red, Cortido, Yin Yang Carrots and Kimchi. As the seasons change we are always trying new recipes with seasonally available foods which you can find out about on our new products page or Facebook page (LINKS) as we update day to day information. At the moment we are working on a classic kraut with caraway seeds and a fermented salsa with cumin, jalapenos and cilantro.

Firefly Kitchens has been in business since January 2010. Julie and Richard joined forces more than a year before that in order to test recipes and build the business model that brought them to where they are today. See our story for more information on the Firefly Kitchens story (LINKS)