Founded in Brooklyn in 1995, Sacred Chow is Cliff Preefer’s fermentation-focused food and wellness venture, making living foods such as sourdough and kraut while teaching the biology behind them. Preefer trained at the Natural Gourmet Institute under Anne Marie Colbin and has spent 26 years feeding New York City. The company also extends its fermentation practice into Brooklyn workshops and a Sicily wellness retreat.
Hawthorne FoodsBorn two decades ago in the cellar of Hawthorne Valley Farm, Hawthorne Foods makes wild-fermented, ready-to-eat vegetables in New York’s Hudson Valley. The Hudson company works directly with organic family farms and produces raw, probiotic foods in a former plastic factory converted into an SQF-certified fermentation facility. Hawthorne Foods became a certified B Corporation in 2023, tying its growth to living soil, living wages and living foods.HUDSON, NY
Small Town CulturesCori Deans founded Small Town Cultures after fermented foods helped her heal from Crohn’s Disease, turning a personal recovery into a Plattsburgh company built around making gut-health habits feel more human. It produces living fermented foods in portable pouches for people who want them wherever the day takes them.PLATTSBURGH, NY
HEX FermentsHEX Ferments began in 2010 as a performance-art collaboration between co-founders Meaghan and Shane before growing into a Baltimore food company known for its living ferments. It works with local organic farmers, including those using regenerative practices, and follows an unheated traditional process that preserves the activity of its sauerkraut and kombucha. Its bottle-exchange program has kept tens of thousands of pounds of glass out of waste and recycling streams, while the company has earned a Good Food Award and Slow Food’s Snail of Approval.BALTIMORE, MD
Collective CultureFrom its farm in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Collective Culture makes kombucha, krauts and other fermented foods and drinks from farm-grown and locally sourced produce. Founded in 2021, the operation shifted in 2025 toward a collaborative model that brings area farms together to preserve more seasonal produce and create spontaneous ferments. Its mild kombuchas use organic teas and sugars, while its krauts are made with crops grown at the sustainable Apple Ridge farm and ingredients from partner farms.SAYLORSBURG, PA