Culturing microbes, acetic acid, good bacteria — sound like terms floating around in the chemistry lab, isn't it? Well, mixologist Ananth Nayak, who works with O Pedro, and Powai-based pastry chef Abhilasha Rajan have been trying to break down these concepts of fermentation, through Barmbay, an Instagram page they created during the lockdown. The result: glimpses of freshly-brewed toddy, bubbly ice-cream soda, warm loaves of sourdough, and more from their kitchen labs. "We were both always into fermentation. Now, we finally have the time to experiment. One thing led to another, and we ended up creating kvass, a fermented beverage from Russia and other east European countries. While it's traditionally made by fermenting stale rye bread, we used whole wheat sourdough bread. When Nayak posted the picture on social media, he got a great response and we thought, 'Why not document this?'" says Rajan, a self-confessed sourdough lover.

The name of the page is derived from barm — the foam that forms while fermenting beer or any other alcohol — which was used to make bread back in the day when commercial yeast wasn't available, the duo tells us. "It's our take on fermentation, which is the chemical breakdown of a substance with the help of bacteria or yeast," shares Nayak, who's currently in Bengaluru. So, they have been poring over their 'Bible', The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz, and playing around with substitutes available locally to come up with their own recipes like plum toddy, whey-based ice cream soda and sourdough kvass. In between sharing recipes and photos, they also post some gyaan on the different kinds of fermentation; culturing; history of barm, etc. "Fermentation is subject to the place, air and humidity, so, if it takes five days in Bengaluru, it might take three in Mumbai. We factor that in while sharing our recipes," informs Nayak.