ABOUT
HEX Ferments uses the traditional method of fermentation to preserve and transform local, organic, and scrupulously-sourced ingredients into nourishing foods – presently: unique sauerkrauts, kimchi, seasonal ferments, and kombucha tea. Fermented foods are in every culture and for thousands of years have been an effective way to preserve the harvest and make food more digestible while detoxifying and enhancing nutrients. The effect of fermentation transforms foods to make flavors more complex, while adding naturally occurring probiotics to your diet.
HEX Ferments are Maryland-based food alchemists, dedicated to sourcing from local and organic farmers using regenerative farming practices. We believe in creating partnerships with these providers of sustenance to create unique ferments that support our individual health as well as the health of our local foodshed.
HEX Ferments employs a traditional process - we do not use heat or white vinegar - so that our unpasteurized creations are teeming with beneficial bacteria, healthy acids and enzymes. We balance old world quality and flavor with modern interpretations, and choose optimal, nourishing ingredients.
We don't ferment or package in plastic. Acidified foods that undergo complicated chemical reactions (fermentation) leach chemicals and cause adverse health effects, especially in early development. Food-Grade doesn't mean food-safe, especially with exposure to acid over long periods of time - often many months with fermented foods.
Adding fermented foods into your diet is easy: enjoy them with proteins, on salads and sandwiches, with your morning eggs, or straight from the jar. We know that once you incorporate fermented foods into your diet, you’ll be hungry for more (and so will your mind and body).
Our kombucha bottle exchange program has kept tens of thousands of pounds of glass out of the manufacturing, waste, and recycling streams. While making healthy and delicious creations, we do so with sustainable, environmentally sound systems in mind.
Long before HEX Ferments became a name synonymous with vibrant, living foods, it was something else entirely—a story, a spell, a whisper from the underworld.
In 2010, HEX was first conjured as a performance art piece—a collaboration between its co-founders, Meaghan & Shane—embodying a healer who lived below the earth, crafting fermented potions from roots, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. By night, they gathered nature’s offerings, and by day, they emerged into the world above, carrying a cabinet of medicinal elixirs to nourish the community before slipping back underground to let the magic of fermentation unfold.
At the same time, their home fermentation practice was taking root, and they began to see fermentation not just as preservation but as transformation: a way to capture the seasons, to honor ancient traditions, and to reintroduce people to the tangy, electrifying flavors of the living world.
Just as Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs were painted to protect and bless, HEX Ferments became a symbol of safeguarding food traditions—preserving the work of local farmers, embracing the unseen science of microbes, and dispelling fears around the ancient practice of fermentation.
The name stuck, and so did the mission: to share the magic of fermentation, to keep the connection between farm and ferment alive, and to continue the work of HEX—one kraut, one kimchi, one elixir at a time.
Feed your microbiome, and GO WITH YOUR GUT!
