Small Cultures, Big Impact
One Plattsburgh Woman’s Struggle Turned to Success
For two painful years, Cori Deans put her faith in western medicine to cure her autoimmune gut illness: Crohn’s disease. After countless surgeries, medicines and several misdiagnoses, Deans decided to repopulate her gut through food — fermented foods.
“Even if somebody’s like ‘This is a little pricey for me,’ I want to make our value so high that they at least try it once,” said Deans, founder of Small Town Cultures.
The fermentation process starts with just three ingredients, salt, water and the vegetable of your choice. Fermentation uses the naturally occurring bacteria to provide your gut with probiotics and a full microbiome along with vitamins K and A. The ferments are beneficial for your gut health, the environment and have no preservatives. To add even more pros to the list, Deans’ products are also gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO and keto-friendly. Fermentation is, as Deans described, “the old school version of pickling.” But unlike pickling, fermentation doesn’t use vinegar, which can kill off good bacteria.
Deans, a former massage therapist born and raised in Lake Placid, decided to replenish her gut with ferments after struggling with her disease. She searched for packaged fermented foods, but did not find any appealing options on the shelves.
“I was holding my nose eating this soggy sauerkraut that was not delicious,” Deans said.
She began making her own ferments with vegetables sourced from Juniper Hill, a local Community Supported Agriculture. Each week she would create new iterations of her ferments, testing the salinity levels and ending up with great recipes and way too many ferments to share with friends and family. Her son influenced the ferment options, as she wanted families with children to be able to serve them. She offers dilly beans, carrot sticks and lemon zest.
Initially, she did not want to start a wholesale business; however, she found a need in the market for these products. She first introduced her ferments to Cedar Run, Keene Valley’s local market and deli. The owner shared the samples with a local distributor who was interested in Dean’s ferments. The distributor got her products in co-ops and health food stores around Albany, New York. Unlike most small businesses, which start at local farmers markets, Deans jumped right to wholesale.
“So here’s this great big purchase order that you don’t really know anything about and you’ve got to fill this in a week,” she said.
Luckily for Deans, her sister, Kayte Deans, owns The Good Bite Kitchen in Lake Placid, New York. The space was utilized for both businesses when Small Town Cultures was first established in 2017. Kayte would go in at 7 a.m. and leave around 4 p.m., that’s when Cori would begin her own operations and work countless hours at night.
“It felt like a pay it forward moment, someone opened up their space to me and now I got the chance to do the same,” Kayte said.
Eventually, Small Town Cultures outgrew the space and moved its operations to Cori Dean’s house or, more specifically, her garage. Deans continued to implement sustainability initiatives. Small Town Cultures uses locally sourced vegetables; a compost company that picks up their vegetable scraps. Deans ferments in stainless steel and chooses recyclable packaging supplies. Beyond her sustainability practices, she speaks of a sustainable team.
“You have to make sure they feel respected, valued, and listened to,” Deans said.
After the business lived out of her sister’s commercial space, then Dean’s own home, Small Town Cultures finally found its own manufacturing space located at 602 Tom Miller Road in Plattsburgh, New York. Her facility operates with about 10 employees. Chase Pippin, fermentation specialist, joined the Small Town Cultures team while operating out of the bottom half of Dean’s house. Pippin, formally a chef, explained that he never knew anything about ferments.
“As someone who loves food, it’s so humbling to learn about ferments because it is so simple,” Pippin said.
One of Pippin’s favorite and simple dishes to make with ferments are kimchi pancakes. He, like Deans, hated sauerkraut, but found himself taking shots of the juice from Small Town Cultures products. The ferments taste tangy and a bit salty while preserving the fresh taste of the vegetables.
Cait Martin, another fermentation specialist, began working for Deans in April and explained how she was hired based on vibe. This is a job where you are on your feet for eight hours and community is essential.
“It’s not a job where you wake up in the morning and you’re like ‘Ugh I have to go in.’ I know if I’m working with Chase on carrots, I’m going to laugh all day,” Martin said.
From raw vegetables, to slicing, to fermenting and jarring, this community at Small Town Cultures in Plattsburgh handles it all. Deans hopes that the vegetable options speak to a wide range of people, and it’s getting attention. Small Town Cultures has been featured in Forbes, Men’s Journal, and Jessica Alba sent them a message about obsessing over their kimchi.
“Two years ago Whole Foods reached out and wanted to partner with us,” Deans said. “I thought it was just spam.”
It was not spam and now, her products can be found all over the state and locally within the North Country. From a basement to a fermentation empire – Deans has worked to create an accessible, inclusive and sustainable business.
The ferments come in 12 oz jars at $6.99/jar
Find them around the North Country at:
- The North Country Food Co-Op
- 25 Bridge St Plattsburgh, NY 12901, USA
- Clover Mead Farm Store
- 933 Mace Chasm Rd Keeseville, NY 12944, USA
- Mace Chasm Farm
- 810 Mace Chasm Rd Keeseville, NY 12944, USA
- Keeseville Pharmacy
- 1730 Front St Keeseville, NY 12944, USA
