The founders of The Pharm Hut, Patie Tan, and her daughter, Nicole Yap, have also had their fair share of gut-related issues in the past despite observing fairly healthy diets.

“It runs in our family. For years we relied on over-the-counter medication to relieve the symptoms without actually fixing the problem,” says Yap.

It was only after they incorporated kefir into their diet and focused on food that promotes gut health, did they both experience some surprising benefits.

“Mom lost a lot of weight over a few months and I lost my intolerance to lactose,” exclaims the 30-year-old.

Upon changing their diet, the pair began experimenting with cooking, fermenting and urban farming, eventually setting up The Pharm Hut at Hin Bus Depot in 2017, where they tended an edible garden besides selling various flavours of kefir soda.

Their kefir sodas in particular were an instant hit. Word soon spread and before they knew it, locals and foreigners began making pit-stops at their store, lugging away bottles of kefir sodas for family and friends.

“We spend a lot of time getting to know our customers and very often, it’s a bit of a quiet recommendation because gut health issues can be a little hard to talk about.

“Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), leaky gut, yeast overgrowth, and many other food intolerances make for some pretty ugly symptoms, but the fact that we’ve been there ourselves makes it easier for them to open up about it,” reveals Yap.

The pair decided to focus more on fermentation, and in June last year, despite the chaos of the pandemic, they relocated to Gat Lebuh Acheh after closing their first store.

Yap and her mom make most of the food and drink items from scratch, and their menu now includes, among others, breads, sauces, nut butters, granolas, kefir milk and kefir yoghurt.

“Amah helps out as well by making the kaya and it’s always sold out. We basically sell what we love to eat,” Yap says.

So, what exactly is kefir and why is it so loved by so many?

Kefir is a fermented drink that has been around for thousands of years, and is said to originate from the Caucasus Mountains in the former Soviet Union.

Kefir grains are a symbiotic colony of beneficial bacteria and yeast that create probiotics and enzymes during the process of breaking down natural sugar.

“We started with water kefir grains given by my aunt, and over the years, we’ve found and received many different varieties. We love to experiment with all of them to see what flavours and textures they produce,” Yap explains.

The Pharm Hut’s kefir yoghurt contains up to 60 different strains of probiotic bacteria, more than 10 times what conventional yoghurts contain.

“When fermented properly, an environment inhospitable to bad bacteria is created, so we don’t see the need to pasteurise,” she says.

Most commercial yoghurts are pasteurised in order to extend its shelf life, and in the process, most good bacteria are eliminated.

“Our plain kefir yoghurt is thick and creamy, while our kefir milk is sweetened with organic stevia leaf extract and comes in plain and strawberry flavours.”

The pair are particular about hygiene as well as the quality of their products. “We put in a great deal of effort into maintaining our ferments so that they are not just active cultures, but they’re ‘alive and kicking as well’.

“Each bottle contains an active ferment that continues to develop over time,” she says, explaining that this is done to derive the maximum benefit of live probiotics.

Kefir ferments quickly, especially in warm weather, she says, and must be monitored at 12 to 24-hour intervals and fed regularly.

At the moment, Yap and Tan are refining their marketing plan and figuring out how to store and transport their kefir products beyond Penang.

Aside from expanding their range of ferments, they’re also looking into opening more stores to expand their customer base.

Yap believes that improvement in gut health will lead to improvements in skin, hair, brain function, sleep, stress levels and immunity. She also says the gut microbiome is believed to have an effect on depression and anxiety.

“Hippocrates said: ‘All diseases begin in the gut’. We’ve since learned to look at food as a form of functional medicine – focusing on the nourishment of each meal as opposed to just filling our stomachs.”

The Pharm Hut
No 10, Gat Lebuh Acheh
George Town
Penang

Business hours: 10am – 6pm (Tuesdays – Sundays)

You can also follow The Pharm Hut on Facebook and Instagram.