I've really enjoyed some of these alternate fermentations, because my wife doesn't touch beer, but she's into fermented food. She wants me to build her a temp-controlled ferm chamber like the one I built for brewing. There are a lot of health benefits from fermented foods, and it's cool to have another area to experiment with. Like you said, it's a whole new world to learn about. Fun stuff.
Another funny word that never gets old is "turd." Hah! Turd. Ahhh, yeah. One thing about teaching middle school is that it keeps you immature. Brew on. Cheers, amigo.