How important is kimchi to Korean cuisine? Well, Koreans eat 1.5 million pounds of it every year, the Korean stock market’s “kimchi index” tracks the prices of kimchi ingredients and when Korea sent its first astronaut to the International Space Station, it sent kimchi along with him too—after spending millions researching and developing a recipe suitable […]
fermentation
Naturally Fermented Hibiscus Soda
Perhaps kombucha isn’t your thing. To make that effervescent sweet–sour tea, you first need to get a hold of a live culture of bacteria and yeasts—a SCOBY. Perhaps you can’t find a virile, healthy one. Or maybe you find the look of SCOBYs revolting. You can still ferment sweetened tea. Just use a ginger bug instead of a […]
Do It for the Cash
Let’s say you don’t care about the environment at all. All you care about is money. Why? Well, perhaps you’re testing the theory that money can’t buy you happiness—and you demand first-hand proof. Maybe you have a psychological disorder—greed may be just that. Or possibly you look forward to living in the most unequal society […]
Kombucha Lesson Plan and a Free Brew Log
I teach fermentation classes and my students always have many questions during and after class (I love that!). This post outlines the basic lesson plan for my kombucha class. Near the end of this post, you’ll find my free brew log worksheet to take notes when you just start out. Brew logs? Worksheets? Classes? Is kombucha […]
Two Spring Webinars: Sourdough Starter and Ginger Beer
I have scheduled two webinars for the spring—one on May 3rd and one on June 7th. Both take place at 4pm Pacific Time. If you can’t attend these, you can watch the recorded webinars later. If you attend, however, you can ask me questions in real time using the chat window next to the live […]
Off-the-Grid Kombucha
Because you want to take your hippie game to the next level… The word “ferment” comes from the Latin verb “fervere,” to boil One of the benefits of making fermented foods is that you can prepare many of them without consuming energy. So, after the apocalypse, I’ll still be able to eat my mouth-watering fermented salsa, […]
How to Prevent Your Sourdough Starter from Taking over Your Life
I’ll teach a sourdough starter webinar on Wednesday May 3rd from 4 pm to 4:30 pm Pacific time. You can watch it directly from my webinar page. Open the webinar up in YouTube and ask me questions in real time through a chat window you’ll see to the right of the video. If you can’t watch […]
Olive and Preserved Lemon Spread
I’m not sure what to call this appetizer… I have been eating my preserved lemons with Indian food—lentil dal and channa masala—and decided I should branch out and perhaps make something more Mediterranean. How delicious would preserved lemons taste in a tapenade-like spread? Very, it turns out. Although tapenade recipes vary—some call for anchovies, others […]
Preserved Lemons
If you prefer your food bland, skip this blog post. Until now, when I made preserved lemons in the past, honestly, I struggled to use up an entire jar. Classically, you use preserved lemons in chicken tagine but we don’t eat much chicken. They go well with fish but we eat little fish. You can […]