What to Expect

Ferment! Ferment! Ferment!

Learn some exciting ferments that will revolutionize your food in this Fermentation Virtual Workshops. This four-part series will highlight Japanese ferments but will also have some old classics. We will feature Shiho Kanamaru from Kyushu in the south of Japan, owner of Cha Do Raku teahouse and boutique. She will show us the Japanese ferments: Shio koji, Miso and Nukazuke, and myself, Mélissa Simard, will do kimchi, kombucha and fermented hot sauce demonstrations.

We will look at fermentation as a way of cooking.  Fermentation controls the decaying process of material with microorganisms. You will become familiar with colour, smell and texture.

Learn about various kind of fermentation

Shio koji: Salt fermentation, with Koji, water, and Walt.  You can use as marinate, dressing base, meat tenderizes as Koji is still active, protein breaks down to amino acid nicely

Miso: Fermented rice and bean paste

Nukazuke: Sourdough like pickling bed, learn to make in small portions. Fun, delicious and healthy.

Kombucha: Fermented sweet tea

Classic Napa Cabbage Kimchi: Korean fermented spicy cabbage

Fermented Hot Sauce: Fermented peppers and aromatics to make into sauce. We will show the concept and you can use the peppers you choose.

Who is this Fermentation Virtual Workshops for

If you are new to fermentation, curious about fermentation, a lover of Japanese food and pickles or you have been fermenting for a while and want to learn even more, then come along for the ride. Your house will be bubbling and full of that heady/yeasty/tangy smell that we love so much. Fermentation preserves, flavors and is a friend of your gut flora. We will show you how to ferment and some things you can do with those ferments after.

How does it works

We are offering each workshop for $75 + tx with pick up of your kit in Verdun or the Plateau, $85 + tx for delivery on the island of Montreal and $95 for delivery everywhere in North America. If you purchase all 4 workshops, we will offer it for $220 + tx with pick-up, $230 within the island of Montreal, $240 + tx within Canada and $250 + tx for participants in the USA. All prices are in Canadian Dollars.

You will receive in airtight containers, the necessary things based on what you signed up for : organic oat bran, sea salt measured to ratio, live koji, scoby in juice, mushrooms, Korean hot pepper flakes and any other necessary ingredients.

You will have to purchase any other required ingredients and will be given a list in advance of ingredients and equipment needed.

Fermentation kits will arrive within 4 days of the workshop.

Time and content of the Fermentation Virtual Workshops

March 7th and May 9th at 4pm EST: Miso and Nukazuke

These are the fundamentals of Japanese fermentation: complex, enigmatic, fun and delicious.  We will explore what they are and how they evolve as well as what they provide as flavour, aroma, texture, and health benefits. We will look at fermentation as a “cooking” method and conservation method by using microorganisms to control decay. The kit for this workshop includes:

• 100g of organic rice Shio koji
• 100g of organic oat bran
• A strip of konbu
• 100g organic cooked and mashed beans can be added-on for Montrealers

March 21st and May 23rd at 4pm EST: Shio koji and Kombucha

Shio Koji is simple, quick and easy to make.  We will learn how to make it, how to use in your daily cooking and a little touch of history behind it. It is healthy and tasty and a great salt and soya sauce replacement.

Kombucha is a fermented sweet tea that also has health properties which are mainly that it is energizing, has antioxidants and promotes a healthy gut. Its history is uncertain, but we will present some of the theories about its origins. We will show you how to start your kombucha. Because the next workshop is only in two weeks, we will bottle it two weeks later. This kit includes:

• 100g of organic rice Shio koji
• A scoby or “mother” for the kombucha for those in Canada

April 4th and June 6th at 4pm EST: Fermented Hot Sauce, Cooking with Shio koji and bottling Kombucha.

We will start the process of fermented hot sauce as well as opening and testing the Shio koji, trying some recipes and discussing how it can be used as a meat tenderizer and umami enhancer. There isn’t a kit for this workshop.

May 2nd and June 20th at 4pm EST: Cooking with Miso, Nukazuke follow-up and making Kimchi. We will also have a special guest tasting with Montreal’s Avanaa chocolate looking at cacao fermentation and how it impacts the taste of chocolate as well as tasting a fermented tea.

We will start the process of making kimchi as well as a look back at our Miso fermentation. We will look at how to use Miso in various recipes and do some recipes, salty and sweet! We will also have special guest tasting with Montreal’s Avanaa chocolate looking at cacao fermentation and how it impacts the taste of chocolate as well as tasting a fermented tea. We will taste chocolates with very different and defining tasting profiles due to their cacao fermentations led by Avanaa. We will also taste a rare fermented tea from Japan. Most teas deal in oxidation and not fermentation. This fermented tea is truly unlike other tea. This will give us another facet to explore how fermentation can impact flavour and where we see it elsewhere. This kit includes:

• Gochugaru Korean hot pepper flakes
• 50g of Shiho’s white miso paste as a reference
• 3 tasting size chocolates (5-10g each) whose taste are defined by their fermentation
• A rare fermented Japanese tea

*If you can’t make it to one of the representation, you can always come to the second one or have access to a video to do it on your own.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We are looking forward to fermenting with you virtually!