One of the things I like so much about Zuza Zak’s book is the amount of history and lore associated with a book ostensibly about Polish dumplings she calls Pierogi. I’ve been making dumplings professionally for over half a century. Besides the fact this is the first time I’ve heard some of the really fascinating history of Poland – a country that William Woys Weaver once said has a diverse, region focused cuisine as varied as France – some of the recipes included are not what I would have considered a pierogi, or even a dumpling. Zuza explains. Take potatoes. Here is an excerpt about them from her new book.
Her video on how she makes byczki is in the showcase now with the description: “Looking at these buttered byczki (the name means bulls) in a dish, we can assume that they are so named because of their shape: wide and stout, with little horns at the edges. “ With leek and apple slaw. Yes, please.
And this includes sweet potatoes, and gray potatoes. “Whether they’re eaten with plenty of dill as a side dish to pork cutlets, fried until crispy the next day with a glass of kefir, enjoyed in the form of dumplings, or eaten straight from the fire in the last light of the setting sun, potatoes are undeniably a big part of Polish (and Eastern European) cuisine.
Potatoes have also been a symbol of both hardship and of women’s roles within a poor society. In 2001, artist Julita Wójcik peeled 50kg (110lb) of potatoes at Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw as an exploration of gender roles within Polish society. She made a poignant point, as many of my memories of my babcia Ziuta (who was a cook, both professionally and within the large family) involve her peeling potatoes, and her roughened hands also told that story. However, the symbol of the potato as the quintessential food of the Poles isn’t historically accurate.
Potatoes came to Poland only after Jan III Sobiecki won the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Even then they were viewed with suspicion by the lower class, though they were used decoratively (in the court gardens) by the nobles. It was only in the 17th century, when the Saxon kings’ policies, mismanagement by the gentry and frequent attacks brought poverty to the peasants that the potato finally became an indispensable part of the Polish diet – through necessity rather than enjoyment.
So, if you can make it you should jump on this Sunday, Sept. 25th at 11AM EST. Passcode: ZuzZZ
Pierogi: Over 50 Recipes to Create Perfect Polish Dumpling by Zuza Zak is available now in both digital format and hard cover the in the US on Amazon and anywhere books are sold. Photos in the book are by the amazing Ola O. Smit @olasmit. Register to attend a live event on September 25th, 11AM EST of the month of Dumplings at the Vimeo site: https://tinyurl.com/ybzedfhh , then $10 to PayPal.me/ZuzaZak
$10 gets you the addresses and codes for the demonstrations by Zuza on making dumplings from this lovely, simple and tasty looking book that will have you eager to make dumplings and other things. There is no charge for the live event. No charge for annual members or video makers, but you must register for the live event, though.
Cultures.Group
An annualmembership for $75 gets you access to hundreds and hundreds of videos, as well as live events like the one above with 5 videos and to the December events and access to the library until the end of the year on 12/31/2022.
Pierogi: Over 50 Recipes to Create Perfect Polish Dumpling by Zuza Zak is available now in both digital format and hard cover the in the US on Amazon and anywhere books are sold. Photos in the book are by the amazing Ola O. Smit @olasmit. Register to attend a live event on September 25th, 11AM EST of the month of Dumplings at the Vimeo site: https://tinyurl.com/ybzedfhh , then $10 to PayPal.me/ZuzaZak
$10 gets you the addresses and codes for the demonstrations by Zuza on making dumplings from this lovely, simple and tasty looking book that will have you eager to make dumplings and other things. There is no charge for the live event. No charge for annual members or video makers, but you must register for the live event, though.
Cultures.Group
An annualmembership for $75 gets you access to hundreds and hundreds of videos, as well as live events like the one above with 5 videos and to the December events and access to the library until the end of the year on 12/31/2022.
Dumplings, that is. There are so many really brilliant recipes and stories in this book. Each dumpling or recipe has a tale that sounds tasty. And, the history of the ingredients and where the dumplings come from is fascinating. Zuza will demonstrate 5 of them over the course of the month!
$10 gets you the addresses and codes for the demonstrations by Zuza on making dumplings from this lovely, simple and tasty looking book that will have you eager to make dumplings and other things. Seriously. You can watch the videos for this event until the end of the year.
No charge for annual members. You must register for the live event, though.
Released in the UK, but also available in digital format and soon hard cover the in the US on Amazon and anywhere books are sold. Photos in the book are by the amazing Ola O. Smit @olasmit.
Register or Contact
An annualmembership for $75 gets you access to hundreds and hundreds of videos, as well as live events like the one above with 5 videos and access to the library. https://paypal.me/FermentsandCultures
Pierogi: Over 50 Recipes to Create Perfect Polish Dumpling by Zuza Zak. The essential cookbook for preparing perfect Polish dumplings at home.
Released today in the UK, but also available online now in digital format in the US on Amazon. Photos in the book are by the amazing @olasmit.
Photo by Ola O. Smit (@olasmit)
Delve deep into regional recipes from all over Poland with the traditional ingredients and stories that define these delicious dumplings. From the Baltic Sea with its abundance of fish, to the unique smoky and sour flavours of the mountainous south and beyond, discover endless options to satisfy every craving. As well as regional classics, Zuza Zak offers sweet and savoury dumplings for every occasion. With new and original creations, plus crowd-pleasing vegan and gluten-free options, Pierogi is a fascinating celebration of this beloved Polish speciality.
Photo by Ola O. Smit (@olasmit)
Sweet curd cheese manty with raspberry sauce “Another speciality of the Podlasie area, this recipe is where Tatar manty meet sweet, Polish pierogi. Poland specializes in sweet dumplings, but in many other countries people don’t quite know what to do with them – a sweet lunch? Whoever heard of such a thing? We are certainly not averse to eating a sweet lunch in Poland, and I would like to gently suggest that you try it too one day – or you can add them to your brunch repertoire. “
September 25th Live, plus videos
Register to attend a live event on September 25th, 11AM EST of the month of Dumplings at the Vimeo site: https://tinyurl.com/ybzedfhh
$10 gets you the addresses and codes for a series of demonstrations by Zuza on making dumplings from this lovely, simple and tasty looking book that will have you making dumplings and other things quite quickly.
No charge for annual members (See below). You must register though.
Silky divine varenets. The steps: raw or pasteurized milk is baked for hours until a deep golden skin forms. Lift off the skin and eat it, or save it for later. If you don’t have or don’t want to use an oven, an Instant Pot at 200F for 10 hours works well. Traditionally, this was made when the masonry stove in your house was cooling down.
Once you have your cooked milk, called топлёное молоко in Russian, cool it down. It then gets inoculated with sour cream, buttermilk or milk kefir. A teaspoon of any of the above added per cup of cooked milk is enough. The milk should be about 110F. Make sure your sour cream has live bacterial cultures – not just enzymes.
The more sour cream you add, the thicker it will be. Inoculate it for 6 to 8 hours exactly like yogurt, although 110F is the ideal temperature for this. Any yogurt maker will do, as will your Instant Pot or any place it can stay warm and covered for 6 to 10 hours at 85F or higher. But try to get it to 110F at least.
The baked down milk you make is never really sweet, but even after chilling down and adding the sour cream starter and inoculating it, it’s also not very sour. Just smooth and tasty. By the way, milk kefir can make this a little grainy and a little more sour, so we always use sour cream or buttermilk.
Eating varenets – actually, drinking it chilled – alone is rarely enough. It is typically eaten with other things as a snack. Sometimes these garnishes go in, or on the varenets.
This is an example of how to take varenets and turn it into riazhenka by adding heavy cream. You can actually just add heavy cream to it when eating it. The contrast in tastes and textures makes this a real joy. But add some heavy cream, about 1/4 cup per cup of baked milk, to make riazhenka. It should be much thicker.
As any cook knows sour cream cultured dairy will not curdle, so we really use it in everything. Using varenets and riazhenka as an alternative to sour cream can add a new taste to everything from salad dressings to smoothies to baked goods.
Quick riazhenka with all the garnishes: heavy cream in a bowl, the milk skins, stewed dried figs, sour cream and of course the tan colored silky smooth, thick and chilled varenets.
Sour Cream, Heavy Cream, Baked Milk Skin, Varenets, and Figs
There is from an event that is an ongoing benefit for World Central Kitchen. This $45 benefit package is available until 12/31/2022. An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – gets you in as an annual subscriber with access to hundreds and hundreds of videos in our library as well as future events in 2022. Everything in the library is also viewable until 1/1/2023.
Whether or not you are making a donation or getting an annual membership that also gets you into hundreds and hundreds of videos, you must register at https://paypal.me/FermentsandCultures to get on our mailing list. Otherwise send an email to kojibook@earthlink.net and we’ll figure something out.
What is Darra Goldstein’s latest book, The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food, about? The simplest answer is bread. And Salt. Saltness. Rye Bread and Saltness (Khleb da sol’).
The concept of using bread and salt to communicate hospitality is so important that even under the most severe circumstances, such as famines, during which the only ingredients available were chaff, sawdust, cellulose, tree bark, acorns and maybe a little actual rye, these ingredients were made into bread.
This is not simply some ancient ritual. In 1975, when Americans and Russians jointly ventured into space, salt tablets and crackers were used in the actual spaceship of the Apollo-Soyuz mission to express hospitality and hopes for success.
Varenets Skin – the top of the slowly evaporated milk that has caramelized into a tasty treat that is sometimes layered into rice pudding. Riazhennka is basically the same thing as varenets, but with cream added.
A narrative history of food in Russia (and Russian food), The Kingdom of Rye is a compendium of sorts to Goldstein’s previously published cookbook Beyond the North Wind. Despite outside influences that during periods of nationalist rallying were often denounced as not “our food,” Russian cuisine developed over hundreds of years based on a small number of ingredients coaxed from a harsh environment, and these foods came to define national identity. According to Goldstein, Russian cuisine is characterized by
the sour taste of fermented foods, found in pickles, brined fruits, rye bread, kvass, and cultured dairy products like sour cream
the earthy flavors of wild mushrooms and buckwheat groats
the zesty bite of horseradish and mustard
soups soured with kvass and pickle brine
the tart tang of Antonov apples and sea buckthorn
the sweetness of honey and milk baked to caramelized sweetness
Sourdough bread for kvass, a refreshing mildly alcoholic drink typically made from leftover or stale sourdough rye. Hops can be added to it – and any bread or even fruit can be used – to make a quick, tasty beer. The colder the better.
There’s so much in the book about how food was grown, made, procured, and eaten that any culinary enthusiast will want to try making at least a few of the dishes mentioned. Some are actually meticulously described, including how and why the beloved Russian rye bread was sliced in a certain manner – as on the cover of the book itself.
In fact, the title of the book comes from an expression translated from the Russian that means “the tsardom of rye,” but I think we can all agree that The Kingdom of Rye better suits the English language. Rye was sacred, a bountiful crop that could subsume memories of eating famine foods. A small piece of bread represented both talisman and community. And it very often was the difference between life and death.
The Russian kingdom of rye was one in which “begging for crusts” was a ritualized practice, something well known to serfs who could easily starve to death if their supplies ran out.
But the book is also about fermentation and the beloved tang of sourdough and fermented cabbage and beets and kvass, made from stale rye bread. As Goldstein notes, the Russian expression for “living hand to mouth” – as most people have lived throughout history – is living “from bread to kvass.”
This book is a trail of bread crumbs left over hundreds of years by writers and workers and peasants and the landed gentry and soldiers, reminding us that food and comfort and freedom are often controlled substances, often weaponized, or used as a beadle for religious compliance, or manipulated to encourage or enforce a state mandate or a politician’s ambitions.
The first thing I look at is the index of a book. Other than hospitality, the most indexed topic is food insecurity and famines, something Russia has a long history of confronting. Woefully, not all of the starvation periods during Russian history were the result of nature, or anything that a devout believer could be convinced was the result of divine retribution.
As Goldstein notes, famines and starvation are frequently the results of “cynical political determinations.” Such decisions are immediately relevant today, as Russia destroys farms and ravages farmlands, steals grain, and destroys the equipment and Ukraine’s capacity to grow more, thus potentially starving millions of people around the world.
Putin has done this before. Very recently, in fact, when hundreds of thousands of tons of food imported from Western countries and the EU were destroyed in mobile crematoria in response to the rage against sanctions imposed after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
But, these bread crumbs also lead to a very special kind of place where “kitchen dissidence” occurs: “The kitchen table defied the constraints of a life defined by scarcity, as abundant vodka and food invariably appeared on the table. Friends crowded in, sitting on stools and laps, often with a dozen adults and children crammed into only five or six square meters. The impromptu meals of hearty black bread, tins of canned fish, and home-salted mushrooms pulled from the stash under the bed, accompanied as they were by a lively exchange of ideas, represented an undeniable triumph over diversity, a genuine, loving communality.”
Goldstein claims that The Kingdom of Rye is an historical and ethnographic addendum to Beyond the North Wind.
But, no.
It’s also a review of Russian literature that includes lush, evocative details about specific foods. As Goldstein states: “Writing about food calls for an appreciation of food’s sensory qualities, whether it’s the heady fragrance of Antonov apples in autumn or the visceral smell of pig’s feet simmering into the meat aspic called studen’. What equivalences are there between an aristocratic table, laden with flowers and shimmering with candles à la russe, and a peasant family’s rough board, upon which a communal pot of wild mushroom and barley soup has been set? Where but in Russian literature can you find that nineteenth-century prototype, the superfluous man, bemoaning the emptiness of life even as he reaches for another piece of pie as if for the embodiment of truth? And who is to say that the superfluous man isn’t right to find truth materialized in sensory delight? This domestic history of Russian food offers a look into people’s daily lives, to serve up a history that originates from the wooden spoon rather than from the scepter.“
Sourdough Rye bread with cracked coriander seeds, with spiced and salted tvorog cheese
Every word in this book is relevant to the situations we face worldwide in regard to sustainability, famine, food justice, foraging, self-determination, ingenuity, the weaponization of food, religion, politics, and what Goldstein describes as the most crucial attribute of culinary identity: “..and, perhaps above all, [food’s] cultural resonance and the emotional value of traditional flavors, how people know who they are by what they eat together.“
Goldstein isn’t a stranger to receiving awards for her cookbooks. This one, however, deserves a Pulitzer. There has never been a book like it – an ethnographic treatise on the history of a people as told through their food and the techniques they devised to feed themselves through centuries of victory, defeat, the miseries inflicted by the state or by nature, and the sheer joy of eating. After reading the book, you will not look at bread, grains, pickles, mushrooms, pies, restaurants or politics the way you did before.
This book leads through the forest of history to a place, where we can hopefully all taste food and taste freedom.
It’s a generous invitation to learn from the past, using food as a universal language.
We all eat. History is filled with stories of those involved in violent conflicts or centuries-long animosity coming together by sharing bread or recognizing that it’s a universal need. A source of survival. And of national identity. And always a bargaining chip that should not be used to starve or blackmail.
But will we ever learn from history? Will we ever accord food security and equity the same status as political power? Will we ever learn to quickly and rapidly deal with tyrants and bullies who would gladly let grain and other food rot to advance their control over others? This is not exclusively a Russian tactic of waging war.
Buckwheat Blini with Onion Vzvar
Hopefully, by communicating the importance of sharing food and drink, this book will encourage everyone to stop the use of food as a weapon in Ukraine, and in every other country around the world. This book is indeed a culinary ethnography, but for anyone that has ever felt love, hope, gratitude, and belonging when eating, when sharing food, when tasting home. The world desperately needs this book right now.
Full length interviews with Darra Goldstein on both of her books, Beyond the North Wind and The Kingdom of Rye, is available in our Ferments and Cultures library for members.
Cheese lovers at any level. Fermenters. Come watch Trevor share his decades of experience. Ask questions, simple or hard. Cross cultural observations on natural or no starter culture cheeses. The notion of slow fermentation, which like sourdough can lead to more complex flavor and is the antithesis of the industrial approach (fast=safe). The diversity of pastoralism. Transhumance. Taking cheesemaking to its source, teat and udder health, how fresh healthy milk from healthy animals is the starting point for great cheese.
Whey based thermophilic starter culture at Cascina Lago Scuro – Mozzarela
Wooden vats as microbe reservoirs – Ragusano
No added starter culture but udder microbes – Langhe Tuma
Specific temperature starter cultures from selected animals – St. James
There is no fee for this event, but it is still part of a benefit for #wckitchen. Whether or not you are making a donation you must register at the https://paypal.me/FermentsandCultures link. Hit Send and fill in the information. Or jump on now, and do it later if you want to watch later. That includes any of the sessions from this year as well. This $45 benefit package is available until December.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – gets you in as an annual subscriber with access to hundreds and hundreds of videos in our library as well as future events in 2022. Everything viewable until 1/1/2023. #cheese #fermentation #wildfermentation #artisancheese #culturesgroup #fermentsandcultures
Whey based thermophilic starter culture at Cascina Lago Scuro – Mozzarela
Wooden vats as microbe reservoirs – Ragusano
No added starter culture but udder microbes – Langhe Tuma
Specific temperature starter cultures from selected animals – St. James
Cross cultural observations on natural or no starter culture cheeses. The notion of slow fermentation, which like sourdough can lead to more complex flavor and is the antithesis of the industrial approach (fast=safe). The diversity of pastoralism. Transhumance. Taking cheesemaking to its source, teat and udder health, how fresh healthy milk from healthy animals is the starting point for great cheese.
There is no fee for this event, but it is still part of a benefit for #wckitchen. Whether or not you are making a donation you must register at the https://paypal.me/FermentsandCultures link. Hit Send and fill in the information. Or jump on now, and do it later if you want to watch later. That includes any of the sessions from this year as well. This $45 benefit package is available until December.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – gets you in as an annual subscriber with access to hundreds and hundreds of videos in our library as well as future events in 2022. Everything viewable until 1/1/2023. #cheese #fermentation #wildfermentation #artisancheese #culturesgroup #fermentsandcultures
Whey based thermophilic starter culture at Cascina Lago Scuro – Mozzarela
Wooden vats as microbe reservoirs – Ragusano
No added starter culture but udder microbes – Langhe Tuma
Specific temperature starter cultures from selected animals – St. James
Cross cultural observations on natural or no starter culture cheeses. The notion of slow fermentation, which like sourdough can lead to more complex flavor and is the antithesis of the industrial approach (fast=safe). The diversity of pastoralism. Transhumance. Taking cheesemaking to its source, teat and udder health, how fresh healthy milk from healthy animals is the starting point for great cheese.
There is no fee for this event, but it is still part of a benefit for #wckitchen. Whether or not you are making a donation you must register at the paypal.me/FermentsandCultures link. Hit Send and fill in the information. Or jump on now, and do it later if you want to watch later. That includes any of the sessions from this year as well. This $45 benefit package is available until December.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – gets you in as an annual subscriber with access to hundreds and hundreds of videos in our library as well as future events in 2022. Everything viewable until 1/1/2023. #cheese #fermentation #wildfermentation #artisancheese #culturesgroup #fermentsandcultures
Schedule for remaining May events. These events are free, but you must use the PayPal link to register (therefore, whatever minimum they have). To register it’s $45 for the entire month and all events, plus all the events from March and April with related videos you can watch until the end of the year. If you have already donated for April or purchased an annual subscription you are not required to do so again for May. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
May 20, 2022, 4PM EST (Streaming now for subscribers) The Silk Road and the Origins of the Foods we Eat Rob Spengler
May 21, 2022 , 4PM EST (Live) The History of Perso-Arab Cuisine Charles Perry
May 22, 2 PM EST (Live) A tour of history and culture through Russian cuisine Darra Goldstein and Kirsten Shockey
May 23, 12 PM EST (Live) Bread and Community Soiree-Leone, Dawn Woodward, Naomi Duguid
May 28, 7 AM EST (Live) Naturally Fermented Cheeses Trevor Warmedahl
Kundiumi, baked then steamed dumplings filled with mushrooms, sorrel or mustard greens and buckwheat from Darra Golstein’s Beyond the North Wind. Photo by Stefan Wettainen
Schedule for May events TBA, although most likely all live events will take place between May 20 and May 25th. To register it’s $45 for the entire month and all events, plus all the events from March and April with related videos you can watch until the end of the year. If you hav e already donated for April or purchased an annual subscription you are not required to do so again for May. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Videos being Edited
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
“Ukrainian cheesemakers are facing great uncertainties and challenges. Listen to some of their stories, including Olga Ternytska’s @karote777 whom I met on a visit in 2017, on an excellent program recently released by @cuttingthecurd radio with @carlosyescas .
Also; this Saturday at 12pm EST I’ll be talking about the traditions of Ukrainian dairy fermentation as a fundraiser for the @wckitchen and their excellent efforts to feed refugees fleeing the violence.Organized by @cultures.group as part of their April Flours event” by David Asher
To register just for one day of sessions, full schedule below, we are asking for a $15 donation. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month and all 20+ sessions that you can watch until the end of the year, however. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Friday, April 29
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos ( Eiko Takahashi) Live 4 PM – 6 PM EST (ZOOM)
Saturday, April 30th
Crème fraîche – No Chemicals, No Inoculants, Lots of Goodness by David Asher
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live 11 AM – 12 PM EST (ZOOM)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher) Live 12- 1 PM EST (ZOOM)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live 1:30 to 3 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
To register just for this session, full schedule below, we are asking for a $15 donation. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month and all 20+ sessions that you can watch until the end of the year, however.
$75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Friday, April 29
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos ( Eiko Takahashi) Live 4 PM – 6 PM EST (ZOOM)
Saturday, April 30th
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live 11 AM – 12 PM EST (ZOOM)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher) Live 12- 1 PM EST (ZOOM)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live 1:30 to 3 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
To register just for one of these sessions, full schedule below, we are asking for a $15 donation for each one. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live.
No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
From StoryCooking.com – “Food has a way of transcending circumstances, time and place. My friend Amy Halloranand I read and cooked from @oliahercules book Summer Kitchens today and Amy reminded us of our connections to Turkey Red Wheat, brought to the United States by Mennonite immigrants from Russia then, now Ukraine and how it is part of our daily bread. I made varenyky two ways – one using my 321 sourdough egg pasta recipe and the other whole wheat dumplings adapted from ilia’s book Summer Kitchens. Amy showed us how to make Pampushky, sourdough garlic bread.”
As then, when you all come together your donation will support World Central Kitchen https://wck.org work to help Ukraine.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos ( Eiko Takahashi) Live 4 PM – 6 PM EST (ZOOM)
Saturday, April 30th
Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live 11 AM – 12 PM EST (ZOOM)
The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation (David Asher) Live 12- 1 PM EST (ZOOM)
Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live 1:30 to 3 PM EST (ZOOM)
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Comparison of flours in cookie: Whole Rye, Buckwheat or Wheat. Guess what?
Laura Valli, a PhD candidate @wsu_bread_lab and a habitual presenter for Cultures.Group on rye and fermentation described several experiments during a recent session of April Flours – recorded thanks to the super janine Johnson. It was an absolute masterclass in rye baking and microbial interactions.
Laura Valli uses a rye starter that is very different than any starter we’ve seen.
Having @evelyns.crackers Dawn Woodward and Ed just made it all the more excellent. We have that as well on video in the April Flours benefit showcase. Most people have no idea about the aspects of rye based fermentation that makes it so unique and fascinating. We will rerun this later on. So register for the full #aprilflours benefit now to help WCK feed Ukranian refugees, and you will be able to watch it. Or subscribe for an annual membership.
Rye Starter.
A lot of baker’s won’t go near Rye. And very, very few know of the development of different raices of rye and how individual characteristics contribute to how rye performs. Lots of that information shared during this session.
Thanks to a resurgence of grain farming and milling, often in collaboration with the bakers and chefs that are using the end product, rye and whole grains like rye are more under study than ever before. That will actually b e part of the far ranging discussion of Zev Robinson’s film we are showing live this Saturday April 30th. Another reason to register now for the April Flours benefit.
Experiments in Rye Bread Baking
April Flours is our month long benefit for #wckitchen to feed the people of Ukraine. $45 for a year of viewing event related videos and live sessions and edited replays when available. We have been uploading new videos as we go along. These videos are always in the showcase for the event, regardless of when you donate. We have turned the final week into two days with many sessions.
Two of these cookie types taste almost identical, mouth feel and all.
To register just for one of these sessions we are asking for a $15 donation for each one. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live.
No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however.
$75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos (Live ) Eiko Takahashi 4 PM EST
Saturday, April 30th
11 – 12 PM EST Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live
12- 1 PM EST The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation David Asher (Live)
1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Seasoned Sourdough Yeast Salt Popcorn and Sourdough Garlic Cream Cheese by Heather Willensky@fermentsh
Sourdough Starter, and Kvass (or bread beer) for that matter, typically contain both lactic acid, yeasts, and sometimes acetobacteria that are associated with vinegar and acetic acid. Dehydrating sourdough starters of different kinds, like dehydrating pickling or fermenting brines, can create distinct tasting seasoning agents.
There seems to be a resurgence of the use of microbe infused salts and the use of dehydrated ferment brines and cultures, including sourdough starters and leftover bread.
Sure, the idea of backslapping, or using a small portion of a previous batch of something cultured or fermented to make a new batch, is not a new concept, but it is interesting to see people realizing that unless a very specific set of microbes and environmental conditions existed in a specific area, recycling at least a few of the successful microbes is what has enabled us to create generations of cultures that can be passed down.
The problem is how these things were and are passed down, and what creates a break in the links between generations. When that happens, artificial cultures are often used to replace what would have been created naturally.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, but culture is not just about specific microbes, but how we have interacted with the enormous diversity of animals, plants, insects, bacteria, yeasts, fungi that are part of the human existence in the world.
With dairy fermentations, but also with all kinds of grain and legume and plant fermentations, we are rapidly losing that knowledge due to forced relocation, the convenience and cost of processed foods, lack of financial opportunities or Amy equitable resource sharing system, irreversible climate change, and apathy.
Recycling cultures is not at all a new concept. Salt was always a very cherished commodity historically, so reusing it to create a sour, salty type of seasoning similar to citric acid or dehydrated vinegar or salt is very well documented. The tanginess of lactobacillus bacteria creates taste. It also provides safety to newer ferments by lowering the PH similar to how soluble lactic acid is used today in brewing and even things like soy sauce or miso.
Heather relates her history of craving the umami of smoked salmon with a bagel and cream cheese, but sometimes specific ingredients are out of financial reach. But substances like bacteria, fungus, molds and yeasts are everywhere, often for free when you know understand the basic methods to create safe edible items and if you have access to resources like water and land and air and sun.
Ironically, the practice of dehydrating starches that have soured or fermented (sometimes both) is at least 5,000 years old and was really the start of grain, seed and other substances that served as the substrates of levain in dumplings, noodles, and breads. The Qi Min Yao shu, for example, describes in detail how soured rice or other grain water, or the lees from wine were used as leavening agents. Often, these were dehydrated into starters for a later date. In effect, the original qu (麹)or koji as most of you know it as represented by cakes and balls and disks of mixed microbes.
Heather has some pretty creative ways to use the yeasts in breads and sourdough starters, searching for an umami taste that tasted like the comfort of home. She began fermenting in her kitchen in 2008. From the moment her swing-top bottles exploded at 4PM raining ginger beer down over her kitchen she knew she was in love. A former music licensing specialist, Heather has spent the past 14 years experimenting with fermentation from pickles to beer and bread.
The pandemic and new motherhood provided an excellent opportunity to delve deeper into fermentation, exploring its limitless applications and techniques and connecting with the online fermentation community. You can follow her adventures on her @fermentsh instagram page.
April Flours is our month long benefit for #wckitchen to feed the people of Ukraine. $45 for a year of viewing event related videos and live sessions and edited replays when available. We have been uploading new videos as we go along. These videos are always in the showcase for the event, regardless of when you donate. We have turned the final week into two days with many sessions.
To register just for one of these sessions we are asking for a $15 donation for each one. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however. $75 Annual subscription for all events and videos from the last 6 years. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos (Live ) Eiko Takahashi 4 PM EST
Saturday, April 30th
11 – 12 PM EST Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live
12- 1 PM EST The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation David Asher (Live)
1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Whole Grain Khamiri (Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread), Dosa (Urad Dal and Rice), Bajra Roti (unleavened millet), Amritsari Kulcha (unleavened, laminated, stuffed bread) all presented this Friday April 29th for April Flours, a benefit for Ukraine and WCK. $15 one day pass. $45 March and April pass plus until 2023 to view videos for the event. Or $75 for access to all this plus our entire library of videos for the year.
We have turned the final week into two days with many sessions. To register just for one or both days we are asking for a $15 donation for each day. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live. No replays for single day passes.
Bajra Roti (unleavened millet)
Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms. These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Some sessions are live, others are recorded. This is a month long benefit for WCK to feed Ukraine. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesand note what it’s for.
Friday, April 29th
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos (Live ) Eiko Takahashi 4 PM EST
Saturday, April 30th
11 – 12 PM EST Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live
12- 1 PM EST The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation David Asher (Live)
1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
April Flours is our month long benefit for #wckitchen to feed the people of Ukraine. $45 for a year of viewing event related videos and live sessions and edited replays when available. We have been uploading new videos as we go along. These videos are always in the showcase for the event, regardless of when you donate.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating avideo for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022.
Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms.
These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Some sessions are live, others are recorded. This is a month long benefit for WCK.
Time and Nature, Making Vatrushky with different fillings, Piroshky using Multipurpose sourdough Recipe – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live 12 PM -1:30 PM EST
Sechskornbrot (six grains and seeds bread) and Whole Wheat Sourdough Flatbread (Sangak)(Peiman Khosravi)
Whole Grain Fermented Dumplings and Whole Grain Misos (Live ) Eiko Takahashi 4 PM EST
Saturday, April 30th
11 – 12 PM EST Comparing approaches of pastoral/agropastoral cultures to dairying, cheese making, and land use: Mongolia, Sicily and Albania. (Trevor Warmedahl) Live
12- 1 PM EST The Traditions of Ukrainian Dairy Fermentation David Asher (Live)
1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications (Heather Willensky)
Kaja’s Sour Milk Lady with Berries, Zurek, Hemp Seed Butter, Kama, Winter Kvass (Zuza Zak)
Whole Grain Khamiri (Sourdough Flatbread) by Anshie Dhar
April Flours is our month long benefit for #wckitchen to feed the people of Ukraine. $45 for a year of viewing event related videos and live sessions and edited replays when available. We have been uploading new videos as we go along. These videos are always in the showcase for the event, regardless of when you donate.
We have turned the final week into two days with many sessions. To register just for one or both days we are asking for a $15 donation for each day. Some of the sessions each day are pre-recorded, others are live. No replays are promised unless you donate $45 for the entire month, however.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating avideo for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022.
Whole Rye inoculated with Koji (Aspergillus oryzae), then toasted for Finnish Malt Loaf (Saaristolaisleipä) spired by a recipe by Magnus Nilsson @magnusfaviken, but using toasted koji and sweet magnolia tea.
April Flours Benefit to feed Ukraine: $45 for the entire month of events. These events are recorded, edited, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. The final two events, April 29 and April 30 can be gotten for $15 each but do not include ongoing access after that day and designated time period.
Some sessions are pre-recorded. An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022.
Please usePayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for. Full schedule at https://Cultures.Group. Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
Magnolia Flour Buds have a very cardamom and ginger like taste when used appropriately.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Wednesday April 6 – 12PM to 1:30 Whole Grains and sourdough rye ring (Dawn Woodward, Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) – Live
Friday April 8 – 12 EST- Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab and Dawn Woodward – Rye Baking Forum (Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab, Dawn Woodward) Live
Dawn Woodward talks rye, demos an easy 100% spiced rye, and discusses why local whole grains are so fun to bake with for home and professional bakers with Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch
Inspired by her mother, Dawn Woodward began cooking at a very young age. Following a degree in Philosophy from Bard University, she continued her interests in professional cooking and baking to positions as a Pastry Chef in New Orleans and Head Baker at artisan bakeries in New York and Toronto. Extensive travels expanded her repertoire by exposure to such cuisines as: Eastern Mediterranean, Thai, Chinese, Cambodian, Georgian, and Middle Eastern. Committed to using heritage grain varieties grown close by, Dawn sources from Ontario farmers and millers and is constantly experimenting in ways to incorporate them into the crackers.
In addition to leading all production at Evelyn’s Crackers (Evelyn’s Crackers https://www.thegrainproject.com) she is a speaker an educator at the annual Kneading Conference (July 25 – 30, 2022) in Maine/Seattle, and at grain conferences in Toronto, London, and Los Angeles. Their products are also available in the US.
Amy Halloran is a writer and change agent, working to add social values and economic viability to farms and communities. The author of THE NEW BREAD BASKET, her activism for specialty grains and changing emergency feeding programs share a common thread of restoring human values to the work of farming and the act of feeding each other. Stories & recipes Civil Eats, The Counter & The Kitchn Instagram @flourambassador Website AmyHalloran.net Newsletter, Dear Bread
Ellie Markovitch is a multimedia artist, educator, and self-taught cook who uses food as a starting point for conversations and community building. She worked in France and America as a photojournalist for a decade, and shifted her gaze to include food as she pursued an MFA in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Story Cooking is an online record of improvising with food, people and place. Follow her at storycooking.com and @elliemarkovitch
Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms. Some will demonstrate how to use combinations of yeasts, bacteria and/or fungus in vegan and gluten free foods as well, others with whole grains like wheat, corn, oats rice or rye in breads, fermented pastas, dumplings, cookies, pancakes, muffins, buns and even drinks. Some will discuss whole grains and community and agriculture and freedom.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of sessions and live events, at least 16, probably more. This is a month long benefit for WCK that is feeding many Ukrainians displaced by the war.
These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of May. Some sessions are live, others are recorded. The recorded sessions schedule is likely to change.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Wednesday April 6 – 12PM to 1:30 Whole Grains and sourdough rye ring (Dawn Woodward, Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) – Live
Wednesday April 6 – 3PM to 5 PM Buckwheat Idli with Koji Starter, Sagohachizuke with Foraged Greens, Edible Wild Plants and Mushrooms in Koji Applications (Christine Krauss)
Thurs. April 7 – 3 PM Making Koji, Quick Koji Pickles, Tasting Misos, Curing and Caring for Cast Iron Pans – (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Tues. April 7 – 4 PM Kasha Varnishkes, Koji Cured Lamb, Golden koji beets, Sourdough Flatbreads- (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Thursday April 7 – 7 PM Noodles and Ramen from seed to flour to preparation (Daniel Gray) – Live
Friday April 8 – 12 EST- Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab and Dawn Woodward – Rye Baking Forum (Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab, Dawn Woodward) Live
Monday April 11 – 10 AM – Finnish Malt Loaf (Saaristolaisleipä) using toasted rye koji and sweet magnolia tea (Sean Doherty)
Wednesday 13 – 5 PM Sake Kasu Starter, Sake Kasu Cheesecake, Sake Kasu buns, Making Sake Kasu (Kinga Vincze)
Wednesday 27 – 4 PM Whole Grain Fermented Asian Breads, Dumplings and Fermented Pastas (Ken Fornataro and Eiko Takashi) Live
Thursday April 28 – 11AM -1 PM Review of practices, future goals – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live
Sat. April 30 – 12 PM EST Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications to use it on (Cream cheese, popcorn, etc.) with (Heather Willensky)
Sat. April 30 – 1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
We added lots of basic and advanced level koji making videos for our Bakers and Chefs and colleagues that don’t know koji as well as they know baking or milling or farming or grains. We’ve added some really basic first step videos for those that have never even consider how it can be used in anything that contains starch.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
April Flours: History of Baking and Milling and the Significance of Sourdough in America – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitz) Apr 4, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88428193637 Meeting ID: 884 2819 3637 Passcode: AEFlours
Spring tempts us to leap ahead, but let’s try to skip the leaping, and carry forward all the stillness of winter. Let’s explore what happens when we feel the rhythm of fermentation. We invite you to be with bread, and figure out your connections to baking in a loosely held community. We will meet at the beginning of the month and map a way to extract all the fuel we can from our stores; we’ll meet again at the end of the month and discuss our journeys.
This is part of our monthlong fundraiser for WCK and Ukraine. Please register and donate at Paypal.me/FermentsandCultures to get replay access, register for the entire month, or the entire year of events and videos.
Amy Halloran is a writer and change agent, working to add social values and economic viability to farms and communities. The author of THE NEW BREAD BASKET, her activism for specialty grains and changing emergency feeding programs share a common thread of restoring human values to the work of farming and the act of feeding each other. Stories & recipes Civil Eats, The Counter & The KitchnInstagram @flourambassador Website AmyHalloran.netNewsletter, Dear Bread
Ellie Markovitch is a multimedia artist, educator, and self-taught cook who uses food as a starting point for conversations and community building. She worked in France and America as a photojournalist for a decade, and shifted her gaze to include food as she pursued an MFA in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Story Cooking is an online record of improvising with food, people and place. Follow her at storycooking.com and @elliemarkovitch
Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms. Some will demonstrate how to use combinations of yeasts, bacteria and/or fungus in vegan and gluten free foods as well, others with whole grains like wheat, corn, oats rice or rye in breads, fermented pastas, dumplings, cookies, pancakes, muffins, buns and even drinks. Some will discuss whole grains and community and agriculture and freedom.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of sessions and live events, at least 16, probably more. This is a month long benefit for WCK that is feeding many Ukrainians displaced by the war.
These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of May. Some sessions are live, others are recorded. The recorded sessions schedule is likely to change.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Mon. April 4 – 11AM Mon. April 4 – 11AM Milling, Bread History, significance of the harvest, Whole Grains, and why sourdough? We will meet at the beginning of the month and map a way to extract all the fuel we can from our stores; we’ll meet again at the end of the month and discuss our journeys.You can start by following Ellie’s 1/2 Cup of Sourdough Series , and by subscribing to Amy’s Dear Bread newsletter. (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch)- Live
Tuesday April 5 – 2 PM Basic Sourdough Techniques with Elie – Feeding your mother and maintaining your relationship (Ellie Markovitz)
Tuesday April 5 – 3 PM A Beginner’s Guide to Making Sweet White Miso for Baking and Bread Making (Maroua Jellibi)
Wednesday April 6 – 12PM to 1:30 Whole Grains and sourdough rye ring (Dawn Woodward, Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) – Live
Wednesday April 6 – 3PM to 5 PM Buckwheat Idli with Koji Starter, Sagohachizuke with Foraged Greens, Edible Wild Plants and Mushrooms in Koji Applications (Christine Krauss)
Thurs. April 7 – 3 PM Making Koji, Quick Koji Pickles, Tasting Misos, Curing and Caring for Cast Iron Pans – (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Tues. April 7 – 4 PM Kasha Varnishkes, Koji Cured Lamb, Golden koji beets, Sourdough Flatbreads- (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Thursday April 7 – 7 PM Noodles and Ramen from seed to flour to preparation (Daniel Gray) – Live
Friday April 8 – 12 EST- Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab and Dawn Woodward – Rye Baking Forum (Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab, Dawn Woodward) Live
Monday April 11 – 10 AM – Finnish Malt Loaf (Saaristolaisleipä) using toasted rye koji and sweet magnolia tea (Sean Doherty)
Wednesday 13 – 5 PM Sake Kasu Starter, Sake Kasu Cheesecake, Sake Kasu buns, Making Sake Kasu (Kinga Vincze)
Thursday April 14 – 7 AM Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Soy Sauce (Ken Fornataro)
Wednesday 27 – 4 PM Whole Grain Fermented Asian Breads, Dumplings and Fermented Pastas (Ken Fornataro and Eiko Takashi) Live
Thursday April 28 – 11AM -1 PM Review of practices, future goals – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live
Sat. April 30 – 12 PM EST Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications to use it on (Cream cheese, popcorn, etc.) with (Heather Willensky)
Sat. April 30 – 1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
We added lots of basic and advanced level koji making videos for our Bakers and Chefs and colleagues that don’t know koji as well as they know baking or milling or farming or grains. We’ve added some really basic first step videos for those that have never even consider how it can be used in anything that contains starch.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
Mushrooms with koji grown on them with freekah, a type of wheat, used for Chef Ken Fornataro’s demonstration of Kasha Varnishkes. Or, for anywhere mushrooms are needed. These are amazing on flatbreads and pizzas as well.
Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms. Some will demonstrate how to use combinations of yeasts, bacteria and/or fungus in vegan and gluten free foods as well, others with whole grains like wheat, corn, oats rice or rye in breads, fermented pastas, dumplings, cookies, pancakes, muffins, buns and even drinks. Some will discuss whole grains and community and agriculture and freedom.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of sessions and live events, at least 16, probably more. This is a month long benefit for WCK that is feeding many Ukrainians displaced by the war.
These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of May. Some sessions are live, others are recorded. The recorded sessions schedule is likely to change.
Whole Buckwheat Groats, koji mushrooms, koji based seasonings and pasta as Chef Ken Fornataro demonstrates Kasha Varnishkes
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022.
Follow us on Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events. Hopefully, we will raise lots of money for World Central Kitchen that has been feeding the milllions of refugees that this war has created.
Onions curing in shio koji. The most amazing addition to any baked good, sautéed for bialys for example.
Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch are the hosts for the month, with guest bakers, chefs and fermenters:
Mon. April 4 – 11AM Mon. April 4 – 11AM Milling, Bread History, significance of the harvest, Whole Grains, and why sourdough? We will meet at the beginning of the month and map a way to extract all the fuel we can from our stores; we’ll meet again at the end of the month and discuss our journeys.You can start by following Ellie’s 1/2 Cup of Sourdough Series , and by subscribing to Amy’s Dear Bread newsletter. (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch)- Live
Tuesday April 5 – 2 PM Basic Sourdough Techniques with Elie – Feeding your mother and maintaining your relationship (Ellie Markovitz)
Tuesday April 5 – 3 PM A Beginner’s Guide to Making Sweet White Miso for Baking and Bread Making (Maroua Jellibi)
Wednesday April 6 – 12PM to 1:30 Whole Grains and sourdough rye ring (Dawn Woodward, Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) – Live
Wednesday April 6 – 3PM to 5 PM Buckwheat Idli with Koji Starter, Sagohachizuke with Foraged Greens, Edible Wild Plants and Mushrooms in Koji Applications (Christine Krauss)
Thurs. April 7 – 3 PM Making Koji, Quick Koji Pickles, Tasting Misos, Curing and Caring for Cast Iron Pans – (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Tues. April 7 – 4 PM Kasha Varnishkes, Koji Cured Lamb, Golden koji beets, Sourdough Flatbreads- (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Thursday April 7 – 7 PM Noodles and Ramen from seed to flour to preparation (Daniel Gray) – Live
Friday April 8 – 12 EST- Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab and Dawn Woodward – Rye Baking Forum (Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab, Dawn Woodward) Live
Monday April 11 – 10 AM – Finnish Malt Loaf (Saaristolaisleipä) using toasted rye koji and sweet magnolia tea (Sean Doherty)
Wednesday 13 – 5 PM Sake Kasu Starter, Sake Kasu Cheesecake, Sake Kasu buns, Making Sake Kasu (Kinga Vincze)
Thursday April 14 – 7 AM Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Soy Sauce (Ken Fornataro)
Wednesday 27 – 4 PM Whole Grain Fermented Asian Breads, Dumplings and Fermented Pastas (Ken Fornataro and Eiko Takashi) Live
Thursday April 28 – 11AM -1 PM Review of practices, future goals – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live
Sat. April 30 – 12 PM EST Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications to use it on (Cream cheese, popcorn, etc.) with (Heather Willensky)
Sat. April 30 – 1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
We added lots of basic and advanced level koji making videos for our Bakers and Chefs and colleagues that don’t know koji as well as they know baking or milling or farming or grains. We’ve added some really basic first step videos for those that have never even consider how it can be used in anything that contains starch.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms. Some will demonstrate how to use combinations of yeasts, bacteria and/or fungus in vegan and gluten free foods as well, others with whole grains like wheat, corn, oats rice or rye in breads, fermented pastas, dumplings, cookies, pancakes, muffins, buns and even drinks. Some will discuss whole grains and community and agriculture and freedom.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of sessions and live events, at least 16, probably more. This is a month long benefit for WCK that is feeding many Ukrainians displaced by the war.
These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of May. Some sessions are live, others are recorded. The recorded sessions schedule is likely to change.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well as past, present and future events of 2022. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us on Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events. Hopefully, we will raise lots of money for World Central Kitchen that has been feeding the milllions of refugees that this war has created.With Amy Halloran, Ellie Markovitch, Dawn Woodward, Naomi Duguid, Laura Valli, Alex Gunuey, William Rubel, Christine Krauss, Ken Fornataro, Daniel Gray, Zuza Zak, John Hutt, Maroua Jellibi, Sean Doherty, Peiman Khosravi, Kinga Vincze, Renu Anshie Dhar, Amy Kalafa, Eiko Takashi, Heather Willensky, Zev Robinson and others. (sessions in formation).
Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch are the hosts for the month, with guest bakers, chefs and fermenters:
Mon. April 4 – 11AM Mon. April 4 – 11AM Milling, Bread History, significance of the harvest, Whole Grains, and why sourdough? We will meet at the beginning of the month and map a way to extract all the fuel we can from our stores; we’ll meet again at the end of the month and discuss our journeys.You can start by following Ellie’s 1/2 Cup of Sourdough Series https://storycooking.com/1-2-cup-sourdough-series/, and by subscribing to Amy’s Dear Bread newsletter. (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch)- Live
Tuesday April 5 – 2 PM Basic Sourdough Techniques with Elie – Feeding your mother and maintaining your relationship (Ellie Markovitz)
Tuesday April 5 – 3 PM A Beginner’s Guide to Making Sweet White Miso for Baking and Bread Making (Maroua Jellibi)
Wednesday April 6 – 12PM to 1:30 Whole Grains and sourdough rye ring (Dawn Woodward, Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) – Live
Wednesday April 6 – 3PM to 5 PM Buckwheat Idli with Koji Starter, Sagohachizuke with Foraged Greens, Edible Wild Plants and Mushrooms in Koji Applications (Christine Krauss)
Thurs. April 7 – 3 PM Making Koji, Quick Koji Pickles, Tasting Misos, Curing and Caring for Cast Iron Pans – (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Tues. April 7 – 4 PM Kasha Varnishkes, Koji Cured Lamb, Golden koji beets, Sourdough Flatbreads- (Amy Kalafa and Alex Gunuey)
Thursday April 7 – 7 PM Noodles and Ramen from seed to flour to preparation (Daniel Gray) – Live
Friday April 8 – 12 EST- Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab and Dawn Woodward – Rye Baking Forum (Laura Valli/WSU Bread Lab, Dawn Woodward) Live
Monday April 11 – 10 AM – Finnish Malt Loaf (Saaristolaisleipä) using toasted rye koji and sweet magnolia tea (Sean Doherty)
Wednesday 13 – 5 PM Sake Kasu Starter, Sake Kasu Cheesecake, Sake Kasu buns, Making Sake Kasu (Kinga Vincze)
Thursday April 14 – 7 AM Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Soy Sauce (Ken Fornataro)
Wednesday 27 – 4 PM Whole Grain Fermented Asian Breads, Dumplings and Fermented Pastas (Ken Fornataro and Eiko Takashi) Live
Thursday April 28 – 11AM -1 PM Review of practices, future goals – (Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch) Live
Sat. April 30 – 12 PM EST Sourdough Yeast Extract and Applications to use it on (Cream cheese, popcorn, etc.) with (Heather Willensky)
Sat. April 30 – 1:30 to 3 PM EST Real Bread Bakers by Zev Robinson of TheArtandPoliticsofEating.com with panel discussion on how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined – (Zev Robinson, Naomi Duguid, John Hutt and William Rubel) Live
Collaborators
Amy Halloran is a writer and change agent, working to add social values and economic viability to farms and communities. The author of THE NEW BREAD BASKET, her activism for specialty grains and changing emergency feeding programs share a common thread of restoring human values to the work of farming and the act of feeding each other. Stories & recipes Civil Eats, The Counter & The Kitchn, Instagram @flourambassador , Website AmyHalloran.net, Newsletter, Dear Bread
Ellie Markovitch is a multimedia artist, educator, and self-taught cook who uses food as a starting point for conversations and community building. She worked in France and America as a photojournalist for a decade, and shifted her gaze to include food as she pursued an MFA in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Story Cooking is an online record of improvising with food, people and place. Follow her at storycooking.com and @elliemarkovitch
Dawn Woodward of Evelyn’s Crackers Inspired by her mother, Dawn began cooking at a very young age. Following a degree in Philosophy from Bard University, she continued her interests in professional cooking and baking to positions as a Pastry Chef in New Orleans and Head Baker at artisan bakeries in New York and Toronto. Extensive travels expanded her repertoire by exposure to such cuisines as: Eastern Mediterranean, Thai, Chinese, Cambodian, Georgian, and Middle Eastern. Committed to using heritage grain varieties grown close by, Dawn sources from Ontario farmers and millers and is constantly experimenting in ways to incorporate them into the crackers. In addition to leading all production at Evelyn’s Crackers, she is a speaker an educator at the annual Kneading Conference (July 25 – 30, 2022) in Maine/Seattle, and at grain conferences in Toronto, London, and Los Angeles.
Renu Dhar aka Anshie is a personal chef and culinary instructor with a focus on functional nutrition. After teaching culinary students at the Cook Street school of culinary arts in Denver for many years she now enjoys teaching busy families how to create food that is nutrient dense, nourishing and comforting. She runs a micro bakery, Ladough, from her home to introduce more people to the magic of sourdough and share breads and flatbreads from Kashmir.
Sean Doherty is the Chef and co-owner at Cera. He earned a Grande Diplome from the renowned Le Cordon Bleu program in 2004. He has worked with two of Maine’s great chefs, Larry Matthews Jr. at Back Bay Grill and Melissa Kelly at Primo. Sean has spent the last 15 + years learning the “oldways and traditions of food preservation” which includes fermentation, foraging, baking, and brewing; with a strong focus on Asian pathways (koji, miso, soy sauce, garum and vinegars). Kojicon speaker and contributor to the book, Koji Alchemy. He now resides in Brunswick with his wife, two daughters, and countless culinary experiments.
Naomi Duguid – iscurious about the world, an insatiable asker of questions…writer, photographer, storyteller, traveller; author of the recently-published TASTE OF PERSIA: A Cook’s Travels in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, & Kurdistan (winner of the 2017 IACP award for best book of food and travel); author of the award-winning 2012 cookbook BURMA: Rivers of Flavor; co-author of six other award-winning books of food and travel including Flatbreads & Flavors and Hot Sour Salty Sweet.
Daniel Gray – is a baker that is now the head miller for Dry Storage in Colorado, where he grew up. He has a degree in Soil and Crop Sciences from Colorado State University that focused on microbes and soil ecology, and uniquely, Food Fermentation Science. He is an obsessive learner and problem solver, with a deep love for culinary arts – specifically flavor. He forages for plants and mushrooms, often choosing the local terroir as his ingredient palette. He considers himself an Artist-Worker, and the reasons behind what he creates and works for, are exactly the same as a painter and their choice of colors. Instagram @dglovesfungi
Amy Kalafa is an award-winning filmmaker and author, and a lifelong advocate for social and environmental justice. She was a co-founder of Animal Farm, the first Certified Organic Poultry and Game Bird Farm on the East Coast. Her independent documentary, Two Angry Moms, ignited a school food revolution and focused global attention on the public health crisis of childhood obesity and diabetes. Amy is the author of Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children’s Health. Her TV production credits include multiple seasons of the Emmy-winning TV show Martha Stewart Living, and Lidia’s Italy with Lidia Bastianich. Amy is also a Certified Health Coach and holds an MBA in Sustainability. She is a co-producer of the YouTube Series, CulturedAndCured, and she hosts a monthly Local Food Education booth at the Saint Augustine Amphitheatre Farmers Market along with her husband, Chef Alex Gunuey.
William Rubel – William Rubel is the author of “Bread, a global history” (2011) and is the founder of the Facebook Group, Bread History and Practice. He is a regular contributor of bread recipes to the American magazine, Mother Earth News. William lives in Santa Cruz, California. Besides writing about bread, he writes about kitchen gardens, wild mushrooms, and on hearth cooking. His book, “The Magic of Fire, 100 recipes for fireplace and campfire” was published in 2002 and was Nominated for the James Beard Award and won the World Gourmand Award, in France. William was awarded is a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole, an honor bestowed in him for his work in traditional foodways, including his bread research
Eiko Takahashi – Eiko Takahashi uses Koji, Sake and Tea to promote fermented food culture. Chef Takashi attended college at Hakkoshoku Daigaku in Kanagawa, Japan, where she focused on Washoku (和食) , and the specialized field of fermented foods known as Hakkoshoku (発酵食品). She has been the member of The Koji Academy (麹の学校).
Laura Valli is a PhD student at the WSU Bread lab on the west coast of the United States. Her research focuses on rye — a grain with great agronomical, cultural and culinary significance in her home country Estonia, but not much territory in the US. She is interested in learning about the past and present of rye and thinking about ways of carving a future for it in the US. Her interdisciplinary work brings together the farmers, bakers and eaters to ensure there is a fit between the needs, the expectations and the realities, whilst also pushing a bit further propelled by the power of collaboration.
Kinga Vincze was originally an agricultural engineer. She is now at Cambridge University working as a Sous Chef because when passion drives you, you do what you are passionate about. That includes sourdough bread baking, fermentation, traveling and running a micro fermenteria in England that focuses on hand crafted Japanese koji products. She also teaches koji making and fermentation classes. Her bread gallery@fermenteria will make you happy. She has been a koji bakers for years, and is really perfecting her act and how what she does interacts with the world. She also runs a great website in Hungarian/English at http://www.konyhaparade.com
Alex Gunuey grew up in France, and his love of both food and film led him to win three Emmy Awards working with Martha Stewart, and then a James Beard Award working with Lidia Bastianich. He was a partner of Animal Farm, providing pheasant, duck, geese, guinea hens and fancy fowl to Anthony Bourdain, Dean & Deluca and many other fine dining establishments in Ne York City. He now co-produces the YouTube Series, CulturedAndCured, and hosts a monthly Food Education community tent at his local farmers market. He also teaches French cooking classes (www.chefalexg.com), and represents a line of gourmet cookware.
Peiman Khoshravi bakes bread.
Zev Robinson is a Canadian-British artist and filmmaker currently living in Scotland and has been making documentaries about food and related issues since 2008 as part of his art, film and food project The Art and Politics of Eating – http://theartandpoliticsofeating.com In 2020, he finished Real Bread Bakers https://vimeo.com/411720338 about how bread, community, nutrition and agriculture are closely intertwined, but due to covid restrictions, live screenings have been delayed until now.
Heather Willensky – Heather Willensky began fermenting in her kitchen in 2008. From the moment her swing-top bottles exploded at 4PM raining ginger beer down over her kitchen she knew she was in love. A former music licensing specialist, Heather has spent the past 14 years experimenting with fermentation from pickles to beer and bread. The pandemic and new motherhood provided an excellent opportunity to delve deeper into fermentation, exploring its limitless applications and techniques and connecting with the online fermentation community. You can follow her adventures on her @fermentsh instagram page.
John Hutt – is a chef and food theorist working at the intersection of history, culture, and technology. His main interest is to create and apply a critical theory to food. He is currently running an experimental culinary engineering lab focused on robotics and new technology in Barcelona and teaching food theory at university. Prior to that he was the chef at The Museum of Food and Drink, and lectured at Parsons School of Design, NYU, and Monash University on Food Design, technology, and theory. His recent publication is “Fermenting Anticapitalism”.
Zuza Zak is a writer and editor. Her aimis to inspire the world to cook and eat more food from Eastern Europe. She is the author of Polska: New Polish Cooking, Amber and Rye, and another East European cookbook on the way on dumplings. Zuza is also doing a food focussed PhD at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL). You can see what she’s up to on Instagram: @zuzazakcooks
We added lots of basic and advanced level koji making videos for our Bakers and Chefs and colleagues that don’t know koji as well as they know baking or milling or farming or grains. We’ve added some really basic first step videos for those that have never even consider how it can be used in anything that contains starch.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
We added lots of basic and advanced level koji making videos for our Bakers and Chefs and colleagues that don’t know koji as well as they know baking or milling or farming or grains.
We’ve added some really basic first step videos for those that have never even consider how it can be used in anything that contains starch.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of events, at least 16, probably more. These events are recorded when they are live events, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. The pre-recorded events are also available as well.
Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of May.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
Ellie Markovitch’s Sourdough Starter Cookies with Fennel Pollen
Ground dried sourdough starter cookie with fennel pollen.
This is how it starts.
Those that have registered for our month long event April Flours will be officially convened by two of our favorite activists – and bakers – who will outline what this event is about, Amy Halloran and Ellie Markovitch.
We don’t kid ourselves that we will be able to make an immediate impact on anything, but we realize that the effort is part of the journey.
We refuse to be silent. We refuse to not say something,now, while we are under attack.
While the entire world yearns to get back to normal, to grow, to heal, to re-emerge so does evil and the audacity of other human beings to destroy others hopes and dreams and right to survive.
This is not just about Ukraine. It’s about all of us. We are all seeds at some point in our lives, some of us create new seeds, others help them to grow.
We integrate the seeds of microbes, especially of fungus into the program with the hopes that the reverence that some show for the beauty and mystery of how they network and grow as a collective to help plants to grow – without fungus, there is no soil nor plants – and offer themselves up to be shepherded in exchange for care and consideration.
Hopefully, humanity will some day realize that we are part of the collective, and that sometimes we have to cut off the growth of things that threaten us all. Every day is a struggle for life,every day should be a struggle for freedom. It’s not a special event or a hobby. It’s the price of survival in a world we all want to live in.
Wild Rice and Oat Koji
For those that do not yet know of the world of fungi, we are putting several dozen videos into the showcase for April Flours to help you learn. And you will learn what #kojibaking means, and the over 9,000 year old history of how whole grains have been facilitated by microbes to become sourdough bread, dumplings, soy sauce, porridges, pickles, candy, alcohol, and the way human beings have been able to survive.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of events, at least 16, probably more. These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year.
Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of May.
An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for.
Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
Linus is ready! All rye sourdough starter is hungry for April Flours! Unless you’ve read the Qi Min Yao Shu, or the work of Dr. Robert Spengler, or anything written by Joseph Needham (especially the tome by H.T. Huang on Fermentation) you probably don’t actually know that thousands of years ago the Chinese were rocking sugars based on enzymes (or using honey), and that they already had a whole range of fermented doughs going on using soured grain starters.
Until recently, the Chinese weren’t using wheat or processing cane sugar, but they caught up really quickly as they domesticated easier to grow grains. I hope to get into that in one of my sessions for this event – we have quite a few unannounced ones to let people settle in and adjust – as well as the history of other whole grain fermented things.
April Flours: Whole Grains. Flours. Sourdough. Fermented Grains. Love. Bakers and Chefs and Fermenters and Friends from around the world demonstrate how they ferment whole grains and flours of all kinds into traditional and new forms. Some will demonstrate how to use combinations of yeasts, bacteria and/or fungus in vegan and gluten free foods as well, others with whole grains like wheat, corn, oats rice or rye in breads, fermented pastas,dumplings, cookies, pancakes, muffins, buns and even drinks. Some will discuss whole grains and community and agriculture and freedom. This is a benefit for Ukraine.
April Flours Benefit: $45 for the entire month of events, at least 16, probably more. These events are recorded, and subscribers to the entire series can watch them until the end of the year. Otherwise, it’s $15 per event – only watchable until the end of the month of April. An annual subscription of $75 to Ferments and Cultures – or creating a video for any event during 2022 – also gets you in. Full subscribers to April Flour or to Ferments and Cultures have access to hundreds of videos in our library as well. Please use PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and note what it’s for. Full schedule also at https://Cultures.Group. Follow us at Instagram: Cultures.Group for last minute updates and surprise events.
Free Option: We’ve included the Zoom links for those that really can’t afford $5, but still want to access the information and be with community. Please send you name and address tokojibook@earthlink.com for our records if you can’t do PayPal. But show up!
Otherwise, Register at https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesfor $75 for year long rewatching of every event available and our entire video library) Always free to the season’s presenters.
March 30 – 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybean miso of the white miso type. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85332951056 Meeting ID: 853 3295 1056 Passcode: 392326
Christine Krauss of @Chirp_Food
March 30 – 2PM Edible wild plants and mushrooms in koji applications with Christine Krauss of Chirp Food https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2875216492 Meeting ID: 287 521 6492 Passcode: JB1
Free Option: We’ve included the Zoom links for those that really can’t afford $5, but still want to access the information and be with community. Please send you name and address tokojibook@earthlink.com for our records if you can’t do PayPal.
Otherwise, Register at https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCulturesat $5 for remaining sessions package, $75 for year long rewatching of every event available and our entire video library) Always free to the season’s presenters.
March 25 – (Deutsch) 2 PM EST Küchenchef Eiko Takahashi wird über Miso, einschließlich Okazu-Miso, sprechen. Sie wird den Unterschied zwischen traditionellen Miso-Sorten und den Unterschied zwischen Okazu-Miso-Sorten erklären.https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86247135853 Meeting ID: 862 4713 5853 Passcode: 744276
March 25 – 3:30 PM EST Traditional miso types, okazu misos (おかず味噌) including Moromi miso (もろみ味噌) with koji Chef Eiko Takahashihttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/82342293833 Meeting ID: 823 4229 3833 Passcode: 423716
Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox
March 25 –5:30 PM EST Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox present a Native American cultural tradition and a gateway to the past. Yaupon Holly has been kojified and maillarded to unlock new flavors. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83272949247 Meeting ID: 832 7294 9247 Passcode: 707758
March 27 – 7 PM EST Sowans to Shio Koji (塩麹) – Traditional Japanese Ferments Using Oats with Chef Lennon Dayhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/84456426922 Meeting ID: 844 5642 6922 Passcode: 954616
Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji @Micros_life
March 28 – 4PM EST Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82105124065 Meeting ID: 821 0512 4065 Passcode: 350021
Saikyou Miso with Maroua Jellibi
March 30 – 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybean miso of the white miso type. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85332951056 Meeting ID: 853 3295 1056 Passcode: 392326
March 30 – 2PM Edible wild plants and mushrooms in koji applications with Christine Krauss of Chirp Food https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2875216492 Meeting ID: 287 521 6492 Passcode: JB1
Edible wild plants and mushrooms in koji applications with Christine Krauss of @Chirp_Food
March 25 – 2 PM EST Küchenchef Eiko Takahashi wird über Miso, einschließlich Okazu-Miso, sprechen. Sie wird den Unterschied zwischen traditionellen Miso-Sorten und den Unterschied zwischen Okazu-Miso-Sorten erklären.
March 25 – 3:30 PM EST Traditional miso types, okazu misos (おかず味噌) including Moromi miso (もろみ味噌) with koji Chef Eiko Takahashi
March 25 –5:30 PM EST Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox present a Native American cultural tradition and a gateway to the past. Yaupon Holly has been kojified and maillarded to unlock new flavors.
March 27 – 7 PM EST Sowans to Shio Koji (塩麹) – Traditional Japanese Ferments Using Oats with Chef Lennon Day
March 28 – 4PM EST Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji
March 30 – 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybeanmiso of the white miso type.
March 30 – 2PM Edible wild plants and mushrooms in koji applications with Christine Krauss of Chirp Food
March 25 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 5:30 PM EST Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox present a Native American cultural tradition and a gateway to the past. Yaupon Holly has been kojified and maillarded to unlock new flavors.
March 28 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 4PM EST Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji
March 30 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybeanmiso of the white miso type.
March 25 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 5:30 PM EST Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox present a Native American cultural tradition and a gateway to the past. Yaupon Holly has been kojified and maillarded to unlock new flavors.
March 28 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 4PM EST Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji
March 30 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybeanmiso of the white miso type.
March 19 – 4 PM EST Applied Techniques: Windows of Time and Temperature in Brewing and Food with Koji. Setting Sun Sake with Josh Hembree. Josh and crew will discuss the making of sake and food with Koji.
March 25 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 2 PM EST Küchenchef Eiko Takahashi wird über Miso, einschließlich Okazu-Miso, sprechen. Sie wird den Unterschied zwischen traditionellen Miso-Sorten und den Unterschied zwischen Okazu-Miso-Sorten erklären.
March 25 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 5:30 PM EST Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox present a Native American cultural tradition and a gateway to the past. Yaupon Holly has been kojified and maillarded to unlock new flavors.
March 28 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 4PM EST Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji
March 30 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybeanmiso of the white miso type.
March 30 – 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybean miso of the white miso type. To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can.
March 19 – 4 PM EST Applied Techniques: Windows of Time and Temperature in Brewing and Food with Koji. Setting Sun Sake with Josh Hembree. Josh and crew will discuss the making of sake and food with Koji.
March 25 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 2 PM EST Küchenchef Eiko Takahashi wird über Miso, einschließlich Okazu-Miso, sprechen. Sie wird den Unterschied zwischen traditionellen Miso-Sorten und den Unterschied zwischen Okazu-Miso-Sorten erklären.
March 25 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 5:30 PM EST Chef Dave Smoke-McCluskey and Wade Fox present a Native American cultural tradition and a gateway to the past. Yaupon Holly has been kojified and maillarded to unlock new flavors.
March 28 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 4PM EST Haruna Deasy of Micros shows you how she makes koji by introducing her tools and her muro and what she does with her koji
March 30 – To register use https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures and donate what you can. 1PM EST Maroua Jellibi, a student of Shiori Kajiwara from Kojiflower Academy, presents Saikyo Miso,a sweet, fast, lower sodium more rice koji less soybeanmiso of the white miso type.
