Asparagus Season


Fresh Asparagus, Purple Carrots, and Garlic as the base for an kimchi style ferment. Vegan version, although fish sauce is always an option, just like fiery spices. There are no fiery spices in this.

It’s the season when asparagus is available in markets. Wild asparagus gets foraged this time of year in the Northern part of the US well, along with fiddlehead ferns, mushrooms, and other things.

Asparagus has somewhat of a bad reputation. It’s smell a little woodsy and like dirty hay if not properly treated, although some people like that directness. Salting it down s for kimchi, or any of the ways we prepare it removes that while highlighting the vegetable’s unique taste.

Asparagus curing in a sagohachizuke bed with some dried shiitake mushrooms. It’s important to remove water from ingredients not just to concentrate their flavor, but also to increase access to the enzymes in the koji based bed. If you can’t deal with an ongoing fermentation bed that requires maintenance – although this one can live in the fridge and requires only a weekly stir – make some amasake (sweet koji) or use bottled shio koji with the ingredients that you have.

Asparagus Ways

For our month long series of events on Sundays this June for Asian and Asian American Cultures and Ferments we recorded videos on using asparagus, domesticated or foraged, in several ways.

How to make Asparagus Kimchi, Asparagus Chawan Mushi, Stir Fry Asparagus – the videos describe techniques, and ingredients. They includs recipes. Their point is that they encourage no waste, use of local or readily accessible and inexpensive ingredients, and are pretty easy to make.

Our videos try to include vegan, or vegetarian versions, but we are not against using anything that will deliver taste, and nutrition based on available ingredients – even ones that are not organic. If can only access or afford celery, for example, or foraged fiddlehead ferns – they work.

Knowing the techniques of cooking, fermenting, and culturing – and when to apply them – sometimes simply by just salting or soaking ingredients down before rinsing and using them in a recipe, allows you to make tasty things that look great, and are nutritious.

If you have, and know how to use liquid salt koji (shio koji) from a bottle you can take fresh asparagus or anything else really, and improve its taste. You don’t have to make it yourself.

And, frozen or canned ingredients, even ones that contain ascorbic acid or citric acid, for example, are often great workarounds if you can’t get anything fresh or local within your budget range.

Cultures and Ferments 

The Cultures and Ferments events and videos are part of a Cultures.Group Annual Membership. You can watch any videos for as many times as you like, whenever you like, as an Annual Member. Each month the passcodes change for both old and newly released videos. We’ll email them to you when they do.

The price of an Annual Membership is $75 only until June 1. Then, it’s $150 for 2023, if there any slots available. Membership includes event invitations. Participation involves no additional fee, and is offered first to members.

Once you register at Paypal.me/FermentsandCultures you’ll receive the addresses and passcodes for videos that are stored at our Vimeo.com site: https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup (See below for some of them).

You also gain borrowing privileges to our huge library of books, scientific papers, etc. We require at least 48 hours to respond to requests, and can only lend you what we can access.

We now also have a Substack account to which you can subscribe to receive links to at least 5 videos a month, as well as written material that is available only to subscribers: https://culturesgroup.substack.com.

The Substack subscription is $12 a month.

Both annual members and paying Substack subscribers receive emailed invites to events. Annual Members that have not RSVP’ed seven days before any event are not guaranteed a space. When there are open spaces for an event we post notices to our non-paying substack subscribers, and social media account followers.


Annual Membership 2023

Ferments and Cultures

($75 only until June 1, 2023) Annual Membership includes access to every event in 2023, and all available archived and new videos from now until the end of 2023. January 1 to December 31, 2023. Plus all events and videos of the last ten years as they are edited.

$150.00


https://Cultures.Group
https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup
www.instagram.com/cultures.group/
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https://www.paypal.me/FermentsandCultures

Sun Fermented Soy Sauce

OZZY HSIEH

Discover sun-fermented soy sauce-making and application with third-generation black soy bean sauce maker Ozzy Hsieh, brewer at Yu-Ding-Shing and Founder and Chef of Future Dining Table.

Yi-Cheng Hsieh (Ozzy) is the third-generation black soybean sauce brewer of “Yu-Ding-Shing”, Taiwan. He is also the founder and chef of “Future Dining Table”, a series of food events connecting local farmers and consumers with vegetarian/plant-based cuisine, using Yu-Ding-Shing’s artisanal black soybean sauce.

Besides promoting black soybean sauce brewing culture of Xiluo, Taiwan, Future Dining Table aims to introduce the terroir of Yunlin county (Midsouth Taiwan), inviting experts from different fields to lead discussions about agriculture, placemaking, and regional revitalization. The ultimate goal is to make Taiwanese black soybean sauce worldwide.

Register Now, Watch Later

Get your tickets at KojiCon.Org and make sure you tune in for sessions from experts who are dedicated to keeping traditions alive, transferring knowledge, and saving delicious, nutritious, culturally significant techniques that are in danger of being lost.

Don’t worry if you can’t attend all of these amazing virtual sessions live – all presentations will be recorded and available for a full year after the conference, along with content from Kojicon 2021 and 2022!

Yellow Farmhouse is committed to community building and inclusion and offers different ticketing tiers to Kojicon to provide access for as many people as possible.

Connecticut Residents

Thanks to a generous sponsorship from CT Humanities, we are also offering free Kojicon 2023 registration to residents of Connecticut and for teachers working in Connecticut schools. Register at the link in our bio or at kojicon.org.

Kojicon 2023: Preserving the Past, Fermenting the Future runs from February 20 to March 5 and is presented by @yellowfarmct, an education center on a working farm in Stonington, CT, and @ourcookquest, Co-Author of Koji Alchemy.



https://Cultures.Group
https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup
www.instagram.com/cultures.group/
facebook.com/groups/fermentsandcultures/
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KojiCon 2023

Presenters

Connie Chew @Crazy_Asian_Ferments_Official @Conniechew.lifestyletravel

Vanika Choudhary @choudharyvan @noonmumbai @sequelmumbai

Eric Dawson @yellowfarmct Yellow Farmhouse Education Center 

Alyssa Dipisquale @the.koji.club_ @alyssamikiko

Christopher Feran Christopher Feran @christopherferan

Ken Fornataro @cultures.group Cultures.Group Vimeo

Dr. Maya Hey Maya Hey @heymayahey

Ozzy Hsieh Yu-Ding-Shing

John Hutt @crasstafarian

Euka Isawa @eukaisawa

Andrew Jack @ajjack_Umami Salt

Yong Ha Jeong @YonghabrewsYongha Brews

Nichole Jewell @yellowfarmct Yellow Farmhouse Education Center

Alice Jun  Hana Makgeolli @hanamakgeolli

Sandor Katz  @Sandorkraut

Mara Jane King @zukemono

Caitlin Koether @Wild_Provisions_Fermentation @Lightly_Effervescent

Dr. Lee Yoon-hee  @Yangjohakdang Yangjohakdang

Meredith Leigh @mereleighfood Meredith Leigh @thefermentationschoolThe Fermentation School, @carbonharvest, Carbon Harvest  

Arline Lyons  Taste Translation @tastetranslation Twitter

Leslie Merinoff @matchbookdistilling @thebookofbam

Eleni Michael @elenimichl Eleni Michael

Yuichiro Murai @kojiyasanzaemon Kojiya Sanzaemon

Hiraku Ogura Hakko Department @hirakuogura Twitter

Dawn Petter Visit Petalune Herbals to learn more about her offerings. @petaluneherbals Facebook Twitter

Jennifer Rothman @yellowfarmct Yellow Farmhouse Education Center

Takashi Sato @takashi_tamari Hakko Hub.

Robin Sherriff @thekojikitchen @robinsherriff Koji Kitchen

Rich Shih  @ourcookquest OurCookQuest

Markus Shimizu @mimiferments Mimi Ferments @markusshimizu

Dr. Julia Skinner @RootKitchens @BookishJulia

Soirée-Leone @soireeleone Soirée-Leone

Jeremy Umansky @larderdb @tmgastronaut

Corky White Merry Corky White

Irene Yoo @Yooeating Yoo Eating YouTube

David Zilber @David_Zilber



https://Cultures.Group
https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup
www.instagram.com/cultures.group/
facebook.com/groups/fermentsandcultures/
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Ferments and Cultures

Presentations on January 26 (7AM EST) 

Soirée-Leone – Wild Shoyu Made with Wild corn koji spores
Deepa Reddy – Fermented Bajra (Pearl Millet) Kambu koozh
Kartik Sinha – Winter Pickles and the Salt Satyagraha
Christine Krauss – Yubeshi (Redux)
Wade Fox – Maillard, Miso and Mushrooms 
Erica Carson – Koji based Fruit, Nut and Seed Lebkuchen|Ishan Sengupta – Kasundi, West Bengali Mustard Condiment
Sean Doherty- Salt Risen Bread with Maine Grains
¿Adonde? Lab – Chestnut Miso, Shio Koji Salt Percentages
Corey Bullock – Barley koji made for Red Bean Meju, Wood Fired Eggplant Amino Sauce with oat shoyu koji
Dawn Woodward – Rhubarb Rye Galette, Rye Sourdough Bread, Two Variations, Estonian Style Rye Sourdough with Oats, Beets and Beet Kvass
Ellie Markovitch – Sourdough Tortillas, Sourdough Primer: How to feed your mother, How to make pita bread, English muffins and a basic country loaf, Alua (Corn Kvass), and Brazilian Fermented Rice Cakes
Kenji Muramoto – Oatzuke, Umeshu, Rhubarb Umeboshi paste
Priya Mani – Vethal, Yogurt Fermented and Dehydrated Vegetables
Ken Fornataro – Mustard SourDosa Pickles

Kambu Koozh

Ferments and Cultures

Annual Membership includes access to every event in 2023, and all available archived and new videos from now until the end of 2023. January 1 to December 31, 2023. Plus all events and videos of the last ten years as they are edited.

$150.00


https://culturesgroup.substack.com
https://Cultures.Group
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www.instagram.com/cultures.group/
facebook.com/groups/fermentsandcultures/
https://www.paypal.me/FermentsandCultures

Wild Shoyu, Future Sauces


Future koji. Soyless, all grain protein multiple Aspergillus spore fruity chestnut popcorn caramel smelling koji for a soy sauce. Prepping for @cultures.group upcoming event on January 26th at 7AM EST.

 You can still enroll as an Annual Member if interested before the $ jump! $75 for the entire year of events, plus the past ten years of videos and all new events and videos in 2023. After April 15th Annual Membership through PayPal (https://paypal.me/FermentsandCultures) goes to $225 year.

Presentations on January 26 (7AM EST) 

Soirée-Leone – Wild Shoyu Made with Wild corn koji spores
Deepa Reddy – Fermented Bajra (Pearl Millet) Kambu koozh
Kartik Sinha – Winter Pickles and the Salt Satyagraha
Christine Krauss – Yubeshi (Redux)
Wade Fox – Maillard, Miso and Mushrooms 
Erica Carson – Koji based Fruit, Nut and Seed Lebkuchen|Ishan Sengupta – Kasundi, West Bengali Mustard Condiment
Sean Doherty- Salt Risen Bread with Maine Grains
¿Adonde? Lab – Chestnut Miso, Shio Koji Salt Percentages
Corey Bullock – Barley koji made for Red Bean Meju, Wood Fired Eggplant Amino Sauce with oat shoyu koji
Dawn Woodward – Rhubarb Rye Galette, Rye Sourdough Bread, Two Variations, Estonian Style Rye Sourdough with Oats, Beets and Beet Kvass
Ellie Markovitch – Sourdough Tortillas, Sourdough Primer: How to feed your mother, How to make pita bread, English muffins and a basic country loaf, Alua (Corn Kvass), and Brazilian Fermented Rice Cakes
Kenji Muramoto – Oatzuke, Umeshu, Rhubarb Umeboshi paste
Priya Mani – Vethal, Yogurt Fermented and Dehydrated Vegetables
Ken Fornataro – Mustard SourDosa Pickles


Register! Annual Membership 1/01/2023 to 12/31/2023 – plus all events and videos of the last ten years!

Annual Membership includes access to any event in 2023, including all the Salt and Ceremony sessions and associated videos, and the video archives from now until the end of 2023. Only available to 4/15/2023

$75.00


https://Cultures.Group
https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup
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https://www.paypal.me/FermentsandCultures

Rye Baking

Rye baking inspired an all rye sourdough starter at 150% hydration with 30% of fermented rye described by @evelyns.crackers – but with the rest strong wheat flour. Instead of caraway or coriander toasted cinnamon and raisins were added. Incvredily easy to handle, and very tasty.

Presentations on January 26 (7AM EST) 
Dawn Woodward of Evelyns Crackers

Dawn Woodward – Rhubarb Rye Galette. Rye Sourdough Baking, Two Variations. Estonian Style Rye Sourdough with Beet Kvass.

Ellie Markovitz – Tortillas, Sourdough Primer: How to feed your mother and how to make pita bread, English muffins and a basic loaf – plus Alua (Corn Kvass), Brazilian Fermented Rice Cakes


Register! Annual Membership 1/01/2023 to 12/31/2023 – plus all events and videos of the last ten years!

Annual Membership includes access to any event in 2023, including all the Salt and Ceremony sessions and associated videos, and the video archives from now until the end of 2023. Only available to 2/15/2023

$75.00


https://Cultures.Group
https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup
www.instagram.com/cultures.group/
facebook.com/groups/fermentsandcultures/
https://www.paypal.me/FermentsandCultures

Yubeshi (ゆべし)

Yubeshi is a Japanese sweet or savory type of confectionary, like a  chutney or sweetmeat that is decidedly dried to allow for transport. They originated as snacks that warriors could take on the road. Although it can be made as a block or whatever shape, people like to stuff them into fragrant, hollowed out citrus shells, especially yuzu.


They almost always have some amount of sugar, and they are steamed after making. Then they are dried. They are typically made from a combination of ingredients that emphasize their sweetness or savoriness. The ones made with miso, for example, typically have nuts and no flour. The sweeter ones are made with rice or other flours, sugar and something salty like soy sauce or a lighter miso. Often dried fruits are added.

Christine Krauss is a foraging and fermentation teacher in Munich. Her goal is to combine global food and fermentation techniques with regional and seasonal products to expand the regional flavor world and create new flavors for a climate compatible cuisine. She sees her work, sharing her knowledge of finding and using the unexpected and unknown flavors that grow on our doorsteps and expanding the flavor spectrum of our regional products with global food and fermentation techniques. Christine develops climate-culinary events with new, surprising flavors, delicious, sustainable and joyful food on the table with products that grow and ferment where we live. Find her on Instagram @chirp_food


Yubeshi stuffed into a Yuzu shell by @Chirp_Food

Fermenthings-some-of-our-salts

Register and Watch! Annual Membership 1/01/2023 to 12/31/2023 – plus all events and videos of the last ten years!

Annual Membership includes access to any event in 2023, including all the Salt and Ceremony sessions and associated videos, and the video archives from now until the end of 2023. Only available to 2/15/2023

$75.00


https://Cultures.Group
https://vimeo.com/culturesgroup
www.instagram.com/cultures.group/
facebook.com/groups/fermentsandcultures/
https://www.paypal.me/FermentsandCultures

Edible wild plants and mushrooms in koji applications


Christine Krauss of @Chirp_Food

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 to kojibook@earthlink.com for our records if you can’t do PayPal. But show up!

Otherwise, Register at https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures for $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

Christine Krauss of @Chirp_Food

Contact

Koji : The Japanese Way – Zoom Links and Passcodes for the Final 7


Moromi Miso by Chef Eiko Takashi

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 to kojibook@earthlink.com for our records if you can’t do PayPal.

Otherwise, Register at https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures at $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


Küchenchef Eiko Takahashi : Miso, einschließlich Okazu-Miso

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 https://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 Day https://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

Contact

Micros Life


Haruna Deasy of micros_life

To register $5 USD for the remaining events of March at https://PayPal.me/FermentsandCultures

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


Contact
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