See us here teaching at the 2018 Boston Fermentation Festival on Miso.
Bacteria
Miso. Tempeh. Natto. And other Tasty Ferments! Out on Pre-order
We’re pretty excited about this gem coming out in 2019! This is the third book by our good friends Kirsten & Christopher Shockey and we’re super excited that you find some of our Miso recipes in this gem! Get those orders in!
Berkshire Fermentation Festival Presenter Videos
What a lovely weekend at the Berkshire Fermentation Festival! This was our third year back teaching and we’re happy to announce that the videos from all the presenters are now up online for you to enjoy!
Catch our Miso Workshop along with presenters Sandor Katz, Adam Elabd, Amanda Feifer, Anne Yonetani, and Alana Chernila!!
CHECK IT OUT HERE!
Hoshigaki
Hoshigaki are a Japanese delicacy made by gently massaging persimmons while they air dry.
The persimmons used to make Hoshigaki are astringent varieties such as Hachiya. Ideally, choose fruit that still has part of the stem. We've used a couple different varieties of persimmons with nice success.
1) The first step is to cut the top off, while carefully leaving the stem that you will tie string to and they will hang from. And then use a knife of peeler to trim away the skins of the persimmon. Then attach the string and find a good place for your Hosigaki to hang. Broom handles work great for this, we've also used knitting needles, drumsticks and hangers to hang the Hoshigaki from.
2) The first week you just let the Hoshigaki hang and dry till they start to create a thin skin. After a week has passed you begin to gently massage each persimmon every other day. Be careful not to break the skin.
3) As you keep massaging every other day the fructose in the fruit will begin to come to the surface. The "bloom" begins to appear...it looks like powdered sugar on your persimmons. Keep massaging until the persimmons are more like a dried fruit, changing into a darker color with the bloom, and then enjoy!
Hoshigaki
Cinnamon Fig Shrub
Shrubs! We first fell in love with shrubs on a trip to Portland, Oregon when we hit up the coffeeshop Barista and they had an amazing Fig Shrub based Espresso drink with some other magic mixed in. It was absolutely amazing and when when we got home we started making these easy and tasty drink mixers. We like them in bourbon, gin, seltzer, and more!
This is our Cinnamon Fig Shrub that we recently made after being asked by our friends Thomasin and Alex to make a drink mixer for their upcoming wedding. They wanted something that people could take away as a gift and that would be a nice mixer....so Cinnamon Fig Shrub it was! We love this delightful fall mixer and we think you will too! Note: if you save all those ends and tips you can use them to make a nice Fruit Scrap Vinegar which is what we did!
Cinnamon Fig Shrub
Ingredients:
Fresh Figs
Sugar
Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
Water
Cinnamon Stick (optional)
Directions:
- Add equal parts of sugar and water to a saucepan, and heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add figs and simmer until the fruit's juice blends well into the syrup.
- Let it rest till it cools
- Add vinegar to the syrup in a large (ideally glass) container
- Cover with a lid or airlock and let ferment for 5-10 days
- Filter your shrub through a strainer and enjoy!
