New York / Atlanta
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!
From the 4th Annual Berkshire Fermentation Festival, Cheryl Paswater talks about making miso.
Over the weekend was one of our favorite days for the year! The annual Ferment! Ferment! event in Brooklyn hosted and organized by the amazing Zack Schulman. Ferment! Ferment! is a celebration of all things fermented, for the beginner and the experienced fermenter, and nerds unite! And you better like to eat because when you walk in and see the rows of tables of everyone's homemade concoctions it's impossible to leave without sampling everything!
There was another fantastic turn out this year and four amazing workshops put on by some fantastic fermenters: Sauerkraut with Angela Davis, Fermented Nut Cheeses with our very own Cheryl Paswater, Sour Beers with James Kinnie, and Kefir based drinks with Ken Fornotoro. There was a great crowd and great food -- so many highlights from Tempeh Pigs in a Blanket with Fermented Ketchup, Dosa, Fermented Cookies, Beer, Kimichi's, Herbal Kombucha's, and more. An event guaranteed to leave your gut and microbiome in a happy place.
Thank you to everyone who came out and makes this community such a special one because that's the thing that makes Ferment! Ferment! so amazing. Gathering our amazingly interesting and creative community together in the name of fermentation. Ferment ALL the things!!
We had the honor to be on The Illustrated Journal with Caroline Choe (S3E1: "Around the Table"). She videoed somer of the collaborative dinners put on by Contraband Ferments and goldpennyloafer (www.goldpennyloafer.com). We love this video that greatly captures community and how food brings people together!
Just Food Conference 2016 by Cheryl Paswater, Chief Fermentationist, Contraband Ferments
One of my favorite events of the year was this past weekend, the Just Food Conference at Teachers College, Columbia University. It's a yearly conference dedicated to ethical food practices, food advocacy, greenmarkets, CSA's, farming, education, and more! It's always been a wonderful learning experience, filled with so many amazing people, and a strong current around building communities. After all, food brings communities together!
I've always attended the conference as a attendee that squeezes in as many workshops and lectures as possible and talking to as many people I can but, this year I had the honor and privilege to to get to be a presenter with my good friend Erin Cramm (also notoriously known as my fermentation wife) on the Human Microbiome and Fermentation. So after spending the morning catching up with friends and fellow food nerds, and squeezing in multiple workshops that morning from Herbal Medicine, to GMO Laws in NY, to Using Food as a Tool to End Mass Incarceration, and even catching part of Andrea Beamans lecture on Detoxing your Liver, and a lovely locally grown lunch we powered up or an afternoon of nerdy bacteria talk.
I won't go into all the details because I would be here all day but, I do want to share our favorites list for all things Fermentation and the Human Microbiome! We hope you enjoy it!
Gut
Giulia Enders (Book)
The Good Gut
Justin and Erica Sonnenburg (Book)
Cooked, Book & Netflix Series
Michael Pollan (Episode/Chapter: Earth)
How Bacteria “Talk”
Bonnie Bassler (TED talk)
Missing Microbes
Martin J. Blaser, MD
Fuhmentaboudit! (Radio Show)
http://heritageradionetwork.org/series/fuhmentaboudit/
Wild Fermentation & The Art of Fermentation
Sandor Katz (Book)
Body Ecology Diet
Donna Gates
Gut and Psychology Syndrome
Dr. Natasha Campbell- McBride, MD
The Symbiont Factor
Richard Matthews, DC, DACNB, FACFN
The Epidemic of Absence
Moises Velasquez-Manoff
The Human Microbiome Project
We are huge fans of the heritage Food Radio Network and of the radio show Fuhmentaboudit! So when they called us up and wanted to have our Chief Fermentationist, brain child, and fearless leader Cheryl Paswater on the show, we of course said yes! Here she is talking about all things wintery and fermenty with host Chris Cuzme and co-producer Rachel Jacobs.
http://heritageradionetwork.org/podcast/winter-ferments-with-cheryl-paswater/
We've recently had a lot of inquiries about how to make Sauerkraut. So here is a basic DIY on making Sauerkraut from our Chief Fermentationist, Cheryl Paswater in conjunction with CoreNeeds NYC. They are an amazing organization that brings resources and awareness to families dealing with Autism. They are huge fans of the fermentation community and we are of them as well!
http://coreneedsnyc.com/episode/sauerkraut-part-1/
Click the link above to check it out! They have other amazing resources on there as well, including some great food demos by our friend Jessica Van Kipp!
Sometimes I think the simplest ferments are the best ferments! I've been working on goodies for our Fermentation CSA pickup this coming week and this recipe made it in this time around! There was no shortage of amazing looking organic jalapenos at the Food Coop last week and with the weather warming up I am thinking what better than fermented jalapeno and lemon brine for cocktails?! Eat it straight or mix it with some gin or vodka for a fantastic cocktail! Here's my recipe...
Cheryl's Jalapeno's with Lemon
1 quart jar
1 lemon
6-7 jalapenos (pending on size)
Take the jalapeno's and slice them up at about 1/8" to 1/4" in size. Peel the skin/rhine of a lemon and put that with the jalapeno's in a jar. Make a salt water brine of 2 tbs of salt to 1 quart of water. Pour over the jalapeno's. Add a lid or airlock and let ferment from 7 days to 3 weeks.
Too simple? Consider adding turmeric root, garlic cloves, black peppercorns, or red chilis. Additionally this is a great way to make fermented hot sauce! Check back for that recipe soon!
We are launching our site just in time for the annual Ferment! Ferment! event hosted by the amazing Zack Schulman. This event is one of the things we look forward to most each year and it's a party you're guaranteed to remember! Come! Join us! For the novice and for the beginner, and not for the faint at heart.
There will be several amazing workshops and we be teaching a workshop on How to Make: Idlis and Dosas. (Workshop schedule below) Bring your experiments. And if you don't have any experiments? Bring vessels for everyone else to eat with (crackers, bread, etc)
Brooklyn Free School, 372 Clinton Ave, Brooklyn NY 11238
4-8pm
4:15-4:35 pm Amazake: Traditional Japanese drink rich in enzymes with Natsuko Yamawaki
4:55-5:25 pm Nukazuke: Japanese rice bran pickles with Michaela Hayes of Crock & Jar
5:40-6:40 pm Wild Vegetable Fermentation with Tara Whitsitt, Founder of Fermentation on Wheels
6:50-7:10 pm Sassy Short Meads with Mary Izett, author of Speed Brewing & co-host of Fuhmentaboudit!
7:30-7:50 pm International Breads: How to make idlis and dosas with Cheryl Paswater of Contraband Ferments
Also, Zack got a nice shout out in Edible Brooklyn this week! Check it out!