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TL;DR – follow me on Mastodon, etc: @[email protected] Considering the way things are going on my ex-favorite social media platform, I’ve decided to jump head-first into the fediverse. If you have no idea what that is, it’s essentially a protocol for self-hosted and community-run websites to communicate with each other in ways we’ve come to expect from social media platforms, except in a decentralized way.…
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I have made really great shio koji with whey in place of water, so I figured why not try something similar for amazake? I’m always trying to find ways to use things we might normally throw away, such as this liquid that my burrata was packed in. Watch till the end for a taste test! 😝 Follow @crockoftime on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to get…
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I’m running a Cosy Koji book giveaway on Instagram, Twitter, and on the Crock of Time Discord until August 5. Cosy Koji is a limited-run book by Marika Groen that will teach you everything you need to know about making koji, the ancient Japanese practice of growing Aspergillus oryzae on grains of rice. The photos and writing are very personal, inviting you to be a…
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If you’ve got too many ripe tomatoes and you’ve made all of the caprese salad, fresh sauce, and salsa you possibly can already, preserve your tomatoes as a simple puree that can be used as a base for just about any sauce, soup, or salsa later when ripe tomatoes are scarce. Full recipe here. I’m experimenting with short-form video intended for sharing on social media,…
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Finally, “koji process” coffee is here, and we’re tasting it live! “Koji Supernatural” is a coffee produced by Phoenix Coffee in Cleveland, Ohio as a collaboration between coffee director Christopher Feran and Jeremy Umansky. We’re brewing and tasting it for the first time live on stream with some friends: Jack, Nick, and Kyra. See Christopher Feran’s Instagram post for information about the process. Live Sunday…
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For 3 years now, I’ve been growing my own koji on rice at home with very consistent results, thanks to some help from Jeremy Umansky’s koji class at Larder back in early 2019. I’ve seen some folks have a tough time with their own so I’m doing a livestream to show my process and equipment that gets me the results I’m looking for every time.…
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As Kojicon 2022 was coming to a close, presenter Takashi Sato, president of San-J, unveiled a new website that brings Japanese fermentation traditions to the English-speaking world: hakkohub.com. “Hakko” means “fermentation” Japanese, and Hakko Hub is a place to learn everything there is to know about the traditional ferments of Japan: shoyu (soy sauce), miso, mirin, and more. In his presentation, Takashi talked about the…
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The best virtual conference I’ve had the pleasure to attend is back! And I’m part of it this year! Well, kind of. I’m volunteering as a Slack moderator, so… y’all better behave! If you’re attending this year, be sure to say hello in the Slack. You can still purchase tickets to get access to the live sessions and the Slack workspace at kojicon.org. #KojiBuildsCommunity
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Another year has passed us by. Do you feel older? Wiser? Maybe not, but all of our ferments are aging with us, too. I suppose the primary lesson I learned in 2021 is that older doesn’t necessarily mean better always. My experimental hot sauce batches, even with some big variations (adding smoked chilies, adding mushrooms) tasted very similar to each other and last year’s standard…
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One of the best virtual conferences I’ve ever attended is happening again this year! There wasn’t a huge marketing push last time and I didn’t think to post about it in the few koji-focused communities I frequent until it was happening, and by that point it was too late to buy tickets. So this year, I’m spreading it far and wide: tickets go on sale…
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