Event Overview
Asian ferments like miso, tempeh, shoyu, pickles, amasake and shio koji, and even sake and vinegar, can be made with corn. Chef Ken Fornataro of culturesgroup and Kirsten Shockey of ferment.works will demonstrate how wild and cultured microbes like koji (miso, sake, shio koji), lactobacteria (pickles) and Rhizopus (tempeh, oncom) make tasty, unique and nutritious foods. Class participants will be learning about and tasting:
- Caviar Lentil soup with Corn Tempeh croutons
- Hokkaido Ramen corn chowder (in red curry broth)
- Corn and radish and roasted shrimp kimchi
- Hominy and onion salad and pepper salad, corn shoyu dressing
- Sweet corn, lavender lemon cornbread
- Tomato salad with parsley, corn vinegar, and extra virgin corn oil dressing
- Corn shio-koji roasted glazed corn nuts
- Corn Amasake Chai (Iced Tea)
- Doboroku (country style sake made with corn and rice)
Everyone will receive a bag of corn miso and a corn based sofrito paste (blended miso) to take home with them – made during the class! Depending on seasonal availability we may have to have substitutions for the above dishes, and we may also have some things you can buy to take out:
- Eggplant and ginger namemiso, spicy eggplant corn sagohachizuke (corn koji)
- Corn, Raisin, Cinnamon, Molasses and spice corn cookies
- Assorted one, two and three year old misos will be for sale during the event, as will as take out bento boxes for those unable to attend class
If you would like to purchase one of the Shockey’s books at the event let us know at culturesgroup@earthlink.net by September 2nd! Otherwise order online at https://ferment.works
Contact culturesgroup:
- koji@earthlink.net
- culturesgroup@earthlink.net
- www.culturesgroup.net
- Instagram: @culturesgroup
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/pickles/
- http://www.meetup.com/culturesgroup/
- Interviews
See parts 1 at the culturesgroup website: https://culturesgroup.net/2019/08/27/microbes-eat-corn/
Gallery photo credits: Ferment.Works & Ken Fornataro (please click images to see photo credit).
Gallery
About the Presenters
Ken Fornataro
Ken has been cooking, fermenting and preserving vegetables, seeds, grains, fish and legumes with A. oryzae, yeasts and bacteria since childhood. He was taught traditional Japanese, Chinese and Russian foods, fermentation and preservation techniques to make koji, miso, shoyu, vinegar, sake, jiangs and pickles by Aveline and Michio Kushi, William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, and Jewish and Christian Eastern European immigrants. He is working on a book related to food, fermentation, microbiology and semiotics as Executive Chef for culturesgroup.net.
Kirsten Shockey
Kirsten and Christopher Shockey are the co-authors of bestselling Fermented Vegetables, Fiery Ferments, and the new Miso, Tempeh, Natto and other Tasty Ferments books that came from their desires to both help people eat in new ways, both for the health of themselves and the planet. They got their start in fermenting foods twenty years ago on a 40-acre hillside smallholding which grew into their local organic food company. They travel worldwide helping people to learn to make, enjoy and better connect with their food. Their current work is building their relationship with R. oligosporus and R. oryzae and how these fungal ferments interact with grains and legumes to transform our foods for both nourishment and flavor. You can find them at Ferment.Works.
