Duration: Meets one Saturday per month for 4 months.
Dates: Begins on January 27, 2024. Class will go from 9am-4pm each day and will be in a heated space. Dates for all classes included in description below.
Cost: $500 for the entire course. Pricing is taking into consideration the large amount of food samples that need to be prepared for each class, the starter cultures that the students take home and the finished ferments that they make in class (and also get to take home).
Instructor: Gabe Garms (view bio here).
Location: Raven’s Roots campus in Ferndale, WA

The microbes living in our gut are responsible for over 80% of our immune function and even predigest our food for us so that we can assimilate the nutrients. Essentially we cannot live without them and we are living in a time where our microbiomes are being severely compromised by the chemicals and antibiotics in our food, water and personal care products. We need to reverse this trend quickly and the best way to do so is with the consumption of fermented foods. The ferments that you typically buy in the store are pasteurized for shelf stability and aren’t anywhere near as diverse in microbes that the fermented foods made at home. In this class, we’ll move far beyond traditional krouts, kimchis and kombuchas and teach you how to make a large number of different ferments. You’ll also learn how to make them taste so good that even picky eaters can incorporate them into their diet. By incorporating fermented foods into our lives, we can make a huge impact on public health.

Topics we'll cover:

  • History and science of fermentation

  • Probiotics and their role in regulating our immune function

  • Vinegar making from fruits, vegetables and grains

  • Building low cost fermentation incubators

  • Miso and Koji

  • Tempeh

  • Natto

  • Lactic acid ferments beyond sauerkraut and kimchi

  • Beverages from around the world

Value proposition: In addition to the 4 full days of classes, you will go home with starter cultures, ferments that we make in class and eat lots of samples of different recipes that incorporate fermented foods. We’ll even feed you lunch in just over half of the classes. The spores that you'll receive are Rhizopus oligosporus/oryzae, Aspergillus oryzae and Bacillus subtillus. You'll also go home with Jun/Kombucha SCOBYS and milk kefir grains.. Lunch will also be provided for 2 of the 4 classes. Everything you'll need to get your fermentation journey off to a fast start at home. Gabe also provides help post class with questions and troubleshooting when preparing the ferments for the first time on your own.

Here are the class details and dates for each of the 4 classes:

January 27, 2024: Intro to Fermentation, Fermented Beverages From Around the World and Lactic acid fermentation

  • The history of fermentation and cultures which use it the most (India, Korea, Indonesia, China, Japan, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa). Examples of those foods to sample. Sneak peak at what we'll be making this year.

  • Science behind it and how it greatly affects human health. How the immune system works. Other benefits of fermentation (Bioremediation, flavor, preservation, nutrient availability and uptake, improved digestion).

  • The pathways of fermentation (lactic acid, acetic acid, food molds, honey, alkaline). The control points that we use to achieve predictable results (ph, salinity, humidity, temperature).

  • Lactic acid ferments (Curtido, daikon pickles, fennel, potatoes, eggs). Sample and make all of them. Local ingredients that can be grown or wild harvested and how they can replace traditional ingredients.

  • Lacto-fermented chutneys, achars, hot sauces and condiments

  • Beverages from around the world. Sampling pouring to start the day.

  • Acetic acid ferments. Kombucha and jun and how to break away from using traditional teas and create crazy awesome flavors (coffee, burdock, mushroom and hemlock).

  • Beet kvass, kanji. Make and sample them.

  • Milk kefir, it's health benefits and recipes for it. Students go home with grains and instructions on how to care for them.

  • Sweet potato fly, bread kvass, tepache. How to incorporate local ingredients into these traditional beverages.

February 17, 2024: Vinegars (Vinegar making with grains, vegetables and fruits. Using vinegars for consumption, cleaning and medicine)

  • The science behind how vinegar is made. Students will go home with a mother

  • Rice vinegars. We’ll use the food mold koji to transform long grained white rice into a delicious vinegar.

  • Fruit vinegars. We’ll make and sample blackberry, golden raspberry, banana and black currant vinegars.

  • Vegetable vinegars. We’ll make and sample a carrot/ginger and a celery vinegar.

  • How to cook with and uses for vinegar.

  • Medicinal vinegars (oxymels, fire cider). We’ll harvest medicinal herbs from our gardens to make these delicious beverages.

  • Drinking vinegars: Shrubs and switchels using fruits from the garden.

March 9, 2024: Part 1: Fermenting legumes and grains - tempeh, natto and wild fermented grains/legumes. We’ll provide lunch for this class.

  • The importance of fermenting rice and beans. Anti-nutrients and preparation (soaking, rinsing and cooking). Local beans that we can grow.

  • Using microbes naturally existing on beans and grains to ferment without using starter cultures.

  • Building a cost effective incubation chamber for under $30.

  • Make and sample black bean tempeh

  • Make and sample lentil and flagolet bean tempehs

  • Cooking with tempeh.

  • Sample and make natto. Go over incubation options and students go home with their own culture to make it at home

  • Students go home with their own tempeh sample and starter culture to make their own at home.

  • Make and sample wild ferments from India (dhoklas, dosas)

  • Make and sample wild ferments from South America (acaraje)

April 6, 2024: Part 2: Fermenting legumes and grains - koji and miso making. We’ll provide lunch for this class.

  • History of koji and how different cultures used it. It's many benefits and enzymes that it uses.

  • Make and sample koji made from rice, millet, pearled barley, popcorn, quinoa and more.

  • Building a small incubation chamber to grow koji and other cost effective alternatives.

  • Sample and make shio koji and amazake. Learn how to apply them in cooking. We’ll provide lots of yummy samples.

  • Koji applications: flour, oil, koji polenta. Taste samples of all three.

  • Make and sample shoyu using beans other than soy.

  • What is miso (amino paste) and it's uses in cooking.

  • Make and sample mushroom miso paste out of shiitake and king bolete mushrooms.

  • Make and sample a black bean miso paste with roasted garlic.

  • Make and sample a medicinal miso using burdock root and stinging nettles.

  • Make and sample a cheese miso using ricotta.

  • Make and sample a seed miso using toasted pumpkin seeds. We’ll make a mole with it in class.

  • Cooking with Miso: Applying to vegetables, meat and other recipes that we've already learned (beet kvass, kombucha etc.)

  • Students go home with their own miso.