Fermentation Cast

[Level: beginner]At Copenhagen’s two star restaurant The Alchemist, tea is sometimes an ingredient in a recipe. However, primarily it stands as a  beverage on its own. Tea sommelier Sarah Rosady develops a rich array of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, to accompany a great meal, excellent service and an evening filling experience that goes way beyond dining. My genius colleague food scientist Rebecca Rocchi and I talk to Sarah about the many ways she accomplishes this. Fall in love with tea and how its leaves transform before drying and after fermentation.

[Level: medium]Our modern food system is efficient, but creates a gigantic amount of food waste. Carrot tops, animal carcasses and even invasive species in our sea waters. REDUCED is a company that turns these waste streams into tasty broths that can be used to spice up any dish. In this episode we speak with their interim Head of R&D Rebecca Rocchi. Using koji ánd industrial enzymes, she efficiently extracts flavour from underutilised ingredients. With her PhD in food fermentation she can clearly explain the science behind the process and how it enhances flavour by elaborating on umami, kokumi and other sexy compounds generated by fermentation.

[Level: medium]What happens when the world’s most sexy ferments make a baby? In the episode we explain how to make a sourdough starter that has koji added to it. The enzymatic power of koji creates a bread with a texture, taste and softness that you would not expect from a sourdough. And for those still nervous about making koji, you can use store bought koji too. ;-) This episode is (for now) the last episode of the koji mini collection made together with Maxene Graze from the Koji Collection Substack. Like the podcast? Buy me a coffee!buymeacoffee.com/Fermentationcast

[Level: medium]A lot of the more famous koji ferments require a lot of time: soy sauce, miso, sake. It goes from weeks to even months. In this episode we discuss an application that can be finished within a day, even within only 2 hours if you use our extra special trick. We are talking about: amazake! We dive into how to make this sweet and delicious drink and tell you how to make unorthodox amazake from chestnuts and even potatoes.This episode is another co-production with Maxene Graze from the Koji Collection Substack.Like the podcast? Support us and buy me us a coffee!

[Level: medium]In the West, we often speak about koji as if it is one single thing, and as if it is just what you add to a miso to start the fermentation. In reality, koji has a much wider meaning. During this episode we discuss what is encompassed when we talk about koji. Koji also comes in many different forms, potencies and flavours. We will take you through the different types of koji spores that you can procure and will help you a hand with choosing the perfect spore for your next funky fermentation. This episode is another co-production with Maxene Graze from the Koji Collection Substack.Like the podcast? Support us and buy me us a coffee!

[Level: medium]The next batch of episodes are all about koji. The first we dive deeper into the making process, which we briefly touched upon in season 1. There’s a lot more to this fluffy friend than a simple growth of 2 days! We discuss growth phases, how to recognise where you are in the process, koji-styles and how to judge the quality of your koji. The episodes end with a beautiful sonification of the growth process.The Koji-episodes are recorded with our guest co-host Maxene Graze; author of the Koji Collection substack. She translates articles about koji from Japanese to English, to help broaden everyone’s knowledge about this fungus. To read the article on which this episode was based and see illustrations of the different types of koji, go to https://thekojicollection.substack.com/p/visuals-of-koji.We'd also like to invite our listeners to share pictures of koji they made: good and bad. Once we have a proper collection, we will make a post containing all these pictures to help you recognise all different forms, succeses and failures.Like the podcast? Buy me a coffee!buymeacoffee.com/Fermentationcast

[Level: Expert] Disrespectfully speaking ;-) , you might call our last guest of the Bolzano episodes a high brow milkman. Alan Kelly is a professor specialised in the science of milk. He sees milk as a liquid that wants to be a solid. Like a box of Lego, that depending on how the pieces are put together results in a different product.Rennet is the basic denominator in how the milk changes texture and taste in the early stages of fermentation. Learn how different rennets affect the quality of the final cheese and become a better cheese maker yourself.Like the show? Buy me a coffee!

[Level: Advanced] Our next interviewee has something to be envious about: a collection of micro-organisms isolated from fermented foods. At the University of Ljublana Neža Čadež works on using this collection for all kinds of new fermented foods. In Bolzano she presented the results of a project aimed at making gluten free beer from buckwheat, a grain that when used with a regular beer yeast doesn’t make for a very tasty beer. In the Slovenian mountains, the team isolated rare yeast strains from spontaneously fermented ciders and selected one that performed best on buckwheat. Then, they improved it so it better utilizes maltose, the sugar mainly found in wort. Hear what Neža has to say about how they managed to do so. Spoiler: don’t carelessly play with this at home, and always keep an eye out for proper pH values.Like our show? Buy us a coffee?

[Level: Advanced] This is our second report from the International Conference on Fermented Foods in Bolzano. Oscar Boronat Nielsen, a fermentation scientist and huge foodie, explains us how he combines starters for tempeh and soy sauce to create a new style of tempeh with more umami and more flavour. And the most fun part? You can quite easily try this at home! Learn how to time the addition of each fungus, how the prepare the soy beans and in which conditions you should ferment this fluffy creation.Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Advanced] This is the first episode of four covering Ivana's visit to the International Conference on Fermented Foods in Bolzano, where four interviews took place with fermentation SUPER specialists. The first conversation is with Emanuele Zannini. He is both a professor in food science at University La Sapienza in Rome and a research professor at UCC University College in Cork, Ireland. Emanuele Zannini talks about how we can use A.I. to create the foods of tomorrow using traditional fermentation, how fermentation allows him to interact with the intelligence of microbes and reveals his favourite sidestream (cause who doesn't have one?). Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] Welcome to the first episode of season 2 of the Fermentation Cast! This season, we build on our knowledge obtained in the first season. We step away from the fermentation tree and invite guests from all over the world to talk about how théy ferment. They give us tips and tricks that you can apply directly into practise.This episode is a special one and evolves entirely around beetroots. Ivana became an ambassador of this sturdy vegetable together with a group of other food professionals. We call ourselves the "Bietenclub", the Beetroot Club. We put this vegetable in the spotlight at the start of winter and hopefully in time for you to put some fermented beetroots on your Christmas table. Time to see if you remember about all the different types fermentations!Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner]If you are a fermenter, you probably own a copy of the Noma Guide to Fermentation. For our season finale Ivana drove over to Copenhagen for a one hour interview with the writer of this book and thé O.G. master of fermentation David Zilber. In his funky fermentation lab where he works on innovative applications of microbes for Novonesis, they speak about their brief shared history at Noma, his life as a food scientist now and they reflect on the first season of the fermentation cast combining his personal anecdotes with our fermentation tree. Stay tuned till the end to discover how you too can became a true fermentation fairy.Like the show? Buy me a coffee!

[Level: Intermediate] Did you actually know vanilla is fermented? And not by a very common microbe! It is Bacillus that gives that oomph, making vanilla one of the most popular flavours in the world. In this episode we dive deeper into how vanilla is produced and what role Bacillus plays in that production. We introduce the last category of the fermentation tree and hope to spark your enthusiasm for this funky friend.Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Intermediate] Tempeh is a fermented food from Indonesia that consists of soy beans grown together by the mold Rhizopus oligosporus. That in itself is a delicious food, but there are many more applications that can be made using this fungus. In our transition to a more plant-based world, it makes sense to first explore what we already have on hands. Listen to this episode and learn how to tame this fluffy friend.Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Advanced] Ivana visited Expo West in Los Angeles to explore the alternative protein market. There, she found multiple companies that use fermentation to save our future food supplies. This episode is a teaser for what we want to report on in a future season: a deep dive into the vast array of possibilities when it comes to fermentation. And... we dare you to try these fermentations at home ;-)Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Intermediate] Shoyu - a delight that lifts every dish from mediocre to next level. How is it made, how can you make it from other ingredients than soy beans and can Dutchies make a Japanese-approved shoyu IN The Netherlands ? During this episode we unveil the secrets of soy sauce and visit Dutch soy sauce makers from Tomasu in Rotterdam - who have (believe it or not) fallen in love with this umami flavourmaker...Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Intermediate] This episode is a little different than our usual episodes. For our last edition of the Blub Club fermentation club in Amsterdam, we decided to record a live episode with our club members. We were joined by Saki Morita: a Japanese home fermenter that tells us all about the challenges and possibilities of making miso at home. Build on your koji knowledge from our previous episode and apply it in miso! How to make it, how to play with the flavour and also, how to cook with it. Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Intermediate]Aspergillus oryzae... This magical mould has hundreds of applications that are being uncovered one by one by creative fermenters all over the world. Before yóu start kojifying everything, you might want to get to know this bug a little better: who are you? How do I work with you? What do you need to be happy? And why can I eat you, but can't I eat some of your other fuzzy friends?Like the show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] This ancient drink turns out to be not so non-alcoholic as we thought! How is it made, why does it often still contain alcohol and how can we keep the ABV as low as possible? We explain it all in this episode. We end the episode with a visit to a very special kombucha brewer in Amsterdam: Nicolas Adam from Leave Your Sword Kombucha Brewery. His alcohol measurement machine has provoked quite some chefs ánd he makes delicious single estate kombuchas. A true kombucha purist avant la lettre. Like the show? Buy me a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] We thought vinegar was not the sexiest topic when talking about fermentation. Little did we know! Upon writing the episode and diving deeper into this product we discovered there is so much more to this tangy liquid than one could imagine. We talk you through what acetic acid bacteria are, how balsamic vinegar is made and we teach you how to properly pronounce chinkiang vinegar!Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] Beer is what brought our fermentation guru Ivana to fermentation! Discovering how different yeasts can turn the same wort into two completely different beers blew her mind. In the episode we talk about how temperature influences aroma development in yeasts, how to make a delicious alcohol-free beer and how to make a bad tasting one ;-)Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner]THIS should be your New Year's resolution: start making your own sourdough bread. We visited our favourite sourdough bakery in Amsterdam, Maarten Langeslag's, "Fort 9", and picked his brain on how to make the perfect starter and most of all: how not to be afraid of sourdough and just start!Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] For this episode, we went to one of the funkiest events of the Netherlands: Rotfest. During the day we cornered some interesting macroorganisms to ask them all about what fermentation means to them, their worst ánd their best ferments. We discovered black garlic-citric miso, pigeon feather distillate and hybrid soy yogurt that tastes like the real deal.Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] We are from an apple-producing country, but we produce ánd consume very little cider. Why is that? We walk you through different types of European ciders (including some Dutch ones), how it is made and how yeasts can be either introduced from a pouch or as a WILD fermentation. Cheers!Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner]Baking bread with yeast from a pouch can be seen as cheating, but it is also a great shortcut for baking bread fast. In this episode we will tell you about the origins of industrial yeast, what yeast needs to live, what is exerts and how to bake a bread without kneading.Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner] Lactic fermentations have little to do with milk, which might surprise you! In this episode we ferment cabbage into sauerkraut using so-called wild fermentation. How do you make sure you don't accidentally kill yourself by eating your ferments? And did you know that LAB can also be homo and hetero?Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner]In this episode we dive into the world of LAB - also known as lactic acid bacteria. What distinguishes them from other microbes? What variables influence our fermentation? We finish the episode with tasting two yogurts that are made from the same milk, but fermented at different temperatures.Like our show? Buy us a coffee!

[Level: Beginner]During this episode you will get to know the hosts, Tessa and Ivana. We will explain you how this podcast came together and what you can expect. It is an introduction of our fermentation tree, the backbone of our podcast. Episode by episode we hope to alleviate your fear of microbes, if you have any. Here you find the fermentation treeLike the show? Buy us a coffee!