Fermentation Cast

[Level: medium] In this episode we speak with Juan Agustín Muños Vildósola, or for friends and family: Tato, about his work at Spora. At Spora, inventions from the Alchemist restaurant are translated to scalable solution. Think cocoa-free chocolate or creating salmon flavours without salmon. We also dive deeper into a very special fungus called Neurospora. If you do not come from Indonesia, this f...

[Level: beginner] This week we dive into the joys and pains of running a shop in fermented goodies. Ezio Bertorelli runs Meta Ferments together with his girlfriend Romina Navarro. At Meta Ferments, they produce delicious artisanal ferments like miso, tamari and shio koji. Besides selling mouth-watering fermented goodies, Ezio helps third parties in the development of fermented products. We talk ab...

[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...

[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 eff...

[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) t...

[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 ama...

[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...

[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 sonificat...

[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...

[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...

[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 ea...

[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. E...

[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 be...

[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...

[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...

[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 t...

[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...

[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 th...

[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 epis...

[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 fr...

[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 pro...

[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!...

[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 co...