Spend a day on the farm making ferments and pickles using beautiful summer vegetables, roots and fruits! Broaden your fermentation practice, or take your first step into the world of lacto-fermentation and pickling. As the farm starts its own ferment product line this season, we are excited to share with you tips and tricks for making easy and delicious krauts and pickled veggies. We’ll cover the basic science behind lactic-acid fermentation and how to ferment safely and reliably and then make a diverse array of ferments. Recipes we will discuss and/or make will include sauerkraut with wildcrafted herbs, kimchi, burdock yamagobo, and curtido, as well as fermented condiments including hot sauce and fizzy peak season salsa. We will learn about the rich pickling traditions from India and South Asia, using vinegar, mustard oil and citrus. We will learn to use whole spices, tempered spice blends, heat, seeds and sun to add flavor and texture to achars. The class will include an overview of the nutritional benefits of fermented foods and a tour of the greenhouses to see Frith’s ginger and turmeric crops–-favorite ingredients in South Asian achars.

We will sample dishes that use ferments and pickles, showing how these condiments can be incorporated into a variety of recipes. Participants will go home with a jar or two of their preferred recipes to ferment or pickle at home. Bring your curiosity and questions as we inspire one another with the endless possibilities of fermentation and pickling! All levels welcome.

Instructor Anna Mays is a food anthropologist who enjoys teaching about world culinary traditions, agricultural practices and the intersection between food, diet, culture and well-being. Anna trained at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School and is helping develop ferments for Frith Farm.