Today I have the pleasure of having Jane Campbell on the show who is the founder of Fermenters Kitchen.

It’s amazing to talk to someone who when you ask the question, “What would you like to ferment next that you haven’t tried?” actually gets stumped because there’s not much she hasn’t tried. In this episode, I also asked the members of the Fermenters Kitchen Facebook group for their questions for Jane Campbell and they supplied them readily!

I hope you enjoy the show and also want to mention that I’ll be closing down for the holidays, but I’ll be back at the beginning of the year to bring you fermentation recipes and ideas to get you healthy into the near year.

Thank you so much for listening and I appreciate every one of you!

TOPICS INCLUDED IN TODAY’S FERMENTATION PODCAST:

How Jane got started in fermentation over 30 years ago and what her first starter is that she still has to this day!

How many sourdough starters does just have that she works with (hint, it’s over 15), how often does she bake in the winter time, and what all does she make with these sourdough starters?

Before the internet and popular fermenting books came out, how did Jane learn the art of fermentation and how did she get started along her path and becoming a collector of fermented starters?

Talking about the “culture” in the Fermenters Kitchen Facebook Group and how it is to run a large Facebook group

How a successful Facebook group depends on good admins who are passionate about the group and who love fermentation

Over Jane’s 30 years, she talks about how fermentation has really started to pick up interest in the country and how her classes now sell out regularly

What does a normal day in fermenting look like for Jane?

Jane describes rice koji and the process to make it including using a high temperature high humidity, high temperature cabinet called a koji muro, and also the rice drink amazake

She goes on to talk about yogurt and how many different yogurt starters (heated and non-heated)

I ask Jane whether or not she uses a spreadsheet to keep track of all of her ferments or if it’s more of a way of life

Jane describes what a normal day of food is like for her along with several ferments that she likes to include such as yogurt, jam, sauerkraut and sourdough bread

She talks about what she likes to include when she’s not quite feeling herself such as things like fire water or miso soup and how many years it’s been since she’s had a cold or the flu

The topic of miso comes up and she talks a bit about how long (and short) it can take to make different batches of miso and what short and long miso ferments taste like along with making tempeh from chickpeas instead of soybeans

How you don’t realize how many different things are fermented

Some of Jane’s interesting ferments including hot sauce and a whole apple ferments that’s turns into an adult ferment because of the alcohol and also her struggle with fish sauce

She goes into commercial and wild yeasts and talks about wine, mead, beer, and cider and where she gets her all-time favorite honey to make her meads with

Jane starts listing out some of her favorite ferments throughout the year that she makes including hot sauce, chipotle carrots, mead, sauerkraut, kombucha, black bean paste, fermented garlic, milk kefir ice cream, kombucha freezer pops

She talks a bit on how long she likes to brew her kombucha and water kefir

Jane also talks a bit about what she grows in the small amount of growing space she has and what she uses them for in ferments

For new fermenters, Jane has some advice for you to calm your fears on fermentation on some advice on common mistakes you can make

Jane talks about explosions she’s had in the kitchen and has advice for being careful with pressurized ferments like kombucha and especially water kefir

The magic of fermentation and how it can [...]