Shirish Pokharel
Innovation engineer, Mentor
Shirish Pokharel's Adventures in Fermentland
This is my "Adventures in Fermentland" journal. My observations, thoughts and ongoing experiments with fermentation are documented here, mostly for my own reference.
I want to create an inventory of the fermentation and planting projects for the rest of the summer. I have finally been successful with the tempeh-based starter culture, and that’s been a massive encouragement to me. I’m thinking of cultivating rice wine starter culture and red rice yeast culture as...
In this post I want to share one of my smaller long-running experiments with milk kefir grains. This is about my experiments to turn milk kefir grains into consuming only sugar-water. It’s been going for almost four years now. It’s not yielded super exciting or revolutionary results. I’m sharing it...
I want to record and share my plans for making wines from novel (to me) grains in the next few months. To recap, I’ve fermented fruits and sweet glutinous rice for a few years now, and done several batches of kodo millet fermentation.
What they are, how they are used, when they need to be used, alternatives etc.
~10 wide-top food-safe gallon jars
proper fruit wines haven’t turned out the best. water kefir is always either overcarbonated or undercarbonated. Have eventually been figuring out what’s up. The results are weird and unexpected! nettle leaves as addons will make the ferment go crazy! pasturizing without losing the proper health profile and flavor and texture...
Alcoholic fermentation first began here. I learned to make invert sugars accidentally and saw they were extraordinarily potent. Classic ferments: use a source of sugar (carbon), proteins (not really protein but nitrogen), flavor, add yeast and nutrients, added extra sugar, let sit for many weeks to months, with a blowoff...
join homebrewers association, attend the convention
red rice yeast
other grain ferments
experiment with drinking methods
more complex recipe, following old, traditional recipes
using fruit and herbal infusions
‘jhhwain khattey’
chicha, maybe?
long term investment
started with kombucha
kanji was so easy I had to just do it
loved it because it was an experiment, a hobby, the outcome of which could be drunk
good topic of conversation
continuing because so much to learn, explore, and experiment with!
Indian / South Asian drink, fermented carrots and mustard seeds with optional added sugar, traditionally a bit fizzy and done in the summer, need warm temperature, the sort of Indian Spring / Summer. I tried but it failed miserably, didn’t getfar. The yeasts on the veggie surface are supposed to...
Napa cabbage, daikon radish. Fermented vegetables in the Korean style. How is it different from sauerkraut? Using korean recipes, spices and methods. Done cabbage and radish, with pineapple added too. RUb salt on veggies, let them dehydrate, pack tightly with addition of certain addons like fish sauce, rice flour etc....
Fermented soy product of South Asia, Limbu and other tribal groups in Eastern Nepal and north-eastern India. Basic solid-state fermentation, cooked soybeans provided alkaline conditions and high humidity and left out in the air for several days. Takes a bit funky smell and flavor, sticky, slimy texturesimilar to that of...
What is kombucha anyway?. Mention SCOBY and pellicle. Takes tea, all kinds (except oily ones) and sugar. Carbon from sugar, nitrogen and minerals from tea. Different ratios of green tea, black tea and sugar can encourage different sorts of fermentation. High sugar leads yeast-heavy, longer too, high tea content leads...
ADAPTIVE
Using milk kefir for water kefir
Using kefir and kombucha combined
rice fermentation molds for millet etc.
kombucha adapted to take new sugars after so long.
Milk kefir. What is it? Put the ‘grains’ of starter in cold milk, leave for 24-72, hours, longer means more sour. Milk can ‘break’ if for longer, but it’s not ‘spoiled’, vigorous shaking will reconstitute the mixture. Can be flavored (with tea, juices, infusions), can be used for cooking, can...
Why do I do this? How’s it help me?
why need a philosophy of fermentation?
how does a philosophy thus defined shape everyday tasks?
what exactly is my philosophy?
let the ecosystems do their work, align their interests to ours.
what are the consequences of the philosophy?
What are the species of these two. What is chinese yeast balls? ?What is red rice yeast? What are they ysed for? The recipe is to basically used the starter culture into rice that is semi-cooked and let it ferment in protected environment for a couple of weeks. In the...
Rice beer made in Asia over thousands of years. Use a. oryzae and yeasts (natural or store bought, with their own ferments). Easy. Steam sweet glutionous rice, add rice yeast (it’s mold culture with local yeasts) and some yeast. Let sit for a week or two depending on the temperature,...
Soured veggies, fermented in their own juices. First thing to do is to salt the vegetables to dehydrate them slightly, to break the cell walls, then clean off the salt (otherwise its too salty). Cut them to small pieces to begin with. Then pack them tight in a preferably glass...
Where do I learn the special techniques from? HOw do I validate them? How do I accept/reject them?
* add carrots,
* add the bubbler,
* add whey protein,
* use kefir to carbonate,
* kefir cheese
* so many flavors
* red rice yeast
Ferment from Indonesia, soy-based, uses R ryzope (look it up online), makes solid structure out of soy grains. White mold-like structure, traditionally made inside banana leaves. Consumed in curry form, stew, fried, in sandwiches, and numerous other ways in Indonesia. Quickly arising in popularity in the states, great depth and...
Made by the Limbu people in eastern Nepal, millet grains fermented by mold and amylase enzymes, plus yeast from the air. Ferment it by boiling millet grains, adding mold starter after cooling and putting the mixture in a warm sport for couple of months. The more important and interesting part...
Inspiration: https://www.travelling-fermenter.com/tuong-ban
What is water kefir? is it kefir at all? Tibicos. Took me long time to figure out. Needs sugar water, mineral source, and nitrogen source. Mineral + nitrogen source can be fruit juices or veggies, such as carrots or potatoes. Recipe: sugar solution + nitrogen source (juice, or carrot pieces)...
Introduction thermophilic ferments, heat seeking ferment. Need temmperatures around 50C, which is hot hot hot. Some exceptions abound. Yogurt, curd, differently, fermented milk in coagulated form,common in South Asian. Heat milk until it’s boiling, let it cool down until it’s just a little too hot to touch, add existing yogurt...
where did I hear about this article? From the ancient and mystical herbal brews book.
Give a high-level summary for the article
advantages, interesting points
refer to other blog