Koji (Aspergillus Oryzae grown on Rice)

Magical Wild Miso and Shoyu workshop.

Discover the benefits and flavours of fermented foods that form the foundation of culinary magic from the beginning of time.

I have been wanting this workshop to happen since 2020 since I discovered the incredible magic of koji, Koji is the just the most incredible mould with unlimited superpowers by transforming foods! Koji has been used by cultures across Asia for thousands of years. It is a traditional (food) technology using its unique digestive enzymes. Koji can be used to break down complex sugars to create delicious drinks like Sake, proteins to create the unmistakable Miso paste and even has the magic power to break down fats so it's pretty useful for the laundry liquid industry. Let me introduce you this wonderful fermentation method with a wild twist!

This will be an intense workshop hosted by myself, in an awesome collaboration with Kat Kocsis and the Wild Wizard Craig Worrall to bring you 2 full days of learning about:

Day 1: Saturday 30th November
● What is koji, how is it made, what it is good for, troubleshooting, 

● What is miso and why are we so obsessed with it, what the limitations are, and we also make our hands dirty by creating some miso (to take home with you) 

DAY 2: Sunday 31st November
● What are the other applications for koji, introducing it’s friends like amazake, shio koji, sake lees, garums and other aminos, troubleshooting.

 ● Exploring the never-ending possibilities of creating unique food by involving as many wild and foraged plants, seeds, roots, mushrooms etc ... as humanly possible.

The workshop is being hosted at: 

Whitmore Hall, Whitmore, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 5HW 

PRICE:

The price of the full 2 days' workshop is £200 / person.

It is possible to only participate for one day, that costs £120 (for basic knowledge we recommend the Day 1, for advanced fermenters we recommend the Day 2) 

Price includes some simple but very very tasty fermentation lead rice-bowl lunches on location for both days, aiming to show you as many food-koji application in real life as possible. 

Please let me introduce you to Kat and Craig who will be guiding you through the weekend with me:

Kat Kocsis: Brighton based chef, forager book writer of "Forage to Fork" and a very passionate fermenter. She showed up in Masterchef Professional, participated in the restaurant Noma in Coppenhagen, learned and work all way thru Mexico, Spain, Hungary and the UK. She is addicted to growing moulds on anything possible meanwhile fighting very hard against food waste and for food education by several charity events.

Craig Worrall: Craig of Edible Leeds and 4 Wild Season's. Craig is a great forager and a teacher, a wild food chef, an experimentalist. Over the past 3 years or so Craig has been exploring the versatile, funky world of koji and combined with his passion for wild ingredients has created a unique range of miso's, garums, shoyus and tamari. Craig brings his own brand of inspiration and enthusiasm to this weekend's mix! 

and myself! 

Emma of Wild Pickle, a forager and passionate fermenter for 14 years, and fascinated by koji since 2020. I have been a producer of fermented foods and now I teaching foraging and fermentation, I enjoy creating pop up events and experiences for learning and the chance to enjoy great food. I ran the first ferment festival in Stoke which sold out in 2023 and events like these! 

Spaces are limited to 15 per day. Please book early for this totally unique experience. We look forward to seeing you there!

Due to the nature of this workshop, I.e preparation involved there can be no refunds offered on spaces 30 days and counting to the event. You may offer your space to someone else if you cannot make it. Thank you. 

Please contact Emma for any questions about the event emma@wildpickle.co.uk 

(Please ignore the map below that insists Wild Pickle is in Germany! We are in Staffordshire for this event!!)