APRIL JUICE BOX
Welcome Back Friends! Thank you for joining us this month as we continue to explore the big & beautiful world that is fermentation! As always, this Box includes an array of fermented products, a very special juice, and some art from local artists!
But first, some quick words: We very much strive to create a community that uplifts local creators and artists, especially those affected by systemic racism and prejudice. As white people in fermentation, we would be remiss to not address the appropriation, erasure, & oppression that the AAPI and BIPOC communities have endured. We are continuously inspired by the cultures and cuisine within both of these communities, and must continue to show up for one another. As a community focused project, we have made it a part of our mission moving forward to donate a portion of each month’s Box sales to various organizations and charities that support the marginalized communities from which many of these food traditions stem from, and fight against the corrupt structures of capitalism that hold them back. Thanks to you, we were able to donate $500 from this Box to AAPI Women Lead, and will continue to use what we have to fight the system.
With this Box we wanted to show off a couple completely different uses for miso, while we continue to apply several of the processes & techniques we have been exploring within the past few Boxes. Below are some notes on our ingredients & the fermentation process of each product in your Box, so you can feel free to explore particular products or processes yourself and try ‘em out!
Thank you for your support and curiosity, we hope you enjoy & learn with us! Remember to tag us in your creations so we can learn from you as well! Cheers!
THE FOOD
FRANK’S BUFFALO SAUCE MADE WITH FRANKS MISO
Eighteen months ago we made our second Frank’s Red Hot & Soybean Miso! We soaked soybeans in franks red hot and water, boiled em, mashed em, and then added in equal parts koji to soy beans and 5% salt, before we literally threw it in a crock to let the air escape! To build this up into a “buffalo,” we buzzed in some butter, garlic, and our tamari, and TA DA! Franks Red Hot Miso Buffalo! This should remind you of the classic and have you wonder why its so much more!
*refrigerate after opening*
*how to use: dip your dry fried chicken in it, or buffalo the hell out of anything you want!
pizza! bagels! pizza bagels! wings! tofu! you name it!
STEEL CUT OAT MISO POSING AS OATMEAL CREAM PIES
A two and a half year oat & cashew miso became a cookie with our power of will! (and by whipping it with flour and eggs and making a cookie dough..) But heck, that wasn’t good enough, so we made a giant marshmallow with some vanilla in it, and turned these babies into Oat Miso Cream Pies!
*how to use: we’ll let you figure this one out.
WEAPONIZED PARMESAN SOURDOUGH
USE ALL THE PARM! Ever left with those pesky rinds? Have we got a fun one for you! Here we make a naturally leavened sourdough, but instead of hydrating with water, we add a real simple parm broth, made by boiling the rinds in water! But that wasn’t enough parm for us, so we took the parmesan shoyu from last months box, and pitched that in instead of salt, and then covered the damn thing in shredded parmesan as we shaped and rested the dough.
This is the first time we’re trying this, so let us know what you think!
*how to use: eat it with literally anything, or by itself! hell, add even more parm you crazy kids!
MAPLE DEATH SAUCE
Our fermented hot sauce went to hell and back…
We took last years ghost peppers that were fermented in garlic and wine, and poached them in their liquid with Vermont maple syrup & a three year spicy barley miso.
Then we dosed this whole thing with some of our maple umeboshi!
It’s reallllly hot and we dare you to get used to it.
*how to use: as the spice girls say, “ spice up your life!”
anything you want to be insanely spicy, just add this.
DRY FRIED CHICKEN
Okay so this one’s a little outta left field, but we’ve been wanting to put more straight up snacks in your box, so we dehydrated little pieces of our marinated chicken, and then fried it, in the hopes of making some Fried Chicken Jerky! You should refrigerate this the day you get your box, but we hope you just eat it all right away, as we would.
*how to use: we want you to dip it in the buffalo, but if you wanna dip it in the death sauce go for it.
THE JUICE
LEAP FROG
Here’s our FIRST ever ALL grape wine!
Sometimes it’s all about the return to basics. We love exploring and learning and testing new techniques, but sometimes you need to just start back at square one.
Here is the most rudimentary wine we could create: our Leap Frog.
We got organic Muscat Blanc grapes from Chile (not how we normally like to source, but you do what ya gotta!) and destemmed them before pressing them into glass fermenters.
The grapes stayed on their skins for 2 days before being pressed again, and the juice was then transferred to glass demi-john for aging.
All the pressings were then rehydrated with water and placed into a separate glass container for fermentation, thus creating our piquette.
During the aging process there was VERY little agitation to the liquid. It was stirred only during active fermentation, which lasted about 9 days. After completion, the juice stayed undisturbed until bottling.
The piquette was never stirred and was left with all the musts for the entirety of fermentation, only to be pressed off for bottling and blending. (about a month)
Other than a TINY addition of sulfites at bottling to stabilize the juice, there were ZERO additives or additions, and the juice was left unfined and unfiltered, so some sediment is completely natural.
ingredients: organic muscat, h20, sulfites 9.2% ABV 75 bottles made
label art by Mark Noble
THE ART
Box label and wine label by Mark Noble
find his photos on instagram @marknoblephoto
Original logo art by Karissa Regan of Rissky.Studio
check their art out at @rissky.studio on instagram
Thanks for joining us! Tag us with your creations at @juiceboxferments on Instagram, and tag all the local artists to help spread their art and creations!
We look forward to learning from you as you from us!