MARCH JUICE BOX
Hello Fellow Fermenty Friends! Welcome to our third ever Box, this month in collaboration with local artist, fellow fermenter, and dear friend, Jeremy Ogusky! Alongside Jeremy’s beautiful handmade crock, this Box includes several fermented goodies & a super special juice, made using processes & ingredients we have been exploring for the past couple of months, while also highlighting zero waste techniques. As we have continued to learn & explore, we have found the beautiful symbiotic relationship of zero waste and fermentation, opening doors to new products and pathways. 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
JUJUBE SAUCE
If you gotten one of previous Boxes, you’ll be somewhat familiar with this process & product. If not, get ready for beauties of black fruits. Similar to the process of making black garlic, we took jujubes, vacuum sealed them, and held them at 140* F for three months. This process enables the sugars in the jujubes to caramelize over a long period of time, concentrating its flavors, and creating quite an amazing little black fruit. From here, we set it up like an Indian inspired tamarind chutney, building it up using lacto-fermented garlic & shallots, tamarind, koji butter, and tsukemono honey from our larder.
Tsukemono is the japanese art of pickling vegetables, literally translating to “pickled things,” from which we draw a TON of inspiration. To make our honey, we do so in the style of Ninniku Hachimitsu-zuke, which is the method of preserving garlic in honey, by literally just tossing heads of garlic into honey and letting it age for several years!
*how to use: this sauce is best with something fried. chef loves a bowl of rice, a piece of fried chicken, and a dollop of this stuff on top.
BEEF BROTH KIMCHI
Kimchi is one of the most fun, simple, and delicious ferments, and we absolutely love making it. In thinking about zero waste & fermentation, we looked to the regions of Korea in which they will use leftover soup broth to fortify their kimchi. We had been dry aging some rib-eyes, so we used the bones to make broth, then reduced the leftover broth to hydrate our kimchi of radish, pears, and cabbage.
*how to use: try eating it with the bread to experience two generations of kimchi!
BLACK SOURDOUGH
For our first box we made a kimchi, because, again, we love making kimchi, and every time we do, we find a little inspiration. Because of our obsession with making black fruits and not throwing things away, we thought, why not take the leftover brine from the kimchi and hold it in the incubator to see what happens? So we did. The brine was re-fermented at 140* F for 2 months, turning it jet black, and concentrating some super cool flavors. We then took the black brine, mixed it with a little water, and used it to hydrate our sourdough and make naturally leavened bread. We’ve never done this before, but we thought the idea of repurposing the brine was super cool, so let us know how you like it!
*how to use: eat it with the kimchi, eat it with butter, eat it like its bread.
PARMESAN RIND SHOYU
(to be put in your sweet new ogusky crock if you so choose)
Using sojae koji, the Japanese strain of koji used to make soy sauce, we mixed boiled leftover parmesan rinds, water, and salt, and held the mixture at 140* F for a month to let it ferment. The result is an insanely funky and awesome shoyu that can make a crazy difference with just a few drops!
*how to use: make pasta! try browning garlic in olive oil before tossing the pasta and adding a couple drops of this shoyu. chef says dont forget the herbs!
THE JUICE
HI MOM!
When mom gives you cherries, you ferment em!
Hi mom! is a blend of local blueberries, foraged cherries from my mother, & pomegranate, all fermented separately, and blended with their piquettes.
The blueberries were pressed and fermented with indigenous yeasts and 3oz of our lovely neighbor’s maple syrup for a little extra sugar to kick off fermentation. They sat on their skins for 6 weeks while fermenting before being strained off and racked into glass to age. During this time we made a yeast starter from an awesome organic black tea and pitched it into pressed pomegranate to kick off fermentation. After a month, we strained off the juice and blended it into the blueberry. The cherries were fermented naturally without any additions, and mixed into the blend after 3 months of fermenting on their skins. Each fruits pressing were re-fermented after being strained off, to make low abv piquette from each, and the trio were added to the blend a week before bottling.
7.3% ABV and art by yours truly.
THE ART & MORE
THE CROCK
Let’s get down to that BEAUTIFUL crock! Jeremy’s pottery has been featured all over, from the Globe to the Wall Street Journal, and can be found in restaurants all over Boston. But on top of being an incredible potter, Jeremy is also a founder of the Boston Fermentation Festival, and an awesome advocate for fermentation! We’ve used his handmade ferment crocks for everything from misos, to kimchis, krauts, and more.
And now you have a piece of your own! Use it to age small ferments, as a vessel for your prized booze, or as a gorgeous decoration!
To check out more Ogusky stuff go to claycrocks.com find him on instagram at @bostonpotter, or on Etsy at Ogusky Ceramics!
THE SOAP
Also included in this box is another byproduct by Brassica’s executive sous chef Brian. Brian took on educating himself about soap making when he noticed we were throwing out a lot of animal fats. He thought it’d be funny to make a soap out of it a la fight club, and did his research. Next thing you know, we’re using up all the excess bacon fat & duck fat, to make these incredible soaps. We all use them at home now, and they are amazing. Dont eat them even though they smell good!
You will have one of the following in your box!
SUPER MOISTURE SOAP: duck and bacon fat with coconut oil, rose hips, lavender, lemon and thyme
XXXFOLIATE SOAP: japanese charcoal, duck fat, beeswax, lavender, lemon, and coconut oil.
Box label made by Jamie Andrade of BlackEvergreen Design
find her art at www.JamieAndrade.com or @artistandrade on instagram
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!