Registration: No registration required. All workshops are FREE. The space has limited seating so it’s first come, first serve.
Location: The Main Stage in Spirit Hall, up the stairs besides the info table and behind the curtain.
11:30am- 12:15 Kombucha with Joan Karp, Mount NitaNee Kombucha
Joan launched Mount NitaNee Kombucha making kombucha and water kefir making about two years ago. In that short time, her small, rural business completed the necessary benchmarks to receive USDA Organic Certification through Pennsylvania Certified Organic, cementing their place a Pennsylvania’s first organic kombucha! Joan is passionate about growing to encompass a broader representation of cultured and fermented foods and beverages as a way of offering healing and connection and vibrant life to neighbors near and far. The name NitaNee derived from the recognizable Mount Nitanny and the story of mythological princess NitaNee who was revered by her people for leading them into central Pennsylvania’s safe and fertile valley.
Joan is a mother, unschooler, triathlete, personal traininer, and lover of all things outdoors. In my twenties I discovered food as medicine thanks to the love and mentor-ship of my beautiful Shiatsu practitioner. Since then, my interest in food and nature as the foundation of all vibrant life continues to grow. I’ve lived beside the ocean in Florida, nestled near the San Juans in Colorado, and amid the splendor that is Southern Utah, but Central Pennsylvania has been my verdant home for the past twenty years and has informed much of what I do.
12:30pm- 1:15 The Health Benefits of Fermented Foods with Meryem Mammedova, Prescription Foods
Meryem Mammedova hails from Krasnovodsk, Turkmenistan where natural foods, herbal remedies and fermentation are simply a part of everyday life, not a counter-cultural food movement. Meryem’s passion for health and nutrition topics are only eclipsed by her desire to educate others on these topics.
With years of experience studying, creating and experimenting with healing foods, her knowledge base is broad, however she specializes in examining gut health and children’s diet.
Meryem lives on Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill with her son and daughter – 2 very patient guinea pigs for her culinary experiments.
1:30pm- 2:15 Fermented Hot Sauce with Greg Andrews, The Pickled Chef
2:30pm- 3:15 Introduction to Rye Sourdough Bread with Chloe Newman from Crust Worthy
Naturally-Leavened rye bread, especially when made from a rye sourdough starter, is a wonderful, nutritious, and unique loaf. This workshop will cover the fundamentals, tricks, and techniques involved making your own rye loaf from a sourdough starter. We’ll mix a dough for a blended rye and wheat sourdough loaf, highlighting the taste of rye while utilizing wheat’s higher gluten content for a delicious loaf of bread. Together we’ll taste a finished baked loaf, and participants will have the opportunity to leave with their own rye sourdough starter to take home!
Chloe Newman the founder and baker for Crust Worthy LLC, a small-scale, community-supported baking operation in Pittsburgh, PA. Crust Worthy focuses on the hand-mixing, slow fermentation, and baking of all naturally leavened bread, as well as some “sourdough-enriched” cookies, muffins, and other creations. Crust Worthy sources as many organic, local, and seasonal ingredients as possible, in order to provide high quality, nutritious, and delicious baked goods.
3:30pm- 4:15 Meet Natto: The Fermented Super Food you Didn’t Know You Were Missing with Best-Selling author Kirsten Shockey
Natto is a delicious, traditional fermented soybean condiment from Japan. Come learn what it is, why it is so incredible, why you want to eat it every day, and most importantly how to make and enjoy it.
Kirsten K. Shockey and Christopher Shockey are the coauthors of Fiery Ferments, best-selling Fermented Vegetables and Miso, Tempeh, Natto and other Tasty Ferments: A step-by-step guide to fermenting grains and beans for Umami and Health. They got their start in fermenting foods twenty years ago on their 40-acre hillside smallholding which grew into their organic food company. When they realized their passion was for the process, they chose to focus on teaching fermentation arts to others. They teach worldwide and host workshops on their homestead in southern Oregon.
ferment pittsburgh 