Fermentation and Drying

Overview

Let ingredients ferment in jars and dry on racks in the sun. Time and placement turn harvests into seasonings and dried ingredients.

Things to enjoy

Ferment in jars

Prepare miso, soy sauce and vinegar by adding ingredients and waiting, without cooking them over heat.

Dry in sunlight

Place drying racks under open sky to dry fish and seaweed on clear days, making the weather and workshop location part of preparation.

Cook with what you prepare

Use fermented seasonings for flavor and shave katsuobushi for stock. Prepared ingredients support many different meals.

Key items

Fermentation JarThe brick fermentation jar: load an ingredient and an additive and let time work.
Pressing VatThe pressing vat for brine, juice and oil.
Drying RackThe stick-and-string rack; dries under open daytime sky instead of heat.
Shaving BoxA box that shaves katsuobushi into flakes — ride the block over the blade on top and the shavings collect inside.
Cutting BoardLay food on the board and work it with a knife — the heart of prep work.
SoybeansA carrot-style field crop — plant the bean itself.
Polished RiceRice pounded free of hull and bran in an usu.
SaltSalt from rock salt or the coastal salt line.
Salt Water BottleSalt Water BottleBrine dissolved in the pressing vat; the shoyu base.
Miso MoromiSoybean mash — the miso-line intermediate.
MisoMiso fermented from moromi and salt in the jar.
Shoyu MoromiSoybean-wheat mash — the shoyu-line intermediate.
Shoyu BottleShoyu BottleSoy sauce fermented from moromi and brine; the bottle comes back.
Vinegar BottleVinegar BottleVinegar fermented from fruit or grain; the bottle comes back.
Mirin MoromiA mash of glutinous and ordinary rice — the mirin-line intermediate.
Mirin BottleMirin BottleA sweet seasoning rested from mirin moromi in the jar, for simmered and glazed dishes; the bottle comes back.
NukadokoRice bran worked with salt into a pickling bed — vegetables and fish alike are buried in it.
Cucumber NukazukeCrisp cucumber pickled slowly in a seasoned rice-bran bed.
Hakusai AsazukeCut hakusai briefly rested with salt in a jar for a juicy asazuke.
Dried AjiA split aji sun-dried on the rack; keeps you fuller than the raw cut.
KatsuobushiNamaribushi dried rock-hard; shave it before eating.
Bonito FlakesKatsuobushi shaved into flakes in the shaving box, ready to eat as they are.
NoriThe thin algae mat of warm coastal floors.
Nori SheetNori dried flat on the rack; wraps onigiri.
Dried DaikonDaikon cured on the rack until it shrinks and dries — lighter than the fresh root and it keeps.