For my birthday this year, my best friend and my spouse, took me out for lunch at the Cultured Pickle Shop in Berkeley, California. They made reservations to sit in the kitchen, so we could see the Chef/Owners make our dishes before serving them to us. Luckily, one of them was in a talkative mood and shared not only what and how the dishes were made, but also how this wife and husband have worked together over 25 years learning to make and serve a variety of fermented foods.
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Photo by PattyCooks.
History From the Web + Conversation
Many years ago Alex Hozven and Kevin Farley lived in Mendocino County enjoying an off-grid, macrobiotic, hippie life living under oak trees. They were homesteading and had to do all the work related to cooking and preserving their food. Along the way, according to Kevin, Alex became interested in white miso and Japanese fermentation processes, and they managed to meet an expert couple who helped them move onto a path of fermentation using Japanese methods and sensibilities.
Being self-taught, Alex focused on the longer term, mastering the making of naturally fermented foods (no vinegar, water, or heat) like sauerkraut, kim chee, and kombucha with a locavore sensibility and seasonal twist (2). The result was that Alex opened her kitchen in 1996, and a year later asked her husband to join, and together they built the thriving business they have today.
[Audio link to Alex and Kevin talking about their business]
34: Cultured Pickle Shop Talk Podcast Recorded 2013, 52 minutes
For most of the shop’s life span, according to SFGate, it functioned primarily as a wholesale operation, supplying sauerkraut to the likes of Whole Foods stores up and down California. But when Amazon bought Whole Foods and the grocer stopped stocking a lot of local products, that major source of income disappeared. So they turned to what they do today, serving ~60 bowls daily along with wholesaling their limited jars of pickled or fermented vegetables.
I certainly appreciate their dedication to the art, craft, and history of food preservation as they utilize global pickling traditions from Japan specifically, and other traditions from around the world. I also appreciate Alex’s decision to pickle food relying on the older, and slower method of fermentation. My belief is that the older and slower methods often lead to a taming of the bright, acid sharpness of quick vinegar + pasteurization-based pickling, and presents a much more complex, earthy, vegetative flavor to food.
But while the shop features a wide range of land and sea vegetable fermentation methods, they also recycle in an attempt to build a closed system with inputs but limited outputs/waste. They use repurposed waste products from Saki making, reuse fermented mediums, and turn production waste (say peels) into food (3).
[https://foodbloggs.com/video/102066/living-food-cultured-pickles-fermented]
A video link to Alex Hozven in her kitchen discussing fermentation. Recorded 2021, 11:07 minutes.
First Impressions
The three of us, without a doubt, benefitted from their lifelong devotion to their craft, by taking the opportunity to reserve a weekend table in their kitchen (they have two tables for this use) to get the full experience of them preparing and serving the food they have made. From the moment I walked in the door, I realized this was going to be no ordinary experience. First, we walked right into a kitchen/laboratory. Second, the owners were the only two people working. Third, the aroma of fermentation felt like a body cleansing, an earthy effervescent aroma that permeated the kitchen and started my intense desire to taste everything around me.
This is not a fancy storefront, it is definitely a working kitchen and laboratory dedicated to various aspects of fermentation and pickling. Attention has been paid to all aspects of their efforts. The environment is a wonderfully cluttered space with wood, glass, metal and family-made ceramic dishes; with vats, a walk-in fridge, dehydrator and stacks of cookbooks on tables. In fact, it is so functional, we sat on upside down, steel fermenting tanks on wheeled furniture movers.
Alex clearly had command of the kitchen, and she has a reputation within the fermentation community for the sheer breadth and distinctiveness of her practice (1). Kevin presented a relaxed, friendly, and welcoming demeanor. He was quick to smile and his pleasant voice and informative way of speaking soothed us into a very pleasant experience as he motioned for us to sit.
We were seated and presented with little blue cloth napkins, metal chopsticks, and given some cool water upon request. From there on I was torn between watching them prepare the food, listening deeply to the description of the food, tasting and talking among ourselves about the food.
While I am going to provide definitions for many of the Japanese words used by Kevin and Alex, let me say if technical details bore you, just go and eat. It is great.
This Week’s Menu
From the description of the food, it was quickly obvious that they do in fact take care in the sourcing of their ingredients, using Hakari Farms for their Wasabi Arugula for instance. They also use the left overs from the Takara Sake production just down the street, using their remaining mash after the sake is pressed and filtered to start their fermented food development.
- Sake: Sake is an alcoholic beverage made from combining rice (that is polished), water (rice is then washed, soaked, + steamed), koji mold, and then a yeast mixture is added to create a fermenting mash. The mash (pressed, filtered, pasteurized, aged) then is pressed into liquid which is eventually bottled.
- Koji: This is a type of mold used to make soy sauce and miso. Koji mold is a rice-native mold that is essentially used in the breakdown process of rice starch. The mold enzyme converts the rice’s starches into sugar and paves the way for fermentation to begin.
Dashi
Sweet Potato & Green Garlic: This was a vegan, clear broth with a mild and delicate taste, along with a hint of Kombu. This changes weekly, as they use processing ”left overs” from that weeks fermentation efforts. I took a deep smell of the broth and found it earthy and mild, the dish was warm and pleasantly soothing. I appreciated the bowl it was served to me in, and then drank slowly.
Appetizer
Sesame Goma Dofu – 2013 Turnip Kasu: On the left, above, is a combination of a sesame-based, style of silky ”tofu”, made totally by hand processing sesame seeds into a tofu consistency. The topping for this dish is a Turnip Kasu made in 2013, which means it has been marinating for ten years!
- Sake Kasu: Sake kasu, made from the leftover mash from making Sake, and is a common ingredient in Japanese food that provides a lightly sweet and savory flavor to many dishes. This mash is what is left after the Sake fermenting process has occurred and is high in nutritional value, containing protein, amino acids, carbohydrates, and vitamins; alcohol too.
- Kasuzuke pickling: Soaking cucumber, daikon, or turnip in a Sake Kasu marinade creates a dish called kasuzuke, a type of Japanese pickle (tsukemono).
Kiriboshi Daikon, Sweet White Miso, Asparagus Bettarazuke: On the right, above was a White Miso and rehydrated Daikon, topped with asparagus and Bettarzuke.
- Wikipedia: Bettarazuke is a type of pickled daikon popular in Tokyo, a sort of tsukemono. It is made by pickling daikon with sugar, salt, and sake without filtering koji. The name bettarazuke is taken from the stickiness of koji left over from the pickling process. Bettarazuke has a crisp sweet taste.
Kombucha
Kombucha Mint + Ginger: Using a green tea base, they have infused mint and ginger into the kombucha we ordered. Honestly, I do not like any of the commercial Kombucha I have tasted as I find the drink too harsh, too strong, burning, and unsettling to my stomach. So I was concerned about drinking it, but I wanted to give it a try for I got the impression they would take care.
My fears were unfounded, in that this drink turned out to be mild and pleasant to drink. In fact, I even bought some to bring home since I liked it so much. All my companions agreed, and we all finished our drinks. We also asked for water, to help settle some of the flavors since some were intense.
I joked with my companions that all the critters in my intestines were having a carnival as all those probiotics slushed their way down.
Rice Bowl
Garlic Greens with Date & Chile Paste Brine: The long green leaf you see across the bowl is a smashed stalk from growing garlic, that has been smeared with dates and a chili paste brine before dehydration. The result is a very crispy, flavorful, ”cracker” with heat. I could have eaten many more for its tasty crunch alone, but it did add to the dish by introducing a nice change of texture.
Sweet Brown Rice: This was a combination of two brown rice, one short grain and the other sticky brown rice that comes from my favorite Lundberg Family Farm.
Komatsuna & Wasabi Arugula: The greens were a combination of Japanese mustard spinach and wasabi arugula.
- Komatsuna: is a mustard spinach that is a variety of the plant species Brassica rapa; this species includes turnip, mizuna, napa cabbage, and rapini.
- Wasabi Arugula: – This green totally surprised me. It is a unique, wild aruguala that taste just like the complex and decidedly spicy flavor of freshly made wasabi paste. Wasabi arugula is a member of the Diplotaxis genus and is a small, herbaceous plant belonging to the Brassicaceae or mustard family.
Sauerkraut Salad: This tasted exactly as described, sauerkraut. This one was very sour, but also fit in well with the overall dish.
Romaine Kimchi: Why limit oneself to using only Napa Cabbage for kimchi, here they used Romaine and it tasted just as great.
White Sweet Potato-White Miso: Again a white sweet potato was aged with white miso to make a slightly sweet mash to accompany the heavier flavors in the bowl.
Celeriac – Koji: This one we had some conversation about as it was not universally liked among my companions. I however, liked its more earthy taste, and the way it was prepared which toned down the harshness that celeriac can sometimes have. To me it was good tasting, and I ate everyone’s portion.
Red Onion- Umeboshi: Just the day or so before I had made some quick-pickled red onion. This tasted nothing like that. They definitely made a complex-tasting dish, while I made a vinegary onion. The combination with Umeboshi was brilliant and the taste was outstanding.
- Wikipedia: Umeboshi are pickled ume fruits common in Japan. The word umeboshi is often translated into English as ‘salted Japanese plums’, ‘Japanese plums’ or ‘preserved plums’. Ume is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a “plum”, but is actually more closely related to the apricot.
Daikon – Kumquat Kosho: This is a variation of Yuzu Kosho, a fragrant, spicy, salty Japanese condiment made with yuzu peel, chilies and salt. A kosho is basically a Japanese chili paste, and here they have added kumquat peels.
- When Cultured Pickle works with daikon fermentation, they write: we allow the daikon to ferment for anywhere between 4 and 10 months. Each of the ingredients they work with, combined with the specific fermenting or pickling technique, has its own timetable. Not everything can sit to mature its taste, so skill is definitely required.
Pumpkin Kasuzuke: Like above, the pumpkin was placed in a Sake Kasu marinade to create a dish called kasuzuke, a type of Japanese pickle. This pumpkin had been maturing for 2 years.
Beet & Preserved Lemon Gomashio: This was interesting, the mix of earthy and sweet beets with a sprinkling of lemony Gomashio. If I remember correctly they removed the salt from the recipe to make a unique version of this condiment, but I read they sometimes add sauerkraut to it instead of salt (1).
- Gomashio: Similar to Furikake, this is a dry Japanese condiment made from unhulled sesame seeds, dulse flakes or kelp, and salt. I have eaten this sprinkled over plain rice and is in my kitchen at home.
Sweet Bite
Cocoa, Beet & Amazake Macaroon: This is a mixture of pureed beet, a cocoa and coconut macaroon, with a little dab of topping that spreads an amazingly sharp taste across the mouth.
- Amazake: This is sweet and sour (think yogurt for a taste comparison) and is made from starch-rich grains such as rice, barley, oats, buckwheat and millet.
The Rest of the Story
These people are very busy during the week, with all the experimentation and meeting the take-out requests from customers, to do much of anything else. If I lived closer I could imagine once a week getting an itch to order and pick up the bowl of whatever they were serving for that week.
Not just picking up a bowl, you can also walk in and purchase jars of various fermented or pickled vegetables, Kombucha drinks of various kinds, and today they even had some white miso paste that they had made. I bought some carrot, asparagus, and pumpkin jars, so later this week I could do a rice bowl also using some of the quick pickles I have done for other dishes last week (red onion and radish). My effort might not be as fancy, or contain as many flavors as their bowl, but I can continue to make our bodies happy with fermented food.
But I believe the magic, for me, most often happens on the weekends. This is when they have a very relaxed atmosphere, and invite people to call in for reservations to eat either indoors, in their kitchen like we did, or outdoors in front of their storefront.
Either way, they take the time to prepare and explain what their dishes are made of, and in some cases how they have been fermented or pickled. Both are very knowledgeable, although Kevin was quick to point out that Alex is the ”master-mind” behind the experimentation and creation of the menu. Kevin appeared quick to smile and to enjoy sharing stories, and the way in which the food they make is prepared.
What I wanted to capture for you is not only the relaxed atmosphere created by the owners, but also of their attention to the food and their presentation. There was a mindful, almost intense attention to the plating of the food. A wonderful expression and tone when describing what they were sharing with us. All in all, we found ourselves slowing down, tasting the food and sharing what we thought about the aroma, the flavor, the texture or color. We, without knowing it, slipped into a very grounded and mindful way of eating and appreciating the food and people who prepared the meal.
Frankly, I am amazed I have not heard nor visited this special place before. All three of us anticipate coming back for more as they change their rice bowls weekly. I cannot imagine not visiting often to take advantage of their art and craft of fermentation and pickling. I urge those of you who enjoy slow-made, healthy food to reserve that kitchen table for a weekend and give their Japanese influenced food a try.
—Patty
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