Julia Street

This was my favorite new (to me!) ferment of the year! These are Lebanese makdous: cured eggplant stuffed with walnuts and red pepper. Thanks to @kgb_cooks , who learned about these from a friend as well, for introducing these to me. I made such a small batch this year, but can’t wait to make more when eggplant season hits again. I love learning new ferments and recipes from others around the world as a way to connect and share with others. While I’ve been mostly quiet over here this year, I’ve still been busy fermenting, preserving etc. behind the scenes, and a lot of it goes into chocolate over @jst.chocolate . Looking forward to many more ferments in 2023. Please share any favorite new recipes you made this year too 🤓! #makdous #stuffedeggplant #curedeggplant #lebanesefood #fermentationcommunity

Let pickle season begin (for all the summer produce…let’s be real, pickle season never ends!)! Some tips in my highlights if you want to make them. A must have for crispy pickles is freshness- get them from your local farmer’s market! 🥒 #cucumberpickles #sourdillpickles #wildfermentation #pickleseason #pickles #fermentedpickles

Here’s the tempeh that was perfectly timed to not finish before I went to bed… but would likely sporulate if I left it out at normal room temp overnight. I had the brilliant idea of putting it in the coldest room overnight to slow it down and when I woke at 3 am in a sleepy haze put it in the fridge blindly declaring it done. And you know what, so it has a slight bald spot, but it was still delicious. Split chickpea, lentil, and quinoa tempeh. This was a good reminder to me that it had been too long and it’s not so hard and there’s nothing that compares to fresh homemade tempeh. Thanks to @shortmountaincultures for the starter! #tempeh #homemadetempeh #soyfreetempeh #rhizopusoligosporus

So nice, had to post about it twice! @jst.chocolate comes from the heart of this account where I take my fermentation inspiration and integrate it into thoughtfully crafted chocolate. Such an amazing surprise to be featured yesterday. Thanks again @paoloshmaolo and @eater_sf ! Link in bio! #chocolateislife #beantobarchocolate #craftchocolate #womeninchocolate #keepitbayview

Sometimes ferments have spectacular failures… and sometimes it happens after waiting patiently for 1.5 years 😑. I made eggplant kasuzuke and I learned for aging something so long in the kasu that it should probably be a firmer vegetable. It tasted ok, but the texture was too soggy/weird for me and had a bit of an off taste (could be from the beautiful yeast you see taking over the surface too). Oh well, I learned and am more excited to try it again with winter squash, fennel…I’m taking suggestions! Thanks to @sequoia_sake for the beautiful aged sake kasu! #kasuzuke #sakekasu #kasu #sakelees #koji #fermentfail #kahmyeast

Bottled our wine from Sept 2021 this past weekend! It’s been a really fun experiment that’s far surpassed any of our expectations. I’ve made lots of country/fruit wines but this was my first time making wine from actual grapes! We were fortunate enough to be able to pick and press Zinfandel grapes from West Dry Creek and then we let nature do the work. We didn’t add anything, I didn’t even take notes 🤦‍♀️ (do photos count?!), didn’t measure the gravity… but we kept an eye on it, facilitated its environment so it could do its magic. This was another project that really reiterated the beauty of wild fermentation and why I love to ferment. We have a very drinkable young natural red wine and I have a feeling 5 gallons is going to go beyond fast! More documentation from the whole process saved in my story highlights. Cheers 🍷! #wildfermentation #naturalwine #homemadewine #winemaker #zinfandel #westdrycreek #zerozerowine #bottlingday

It’s official, I launched a website which means I’m now able to offer shipping for @jst.chocolate in the states! In honor of that, I’m offering free shipping for orders over $35 this week. My chocolate is all made by my two hands and all the fermented flavor additions as well. I’ll be constantly adding and playing with new additions so keep your 👀 peeled and sign up for my newsletter while you’re there! Link in bio to order. Thanks for all the support. So excited to be able to share my chocolate with more of you. #beantobarchocolate #womeninchocolate #bayareaeats #microbatchchocolate #sfmade #bayviewmade #craftchocolate #kojibuildscommunity #kojichocolate #veganchocolate

A much overdo loaf! Filled with so much goodness... including @capay_mills rye and red bug flours, sprouted einkorn berries, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, and flax seeds, stout beer, milk kefir...and probably a few other things as I don't have my notes in front of me. Definitely will be making this again sooner, rather than later. This was a good reminder that this loaf takes a week but isn't *too* much work! #sourdough #ryesourdough #seededrye #pullmanloaf #foodismedicine #longfermentationbread #tartinebread

As you may have guessed from previous hints in posts, I’m starting a micro batch bean to bar chocolate company called @jst.chocolate (and let’s consider this its soft launch)! I plan to focus on single origin bars and bars that play with my passion for fermentation. Bean to bar is important because I can help make a better impact on the environment and labor, two big problems in the chocolate industry, by paying close attention to where I source my beans from. I feel very fortunate to start a business right now. While I’m still working out some scaling kinks, I’d love to sell chocolate to raise money to give back. This first run I’ll donate all proceeds to @womenforafghanwomen as the devastating crisis in Afghanistan still needs a lot of help. -------- Here’s how it’s going to work: I’m only selling locally (right now) and will have options for pick up in SF and delivery for a small fee within certain zip codes of SF and Oakland. Check out the link in my bio to purchase and see the current pick up/delivery schedule: Pickup in SF (Bayview): today (!), Tues 9/14, Sat 9/18 Sf delivery: Mon 9/13 Oakland delivery: Wed 9/15 **if one of the options doesn’t work for you but you’re still local, lmk and we can find another time!** I hope to do sales 1-2/month, so please follow along with me @jst.chocolate as it will evolve… If you’re not local please follow along too and help me spread the word! Thank your for the support and I’m looking forward to bringing a little more sweetness into all of your lives. #beantobarchocolate #craftchocolate #microbatchchocolate #chocolatemaker #fermentation #beantobar

Cleaning out the “cellar” resulted in some fun miso creations from last year that are all about ready to use! From L to R: - The Breadso (miso made from sesame bread) was a super small batch that I made with some leftover sourdough. I couldn’t wait to try this one but it’s still quite salty (12%) and I’m only getting very faint notes of a yeasty flavor. I’ll let this one continue to age (even though it’s already well over a year old). - The Fava Bean Barley Miso I remember making as a total experiment as well and upon tasting it I was surprised to taste a nice kick pairing with the familiar rich red/darker misos. Upon reviewing my notes I noticed that I also added gochugaru and chile flakes- ah, that explains it! I think I really missed doubanjiang and maybe this was my attempt to make some at home? - The Maso (miso made from masa) was also a surprise to find tucked away because I’ve been enjoying some of this from my fridge already! This miso also made such an incredible tamari that elevates the 🌽 flavor of anything you make. The maso is still good and I’m tasting notes of bubblegum. This one was super active and maybe even a little too liquid as it started to erupt out of its jar. - The Cacao Bean Miso has soft notes of chocolate and some nice funk mixed in, sort of reminds me a bit of a mole sauce (or better yet, I’d love to add this to a mole). I’m looking forward to playing around with more cacao misos again and should play around with the ratios (I think this one is past its prime as I made it to be enjoyed as a younger miso). These were fun to discover and I think a sign that I need to make more creative misos to put away and re-discover next year! #miso #kojibuildscommunity #breadmiso #redmiso #cacaomiso #chocolatemiso

Two pink vinegars, two very different paths so far! The left is a strawberry scrap vinegar and after straining the strawberry scraps and adding a little raw vinegar a mother started forming in less than a week(!). Can’t wait. On the right is the more finicky tomato vinegar started from whole tomatoes who was (hopefully stays past tense!) plagued with kahm yeast. After daily skimming, I finally filtered it and then filtered it again a few days later. Added some raw vinegar and also sprayed the surface with vodka to try and keep the yeasties away (thanks to @kirstenkshockey ’s new book for the tips!). Fingers crossed this one turns into vinegar. The flavor has been changing and getting more acidic and it’s been really fun (and lots of work) so would love to be able to enjoy it, especially after tomato season is over. #vinegar #rawvinegar #scrapvinegar #tomatovinegar #strawberryvinegar

When it’s tomato season…indulge in all the tomatoes! ~ tomatoes 2 way risotto ~ tomato vinegar 24 hours in ~ dehydrated and marinated tomato sourdough ~ slow oven roasted tomatoes ~ tomatoes saucing Plus lots of other meals and jun flavoring not pictured! #tomatoes #earlygirltomatoes #tomatovinegar #tomatosourdough #tomatorisotto #ovenroastedtomatoes