29 June 2025 | Miso, kimchi & Kombucha: A Fermentation Workshop

Date: 29 June 2025

Time: 2pm-5pm

Location: Savour gardens & headquarters in Wadestown, Wellington

Space in this workshop is extremely limited so get in quick! Small groups allow for more personal attention from Chef Wendy who will assist you in this hands-on workshop and answer any questions you may have about troubleshooting your ferments.

Description:

In this workshop you will make and take home your own:  Kombucha, Miso paste, & Baechu cabbage kimchi  

All levels are welcome as this is a basic workshop suitable for total beginner.

Are you keen to incorporate more fermented foods into your diet but think making them is too difficult or don’t know where to start? Are you curious to learn ways to increase the good bacteria in your gut and support your overall health and well-being without spending too much money? Perhaps you’ve been buying miso or kimchi for $14 a jar at the supermarket and wondering if you could save money making it yourself. Or you have a garden surplus of cabbages and want some ideas of how to preserve your vegetables. Or you've been buying kombucha and wondering if you could save money and make your own unique flavours by fermenting at home?

Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of creating healthy, effervescent beverages and probiotic vegetables; it’s surprisingly simple and easy to get started. And eating fermented foods and drinks is great for overall health and well-being! Join Chef Wendy, owner of Savour cooking school and head fermenter, for a delicious workshop learning the basics of fermenting. You will be given samples of Savour kombuchas, miso and kimchi to try on arrival. After a brief introduction, you'll make your own kombucha infused with your flavour of preference. You’ll then learn to make your own miso and a traditional Baechu (cabbage) kimchi. You'll take all your ferments home to ferment following instructions Wendy will give you. We will touch on why ferments are important for gut health and learn how the gut plays a role in everything from regulating our immune system and weight, to influencing our moods. 

You will leave this workshop with:

* your own Kombucha starter culture and first brew (SCOBY VALUE $25)

* recipes and instructions so you are ready and confident to do your second brew at home

*your own kimchi and instructions for how to ferment, store and enjoy

* your own miso paste

* a new appreciation for the role that fermented foods and drinks can play in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

PLEASE BRING TWO 2-LITRE JARS WITH HINGED LIDS FOR YOUR KOMBUCHA and KIMCHI. Jars for the miso will be supplied.

Further details:

We'll offer organic herbs from our garden to infuse your kombuchas with beautiful flavours and medicinal properties. 

You'll learn how to follow safe hygiene practices, recognize a healthy ferment, know when things have gone wrong and how to fix problems.

You'll learn how to adapt your recipe to variables like room temperature, and what to do when you want to put your ferments on hold for a while to go away (or because you just need a break!).

About Chef Wendy:

Your tutor, Dr. Wendy Nolan Joyce, is a passionate fermenter who grew up with Polish grandparents who loved their sauerkraut. She started making kombucha when a friend gave her a pet SCOBY and she discovered how delicious, easy and inexpensive it is to make at home. Now she loves her fermented foods and drinks so much that she eats kimchi everyday and even takes her scobies on road trips when she has to go out of town! Wendy makes water kefir, kombucha and jun to serve at her cooking workshops as a non-alcoholic/low alcohol beverage option, and also makes kimchi from vegetables harvested from her Wellington-home organic vegee patch. She began organising fermentation workshops in 2018 with Jo Kempton of Happy Belly Ferments, continued to teach kimchi workshops with Inma Fuentes of Best Kept Health, ran a kimchi workshop for the charity Seeds to Feeds in 2023 and has run a few independent kimchi and fermented drinks workshops since then. In 2024 she ran a Japanese cooking class making miso paste, among other yummy dishes, in conjunction with Japanese home cook Anri Aoyama. She has also co-taught popular sourdough classes with Kearin of the Wellington Bakehouse.