12/05/2026
Day 2 of Living Conversations
The morning started with a deep dive into the world of koji and amazake with Sandor Katz, before moving into an afternoon masterclass in Japanese baking and rice bran pickling techniques with the wonderful Haruko Uchishiba
A fascinating thread running through the day was how fermentation traditions evolve in response to temperature, moisture, culture, preservation, and taste. Rather than climate alone, much of the conversation focused on the relationship between warmth, humidity, and microbial activity — and how many fermentation processes sit surprisingly close to both comfortable room temperature and body heat.
Bread (pão) was recorded in Japan by Portuguese explorers /traders / colonists in the 15th century, yet remained relatively marginal until little more than 150 years ago. Since then, a rich, soft, slightly sweet style of bread has emerged popular across much of Asia — often enriched with eggs and butter, closer to brioche than sourdough, though still relying on yeast fermentation.
Particularly interesting was sakadane bread, which relies more on enzymatic breakdown and sweetness development than acidic fermentation, producing a very different crust, flavour, and textureto sourdough
There was also much swooning over amazake, purple sweet potato ,and chocolate and pear spreads— all of which we ended the day eating on toasted Sakadane
And, as with any fermentation class, we finished with troubleshooting: “too sour”, “smells like socks”… and the simple rule — if koji mould turns orange or red, it’s safest to bin it. Huge thank you go all the wonderful people who pulled this symposium together x
