About this episode
I think the whole world should be doing this! - Alison It just makes everything more pleasant with your food waste - there is no rotting, no flies. - Tjasa You know that Alison is always fermenting weird and strange things but when she told me she was fermenting her trash - it was a new level. I had to know more. A little over a year ago, Alison off-hand mentioned something she called bokashi, and I had to ask her, "What IS that?" It turns out bokashi is the Japanese word for compost, and Alison had purchased a tool that she used to ferment her food waste - even bones & fat, anything she didn't use or that went bad - into compost tea and compost, which she was using in her porch garden. As you have seen on her instagram, she produced some incredible vegetables with the help of that nutrient dense lacto fermented suplementation for her plants. I know that any purchase Alison makes is extremely well thought-out and researched and, yes, she did her research on the bokashi process. She read books, watched videos, explored DIY options, and she did her due diligence to study this two-bucket system that we are going to talk today, as well as the inoculant that she adds to the food waste to compost it. This fermentation process can be done in the house, it has no smell, it doesn't attract fruit flies, and you can use the compost and the compost tea in your big garden, small garden and more. In this episode, Alison and I will explain the process of fermenting waste, the bacterial inoculant that is used to ferment the food waste so efficiently and completely, and then we will actually interview the US and Canada supplier that makes the two-bucket system that Alison is using. Alison will ask her some more technical questions and we will come back to wrap up, and you can get about your day fermenting your trash! Check out the Bokashi system here, and use the code AKP for 10% off! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Get more news from Alison & Andrea by signing up to their newsletter at the top of the page here. For more tips, inspiration and recipes plus a free 30-page guide to Baking with Ancient Grains sign up for Alison's newsletter here! Get our two podcast cookbooks: Meals at the Ancestral Hearth Spelt Sourdough Every Day Alison's course, Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics Alison's Sowans oat fermentation course Get 10% off US/Canada Bokashi supplies: click here and use code AKP . Get 10% off UK Bokashi supplies. Visit our (non-Amazon!) bookshop for a vast selection of ancestral cookbooks: US link here and UK link here . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Our podcast is supported by a community of ancestral cooks around the world! Come join our community! You can choose to simply sponsor the podcast, or select from a variety of levels with benefits including monthly live Zoom calls, a private podcast feed stuffed with bonus content from Alison and Andrea, and a Discord discussion group. To read more about becoming a supporter and explore the various levels, click here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * What We Talk About: 2:29 What we had to eat! 08:24 A review from Ester @wolfdaughterdarling 12:24 Let's talk about bokashi! Alison's experience and why she was inspired to talk about this on the podcast 35:00 The US Giveaway (open until Nov 29 2022) "A non-stop ferment of your kitchen waste." 37:32 Alison's interview with Tjasa 38:33 What is Bokashi? 39:09 What is "EM", and how does it work in bokashi? 40:25 How are the microorganisms used in the bokashi bucket? 41:15 Is there a smell to bokashi fermenting in our kitchens? Fermentation vs Rotting 42:34 Using bokashi in a small apartment vs on a farm or larger household 45:23 What do the Effective Microorganisms do to compost? 48:08 The rules of bokashi composting and how it differs from conventional waste composting 54:40 How do you see bokashi making a difference in a larger scale? 01:01:14 Teraganix discount code & the giveaway * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5* reviews on Apple Podcasts, mean the world to us! Here's how you can leave one: Open the Apple Podcast app Find Ancestral Kitchen Podcast in your library Scroll down to 'ratings and reviews' Click on 'write a review', give us 5*s and then tell us why you love listening in the box below * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Resources : 10% off for Ancestral Podcast listeners! Teraganix is the US and Canada distributor of the bokashi fermenting system we use - use code AKP for 10% off Dr Teruo Higa's development of EM (Effective Microorganisms) for fermenting bokashi Do you have memories, documents, recipes or stories of those who cooked ancestrally? If so, we would love to hear from you! Visit our website here for how to share. Thank you for listening - we'd love to connect more: The podcast has a website here! Alison is taking a break from Instagram. You can stay in touch with her via her newsletter at Ancestral Kitchen The podcast is on Instagram at Ancestral Kitchen Podcast The podcast is mixed and the music is written and recorded by Alison's husband, Rob. Find him here: Robert Michael Kay