Intensive: Home Fermentation Around the World with Karen Diggs

Fermented foods are essential in cuisines from Japan to Indian to France. Join us to learn to make them at home with Karen Diggs.
About this Event

NOTE: iphone and ipad users,to register for class.

What’s on the Menu:

Sauerkraut with Fennel and Lemon
Fermented Chow Chow + Chow Chow-Marinated Grilled Chicken
Shio Koji and how to use it
Amazake
South Indian Idlis
French Socca
Water Kefir / Milk Kefir + Two Low-ABV Cocktails
Kombucha
Citrus Vinegar
Kraut, kefir, kombucha and kimchi: fermented foods may seem to be having a moment—but really, they’ve been cornerstones of home food preservation and eating all around the world for millennia. Join guest teacher and prolific home fermenter Karen Diggs for a three-part livestream Intensive that will introduce you to essential techniques for home food preservation, then use those ancient techniques to create recipes with modern character. You’ll learn which tools and techniques you need to safely and confidently create everything from shio koji to sauerkraut to vinegar. Plus, Karen will provide some of her favorite recipes to put your ferments to use in inspired ways, meaning that these homemade products won’t sit idle: they’ll become the most hardworking ingredients in your kitchen.
This Intensive will take place over three sessions spaced two weeks apart. The sessions are from 1:00–2:30 PM Eastern Time on February 2, February 23 and March 9. If you can't attend all of the sessions in real time, don't worry: You'll get the recordings, at-home challenges and recipes to watch and work on on your own time. Between sessions, students will have access to a chat platform where you can ask questions directly to Karen and share photos of your creations.
Session One: In our first session, the focus is on grain-based ferments from around the world. We’re not making sourdough bread, but are making four other fermented goods that you’d be hard-pressed to find for sale at the grocery store, meaning that homemade is the only way to go. Karen will help you start a batch of shio koji, a condiment that uses rice inoculated with koji—the national bacteria of Japan—to get its profoundly umami-rice flavor. We’ll also make amazake, a fermented rice beverage that will cement your comfort working with koji. Then, we leave Japan and travel to South India, where it’s common to ferment rice and lentils to make idlis, a savory steamed cake. Finally, it’s off to France to make Karen’s favorite version of socca, the naturally gluten-free crêpe whose complexity comes from fermented chickpeas.
Session Two: In our second session, we turn our attention to lacto-fermentation, the process that turns cabbage into sauerkraut, cucumbers into pickles and winter vegetables into preserves packed with probiotics. You’ll learn how lacto-fermentation works and understand how it differs from vinegar pickling. Then, we make a batch of sauerkraut that’s distinctly different from anything you could grab at the grocery—and which will jump-start your ability to invent your own recipes by confidently employing Karen’s guidelines. Our second recipe of the day is a sugar-free chow chow, the must-have condiment across the American South. Crunchy, bright and sometimes spicy, chow chow is really two ingredients in one—the vegetables and the brine—so you’ll learn to use its brine to marinate chicken.
Session Three: Our final session is about ferments made with SCOBYs. If you’ve ever noticed a cloudy, gelatinous blob forming in a bottle of vinegar, then you’ve seen a SCOBY in action. If you don’t want to grow your own SCOBY, you can simply follow Karen’s recommendations on where to buy ones that are already healthy and ready to help you turn tea into kombucha and citrus juice into homemade vinegars. We’ll take our fermented beverages one step further with an exploration of water and milk kefir, which will replace sugary sodas and become powerhouse ingredients in low-ABV cocktails. You’ll learn how to store your kombuchas, vinegars and kefirs the way the pros do and will get ideas from Karen on how to use fruit, herbs and aromatics to transform their flavors.
About Karen: About Karen: Karen Wang Diggs is a classically trained chef, nutritionist and author of “Happy Foods—Over 100 Mood Boosting Recipes” (published by Viva Editions). After graduation from the California Culinary Academy, she worked for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong and also helped to open two restaurants there. After seven years of honing her culinary skills, Karen returned to the Bay Area ready for a shift from the crazy and hectic world of professional kitchens. That’s when she found Bauman College and returned to school to gain her certification in holistic nutrition. Thanks to her time at Bauman, Karen learned the incredible health benefits of fermented foods and became obsessed with designing a fermentation system that would encourage more people to make their own sauerkraut and pickles at home. It was her obsession that led to the simple but elegant solution of ChouAmi-The Little Fermenter, which enables small- batch fermentation for home chefs.

Thank you to the 2025 Annual Sponsors of the Cooking School, who make our livestream events possible:
Work Sharp, which makes sharpening products that are fast, easy to use and work every time. Find their products on the Milk Street Store and use code SHARPSMART for 10% off: t.ly/gZgyU
Wulf’s Fish and Savenor’s Market. Together, Wulf’s Fish and Savenor’s Market provide premium seafood and gourmet meat to chefs and home cooks across the country. Use code MILKSTREET for 20% off orders from Wulf’s (https://wulfsfish.com/) and Savenor’s (https://savenorsbutchery.com/).

Our multi-session Intensives are capped at just 25 attendees and are distinct from our livestream Classes. As such, they are NOT included with Insider membership.

Want to give this class as a gift? You can purchase gift cards here.

Immediately after registering, you will get a confirmation email that contains the Zoom meeting log-in information. One week prior to the class (or within 48 hours, if you register less than one week in advance), you will receive instructions on how to prepare ingredients and equipment in order to cook along with us.

After class, you will receive a recording of the event, as well as a packet with recipes and resources that we discuss during the event. If you have any questions about this class, please don't hesitate to get in touch via [email protected].

This event has limited spots, and you must register in advance via Eventbrite. One sign-up covers one device. Closed Captioning is available for this event.

Payments for Milk Street livestream workshops are non-refundable. If you find yourself unable to attend, you may transfer the ticket to someone else, but we are unable to refund fees and all payments are final.

Proceeds from live stream cooking classes and workshops support Milk Street's non-profit work with The Big Sisters Association of Great Boston, The Boys & Girls Club of Dorchester, and other partners.

Bonus: All attendees of this class will receive a one-time 20% off coupon to the after class.