097 Trevor and Jess of Community Cultures

Fermentation is happening all around you, and once you understand it, your kitchen gets bigger. We sit down with Trevor Ring and Jess Canose of Community Cultures to unpack what fermentation actually is and why it matters beyond trendy jars on a countertop. 

We also get specific about what Community Cultures makes and teaches. Trevor shares how live cultured sodas built on water kefir (tibicos) become a way to spotlight local and seasonal ingredients, including foraged fruit that captures the flavor of Western Pennsylvania. On the education side, we dig into workshops from kombucha to miso, and how fermentation skills can move from curiosity to real confidence at home.

Trevor and Jess share their views on ethics, accessibility, and the challenge of running a values-driven food business without chasing growth. If you care about gut health, cultural heritage, sustainable small business, or just better flavor, this episode gives you a clear next step.

Subscribe for more Pittsburgh food stories, share this with a friend who loves pickles or kombucha, and leave a review with the one fermented food you want to learn next.

Transcript

Doug 0:54

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. How familiar are you with fermentation? And what does community and culture have to do with it? We learn about the aspects that tie it all together with Trevor and Jess of Community Cultures. Thank you both so much for coming over and for being on the show. Would you take a moment to introduce yourselves and what you have going on right now in the world of food? And Trevor, I'd like to start with you.

Trevor 1:32

Sure. Yeah. So my name's Trevor. I am the founder of Community Cultures, which is a fermentation business focused on fermentation education and small batch fermented products utilizing local and seasonal ingredients. And right now, um basically it's education season. So I'm less focused on production because there's not a whole lot happening. There's not a whole lot growing. So there's not a whole lot to source from local farmers. So basically, I'm teaching a lot of workshops right now all around Pittsburgh as well as online. And the most exciting thing happening right now is the winter fermentation immersion program, which is a four-month, 56-hour program, four weekends across four months from January through April.

Doug 2:21

My goodness. So you're right in the midst of it.

Trevor 2:23

Yeah. Yeah, we're halfway through.

Doug 2:24

Love it. And Jess, how about you? How do you fit into this business?

What Fermentation Really Means

Jess 2:29

Hi, yes. I'm Jess. That's a good question. So I work in a lot of different places in the food world. Um, Trevor had mentioned uh sourcing from farmers. I'm one of those. I also do food education work. Um, so I have a consulting business that I haven't quite officially launched um Rubus Food Systems Consulting. But within that, what I do is I work with different businesses, and Trevor's one of them. Um, he's also happens to be my partner, uh, which is a lovely thing. And uh so I really love working with him on multiple fronts. And the idea behind community cultures um is for it to be collaborative and uh among like a group of people given the community name. So um, and we've worked together previously um in designing a fundraiser back in 2020, I think. So for this, Trevor had um come to me and said he was really interested in designing an immersion program. And I've done some like educational programming and um work in education and and co-founding a school. So I really love like you know, new ideas and education and expanding it. So um I was excited to work on this.

Doug 3:39

When I was thinking about community cultures as a business, it is it is as much an educational entity as it is, you know, producing some products then for like the summer markets and whatnot. So what a great collaboration. Yeah, well, I'd love to define the the business a little bit more, but I'm thinking about our listeners and Trevor, I'd like to take us back a step and maybe give folks in your mind's eye the the highest level definition of fermentation and you know what you're doing with you know specific good bacteria and cultures that probably a lot of folks are familiar with yogurt or sauerkraut. How do you like to explain it to a a novice, a beginner?

Trevor 4:21

Um great question. So I start off my workshops explaining that fermentation is the transformative process of microorganisms. And we're really talking about perhaps the most ancient form of food preservation. I mean, it's something that's naturally occurring in nature.

Doug 4:36

Absolutely. In any kind of society absent of refrigeration, this is what we're doing.

Trevor 4:42

Right. Yeah. Right. I mean, so Sandor Katz, he's the fermentation enthusiast that most people would know of. Um he's written many very popular books, Wild Fermentation and the Art of Fermentation. I would say I come from his lineage, but I've studied a lot of his uh his work and I've worked with him. And he notes that, you know, our our primate ancestors were gorging on fermented fruit, simply highlighting that this is happening all around us. It predates humans. Uh, if you have any food that falls from a tree, it's gonna be uh it's gonna be rotting and fermenting. If you see deer that are walking around stumbling a little bit, they probably just consumed some fermented fruit and they're slightly tipsy.

Doug 5:22

The alcoholic uh compounds that have formed from that. Exactly.

Trevor 5:25

And so one thing I like to point out is that we understand yogurt and bread and alcohol, those are the first products that come to mind. Um, but really like fermentation is innate to being human. Cultures, cultures all around the world have been fermenting for thousands of years, and every single culture has a specific product, a fermented product associated with it. And it would actually be really hard to go about our day without consuming a fermented product. Right. So, you know, everything from vinegar uh even to vanilla beans and coffee beans and cacao beans, so even if you're eating the lowest quality Hershey's chocolate bar, there was probably fermentation involved in making that product. And if, you know, I always like to point out if if you have a friend who says, Oh, I don't like fermented foods, um, I hate pickles, but they're sipping on their cup of uh of coffee, those coffee beans went through fermentation. So we're always interacting with it. And there's just a general lack of awareness and understanding of this process.

Doug 6:24

And truly, a natural process that's breaking a food down now into more digestible and tastier components, right? Like sort of releasing some of the best essence that could be out of that food.

Trevor 6:38

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's so many reasons why a lot of restaurants are now embracing fermentation because chefs are understanding that you get flavor that you wouldn't be able to get elsewhere. Um, so there are fine dining restaurants that are investing in fermentation programs, but even, you know, small cafes that are just trying to play around with fermentation more. And it's a great way of reducing food waste in the kitchen too, because you can transform whether they're like onion scraps or fruit scraps into tastier digestible things.

Doug 7:09

Absolutely. I know Apteka does a lot with fermentation. And if someone hasn't been there, I mean James Beard nominated many times. Uh the flavors are crazy. And they're not something that I even know as a common home cook how to replicate. It's so special. Right. So you're helping folks discover that. And with a lot of your programs and workshops, I could do some of this at home.

Trevor 7:36

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like my job is to plant seeds and ideas that hopefully will sprout at home for people. And sometimes it's the gateway to a larger embracing of fermentation. And sometimes I will warn people you might have to have new shelving or a whole new fridge dedicated to your new hobby. Um, but other times, you know, maybe somebody just wants to uh spend less money on buying kombucha bottles and they just want to make it at home and that's what they're gonna do. Or maybe it's just trying something new and it's not for them. But I think the most important thing is like educating people around this again, ancient practice, how easy it is and how to get over some of the myths and barriers around it as a society that fears bacteria.

Doug 8:21

Right. Yeah, we're kind of scary and don't understand that there's a lot of good bacteria. Right. Jess, as you and Trevor have, you know, been together, are there some other aspects of fermentation that you've adopted in your own life, got really excited about? I I mean, I understand you're helping to teach this winter immersion class. So you must have picked up a good amount of knowledge now.

Jess 8:43

That's a that's a good question. Um that actually isn't totally true. Oh, okay. Some knowledge. You're learning. Well, so so I'm I'm teaching, I will be teaching a section on yogurt. Okay. Um, so, and that is something that I am the I'm the yogurt maker in our household and have been for a long time. Uh yeah, Trevor actually squarely falls into like he is the fermenter at home. Um, but I am excited because I haven't really ever taken like an academic approach to like um yogurt making. And um we've gotten all these different cultures now. So I'm kind of getting to learn, which is exciting, in order to teach about it a little. Um, but I will say I think um I have learned a lot about fermentation for sure. Um and I think actually the part that resonates the most deeply with me is the like metaphorical um uh underpinnings of actually like Sandra Katz's work and and kind of just the passion that is like imbued in the business itself. So Trevor and I both went and we uh went to grad school and we met there at Chatham's food systems food studies program. So fermentation and like community cultures derived out of that. Um, there's a there's this metaphor that fermentation can be revolution, or that you know, fermentation is like bringing people together and and you know, you're fermenting the food system and fermentation is change. And basically there's like this a lot of like heady, but also very heartful messages behind that that I think leads into like a lot of business ethics that's like imbued in the in the business itself. So I think actually what draws me into it more than the fermentation science is actually kind of the application of fermentation to things outside of fermentation. So how we look at that, how we look at community and coming together and business ethics and uniting people. Uh, that's a big part of like how Trevor has shared with me that he views this in terms of like getting people connected to their communities. And um, a lot of people might not have a lot of cultural heritage and or any sort of feeling to connection to that. So helping people be able to do that and also learn how to connect with other cultural heritages that might not be their own in a respectful way that isn't cultural appropriation. So I'm really into it for like the big um heady and and more sociological aspects.

Live Cultured Sodas And Market Goods

Doug 11:10

So well put because there are all of these things around this process. You're empowering people. You are, and I think when I was reading the limited amount about Sandor Katz, he calls himself a fermentation revivalist. Right. You are also reviving these historical food ways, preservation ways, whatever we want to, what word we want to put on it for culture that I may have lost in my family history, or as you said, uh just learning about others and like what were they doing with yogurt and kefir and all of those things. So I think food in itself and this process is so uniting. And you're also hosting these programs, you're getting folks together that already have like a little glimmer of like, hey, I'm interested. So what a great way to build community, right? Right. Yeah.

Jess 11:59

Yeah. And especially during with this immersion program during the winter time. And we talked a lot about how winters in Pittsburgh are dark and gray. And especially now, uh, you know, in this political climate, um, it's it's there's a lot of room for grief and and a need to come together. And so it's really beautiful to see people coming together and having this be like a marker once a month and yeah, kind of get through the the hard times and the slow times, which are also a time to generate and like uh think deeply, and that seems very related.

Doug 12:32

I do want to come back to the business, your model, and and some of the things you're doing because we're talking about the we're in the midst of this winter immersion program, which is new. It's it's the first time you've done such an extensive program. Right. So let's rewind just a little bit. First off, you piqued some folks' uh interest, probably at the farmers' markets with the products that you're doing. Can you tell us about some of the things that you provide folks at Bloomfield or Lawrenceville market? Sure.

Trevor 13:00

Yeah. My business primarily focuses on live cultured sodas. And it's an umbrella term that I use to refer to basically uh any fermented beverage that is where I'm highlighting flavors and seasonal ingredients using water kefir or tibicos um as this the starter culture. Okay. And tibicose is the name that references its origins, supposedly, which came from Central America, and it naturally evolved on the prickly pear cactus. Um and that's that's the theory. We don't have the exact origin story of really any fermented product. So I use this as a way of initiating the fermentation process, and then it allows me to create unique flavors using ingredients that either I've foraged or sourced from local farms. Um, Jess is has a wonderful map of a lot of the urban fruit around Pittsburgh. So we'll go around, we'll shake some mulberry trees, and we'll be able to have very specific flavors that represent the western Pennsylvania landscape that you can't find anywhere else. And so they're very small batch. It's meant to be like partly educational, partly intriguing flavor-wise.

Doug 14:10

It's the hook, Trevor.

Trevor 14:12

It's an experience, you know. That's what we're trying to provide provide. Um, so that's one element. I would say most of my customers are coming for the soda. So I do glass flip-top bottles that are reusable. We have a recycling program. Um, and then I also do fermented vegetables, fermented condiments, um, focused again on what's seasonal, everything from fermented hot sauce and hot pastes to fermented vegetables like sauerkraut to occasionally kimchi, um, but also you know, your classic coach or dill pickle using fermentation. Lacto fermented, no vinegar added. Exactly. You got it. Yeah. So those are the main products that I focus on. I'm uh developing some other products that I have to get approved by the health department first, but there will be more in the future. The idea is a a diversity of products, but primarily having the sodas being the draw and the main focus.

Doug 15:11

Yeah. And so people can experience this physical thing that you've done, but then that really does provide a gateway into the interest of all of the educational things. So can we just maybe do uh like I was looking at your website? There's a lot, right? Can we do a list of a few of the workshops that you have done or are planning to do in 2026? Sure. Like kombucha or yeah, yeah.

Trevor 15:36

So yeah, I would say like the staples that I provide, I would say are generally more introductory. Everything from intro to fermentation through sauerkraut and pickles or kombucha or fermented beverages from wild soda to kombucha. And then like tonight I'm actually doing a miso workshop at Two Frays Brewery. That is so fascinating to me. So I'll be doing an array of different workshops that focus on mostly those topics, and then every now and then I'll do one on tempeh or try to have a maybe like more unique or intriguing focus within those specific topics. Um, for instance, I have another virtual one coming up that is about kombucha, but it's about going beyond the beverage and what you can do with the kombucha mother. For those who don't know, it's this weird rubbery floating thing that sits on the beverage and does all the work. When people realize that's what's doing the fermentation, they get a little icked out. Um some people embrace it, but there's a lot you can do with it, like make candy or make uh fruit leather or even make clothing. So um there's a lot you can cover within just some of these topics, and it I would say that I try to make it beginner to intermediate.

Doug 16:53

Yeah.

Trevor 16:53

Um yeah.

Doug 16:54

I I was thinking as we were talking, we've we've mentioned kombucha a couple times, like we know what it is. I bet there's still people out there that don't know what that is. Right. Yeah, yeah. And it's um fermentation with this mother.

Trevor 17:06

Yeah, so it's a fermented sweet tea. Yeah. Um traditionally it's been done with either like black tea or green tea, really any tea from the tea plant. Um, but there's a lot more you can do with it. And then of course, when you go to the grocery store, you can find all these different flavors, fruit juices, ginger, kombucha, etc.

Doug 17:23

The other ones that I just want to touch on, uh I know that miso is soybeans fermented with it's called koji. Am I getting that right? Yep, you got it. Where do you get koji? Good question.

Trevor 17:34

Yeah.

Jess 17:34

So um it's in our fridge. Or I'm sorry. It's uh rather I mean to say it's in our oven right now.

Trevor 17:40

Yeah, so so for the workshop that I'm teaching tonight, like I'm growing the koji. So koji is an inoculated grain, usually rice or barley using a specific mold, Aspergillus Orizae. And if you dare to try to grow mold in your own house or apartment, it's actually pretty easy once you set up the incubator. Um, I actually worked for a miso company for over two years. So this that part of the process is very intuitive to me. I can do it like by feel and smell. Um, but I would say it's like it is pretty scientific for those who want to nerd more, nerd out more about fermentation. Yeah. Koji is a great gateway. And um, there's actually right now, there's a two-week online conference called Koji Con. It's all it's all about Koji. Are you doing it? I'm not I'm not doing it. I I am attending, I've attended the past uh like four years. Oh my gosh. Um Koji Con. Yeah, and so it's mostly um like adventurous home cooks and fermenters and chefs and people recognizing the the wonderful possibilities of Koji because basically it unlocks flavor, it allows you to break down like really any type of food, and koji is really like the foundation of Japanese cuisine. Right. So koji is a fundamental ingredient in making miso. And traditionally, like as you mentioned, soybeans, koji, and salt is what makes it miso. Right. Um, but you can do it with many different types of beans. Chickpeas, right? You could do chickpeas.

Doug 19:09

I think miso is coming more into in more commonly, I think, yeah in households.

Trevor 19:13

I think more Americans are aware of of miso, its potential.

Jess 19:18

I did want to mention um you were talking about workshops. One of my favorite that Trevor does is a miso for the Equinox workshop, which she actually does with another instructor.

Trevor 19:28

Yeah. Yeah, I've done this a couple times, and I I love doing collaborative workshops with other instructors, especially like this woman, she's from Japan. She she grew up eating miso. Um, she actually was late to learning how to make miso, but we basically do this collaboration where she teaches about koji and making miso, walking people through the process. And I'm also a musician, so I play music in the background. And this is like a virtual setting. She's based in the Netherlands. Oh. So it's kind of like a global audience. And that's something we've experimented with. Still trying to dial in like the sound of it recording, recording my bass through Zoom and recording it is a little weird, but it's fun. Yeah.

Doug 20:11

Yeah. I guess I I didn't think right away that you would be doing virtual workshops, but how great, right? You know, it's a global audience, as you said. Right. I also noticed you've done some workshops or classes at Botany Hall at Phipps Conservatory, right?

How Community Cultures Started

Trevor 20:27

Yep. Yep. I've been doing them there since uh, I believe 2018, like I think the year they opened. Yeah. Yeah. So that's uh that's been like a consistent spot for me. Um, usually I'll do like two to four workshops with them a year. And then there are like many breweries from Vellum fermentation to two phrase. Um, and then the Carnegie Library. I I love doing programming with them because they have some stipends that are out there for anyone who's running a program, but it's also free for everyone. So to me, that's a win-win. Um, I love nonprofits, organizations that have funding um where they can provide that and make it free for the audience. So making it making this information affordable and accessible is also really important to the ethos of the business. I do want to ask you a business type of question though.

Doug 21:14

Sure. Like if a a corporation wanted to hire you for, you know, like a private event, you know, you do that as well though, right?

Trevor 21:22

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, I'm I'm trying to find that market more. Um It'd be a cool team builder. Like I would have loved that.

Doug 21:31

Yeah, I was in, you know, the wireless industry for years.

Trevor 21:34

Right, right. I've done them for more um like nonprofits, or um, I'll be doing one for a university in April that is more of uh like a conference. But yeah, there's so much potential with doing this for corporations, anybody companies. Yeah.

Jess 21:49

Hi, this is Jess.

Trevor 21:50

Hi, this is Trevor of Community Cultures. And you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 21:57

I'd love to uh switch gears a little bit. You uh alluded to it that you you both went to Chatham uh for the food studies program. Trevor, you worked for a Miso company. I'd love to know a little bit more about the background to starting all this, whether that's education or some mentors or friends. Like where did the the seed of your inspiration for community cultures get going?

Trevor 22:24

Um so I like to start when uh basically out of high school I went to culinary school. Okay. Um, and I knew I wasn't built to be a chef, like that's just not the world for me. And so I think slowly over time, um, I was recognizing that in the midst of you know that degree path. And I was becoming aware of how horrible the American food system was and I wanted to learn more about where food comes from and how to grow it. So I shifted towards farming, learned more about farming, eventually recognized I didn't want to be a farmer, but I was also experiencing my own like uh stomach issues. Uh, gut health was becoming important to me in nutrition naturally because I was interested in food already and preserving food, the nutrition really pulled me into fermented foods. So I call kombucha my gateway ferment, and that I quickly recognized when I made like very strong dorm-brewed kombucha made under my bed within like within five minutes, my stomach ache would go away. And so that really like showed me the possibilities within fermentation on the nutrition level. And so I had many different reasons for diving farther into fermentation from there. So over the next several years, I started learning more about fermentation. I studied under Sandor Katz, I did his residency out in Tennessee, and then worked with him again at my alma mater Sterling College in Vermont. Uh, rest in peace. They're they're closing uh this year. Oh. Um and eventually I had so much information, I never thought I would be a teacher, but I was like, I have to share this with people. And actually, I was doing a garden internship at the time when I left to learn from Sandor Katz. And the agreement was if if I did this, I would have to come back and teach the community about what I learned. Okay. Um I didn't know that. Yeah. So I actually just like fell into teaching because I promised that. And then I was like, oh, this is actually fun. Yeah. And it's very rewarding. And I want to spread the good word of fermentation. Um, so I started basically like the business side of it came out of really experimenting. I did a fermentation CSA for uh for a winter in this community I was living in in western Massachusetts. Um, I recognized that like people were really interested in this. I was making a variety of products. And then slowly I started teaching at libraries out there at different organizations. And then eventually, it was actually during grad school, um, as I after I had been teaching workshops for several years, where I were realized that I wanted to name this business community cultures. I felt like it was representative of what I wanted it to be, that I wanted it to be collaborative. I didn't want it to be about me, I didn't want it to name the business after my name.

Speaker 2 25:20

Yeah.

Trevor 25:21

Um, and I was inspired by what we were learning in food studies as well and trying to make this accessible and all about appreciating and honoring like cultural heritage, allowing people to explore that more. And then I actually like focused my thesis on how to make this a profitable business by doing like pay what you can pricing. Okay. A very, very specific, like business-oriented uh thesis. And then basically I kind of fell into it like uh during the pandemic. I was getting burnt out by working other food-related jobs um as a cheese buyer and then as a like customer support worker. And I started selling my products through a soda CSA. We did porch pickup during the during the pandemic. Okay.

Jess 26:07

And drop off. Uh it was a really interesting time.

Trevor 26:09

Yeah. Yes. You know, experienced some uh a variety of explosions on the customer's end, you know, just R D through uh working through it.

Doug 26:19

Yeah. A lot of pressure builds up if you don't seal or release gases properly. Exactly. Yeah.

Trevor 26:24

Gotcha. And then eventually, uh uh Jess and I, I mean, I would I would have to note that like Jess has been kind of like the supportive backbone for a lot of this um because often I would be, especially when I was working another job, I would come home from work and then start working on my ferments. Um so sometimes it would take over the whole day. And Jess is one, allowing so much of this to like take up space in our home, um, but also in our life. Sometimes, you know, sometimes it made things hard. Um, you know, when you're working a a job and a half or nearly two jobs and focus so much on your hobby that's becoming a business. But Jess also provided a lot of like the graphic design support and food photography. So she's been there all along the way, which has naturally led to this program we're now running together, which feels I think very rewarding to me that she is such an important part of it. Yeah. Um, and it feels like our program that we've developed together, and it feels like very professional, and it's actually like a lucrative business prospect. And anyways, going back to the story, basically eventually I started selling the products at the Bloomfield Farmers Market, and I've been there since 2023. And the the dream is not to grow the business necessarily, but to find the sweet spot where I can teach and make small batch products, hold the integrity of these products, ingredients that are finite and that have to be foraged, or that I, you know, spend a labor of love processing.

Speaker 2 27:57

Yeah.

Trevor 27:58

Um, there's a reason why you can't find like many pawpaw products out there, and that's because they are very tedious, they're small, they're expensive, but I love to just share that with the world.

Staying Small With Strong Ethics

Doug 28:09

You know, it's all about finding the balance with the business. Yeah. I appreciate so much of what you shared. One of the things that we didn't really even touch on or go into was the nutritional aspect of fermentation. So thank you for you know bringing that to the table because it is about doing these things with food that actually makes them more digestible, creating a better, if we want to say microbiome or just gut health. Probably a lot that is still not quite understood by the general population.

Trevor 28:38

Yeah. And I just quickly on that, I would say that there's there's not really enough science to make any broad claims, even though those claims are being made by fermentation companies. Um, but I like to point out that like this is how I got into it, and I've experienced those health benefits through many different ways. Right. Um, and so I like highly encourage people to turn to fermented foods for their health.

Doug 28:59

Give it a try.

Trevor 29:00

Yeah. And I think that can be the gateway, but it's also important for me to educate people about fermented foods by talking about the variety of benefits from the cultural connection to the historical element. Yes. And that fermented foods aren't just about nutrition, too. Right. We over-nutritionalize everything. Right.

Jess 29:19

One thing I wanted to pull on is Trevor had mentioned that he doesn't have um an interest in trying to grow the business. And I I think that um I'm thinking about like what connects me to this business, aside from many reasons. Illustrated. Um, I think that's like a pretty like revolutionary and exciting part to me. Um I studied degrowth uh and and wrote about it some. And um, it's really challenging to be a business now and not have that be your objective to grow, to get into big box stores. And honestly, it's incredibly hard to not do that because it you kind of are put in this system where you need to do that. And I've worked with businesses that have, you know, tried to resist that, either gone that way or closed down because um it's it's really hard being a small business in that environment. So um I think that's one one piece of this business that also I I really respect and appreciate and my heart is in is because it's uh an attempt to try to stay small scale and community scale in lots of different ways.

Doug 30:21

Fight to be small. Yeah. And it's I mean, it gets back to like what we used to talk about with the slow food movement. Like we don't want to go with, you know, go big. There's no reason to go big, right? Let's just go right. Yeah.

Trevor 30:33

Let's find what the right altitude is, right? Yeah. And I I think for community culture is the thing that allows me to stay small, at least right now, and like be able to pay the bills, is because I have two sources of revenue. One is the education, which allows me to pause the production part during the the cold months. So smart. Um, and so that is, I would say the generally like the more lucrative side of the business.

Speaker 2 30:57

Yeah.

Trevor 30:58

Um, there are organizations again that have that have a budget to pay instructors well. Um, but I'm also able to like meet my costs and pay myself through the farmers market too. So balancing those two, and I wouldn't want to do it if I was only doing one of them too. Yeah because it's both of them are uh a huge passion of mine. And um, I don't want to only be producing products for people, and I don't want to only be teaching people, that's also exhausting.

Doug 31:25

It gives you a variety, uh and something to earlier that you said pulling at your heart, sharing the things you know, which is the great passion. But you have such a wealth of knowledge now, you have value in sharing that. So get it from the people that can pay for it. Yeah, right, right. Exactly. Give it to the people that can't. And you know, do your own internal Robin Hood of all of that, right? I love that.

Trevor 31:47

Yeah. And it is funny, actually. There are, I have so many customers who've attended my workshops. It's kind of the the reverse of what you said. Like, I attract people to the workshops through the products or through the farmers market. But sometimes people will attend the workshop, they know how to make it, and they'll come to the farmer's market and still buy those products from me. Um, so there's a way of like luring people in, and either they want to support me or they realize, like, hey, actually, like I'd rather just buy it. Yeah, I found this intriguing, but I just want to buy it from someone else.

Early Food Lives And Cooking Roots

Doug 32:18

Sometimes we want to know, even from the source, by you teaching them now, they know how what you do, right? And actually probably boost the credibility of your product in their eye, right? Like, oh, I know how that all works. Because Trevor knows what he's doing, right? Transparency. I mean, it's ultimate. I mean, no soda bottle company is coming and letting you see all of the secrets where they're high fructose corn syrup or whatever. So it's it's way better.

Jess 32:41

Yeah. I think it's relevant. When Trevor first started the so we started the soda CSA together, and I love the logistics part of it, but I was I this was before he really got into soda. Like this was the the moment and it was in the pandemic, and I was like, oh man, soda, that's gonna be the I had a hard time getting on board with the idea of soda being like a worthwhile, meaningful, nutritious cause. Um, but like I kind of I really got I really fell for it because um, you know, there's it also it like it brings joy and and and joy to people, and and it does have sometimes like you know, some like nutritive qualities, but also like it's just like a really cool way to like encapsulate your environment. And so I I do think and I also think it's cool that like instead of big soda, yeah, small soda.

Doug 33:29

Do small soda. It worked out, yeah.

Jess 33:31

Yeah.

Doug 33:32

Actually, I want to ask one more kind of like behind the scenes question. Trevor, you mentioned you went to culinary school. Jess, we haven't talked much about like a food background. I would love to know a little bit about food and your earlier lives and and you know, thinking about yourself as youngsters and what you're doing now. Would you ever have dreamed? You know, I'm gonna be really into fermentation and helping other people understand it.

Jess 33:54

Yeah, I mean, I was cook I think I've been cooking since I was like 13. Okay. Um my my parents just decided not to and and you know, split up and you had to take up responsibility at a really early age. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I was definitely the adult um in in the household. Uh and yeah, so I I did a lot of a lot of cooking early on, and it actually became like a meditative activity for me for sure. Um and so I really I really did that's when I started, you know, I I watched like a lot of food shows and I um I did do a lot of cooking then. Um and I don't know. I think this is a bad question for me to answer. I'm sorry.

Doug 34:33

Can I ask a couple little other just random questions? Yeah, yeah. Where did you grow up?

Jess 34:37

I grew up in New Jersey.

Doug 34:38

Uh and how long have you been in Pittsburgh?

Jess 34:40

I've been in Pittsburgh for eight years. No. Uh eight years is my stock answer, but I don't do the math. It's 10 years. Oh wow. I've been in Pittsburgh for 10 years. Full decade. Yeah, full decade. I came here for the food systems program. Um and previously before that, I had I had farmed for two years. Um I knew that I wanted to do some something in the food world, but um did not expect that it was going to be fermentation related in some part of my life. I didn't even know what that was until I met Trevor, to be honest.

Doug 35:09

And where did you meet Trevor?

Jess 35:11

Yeah, we met in the food studies program at Chatham.

Doug 35:13

Okay, yeah. All right, you said that earlier. Yeah.

Trevor 35:17

It's okay.

Doug 35:19

And and Trevor, what about you? Um number one, where did you grow up?

Trevor 35:23

I grew up outside of DC in in Maryland.

Doug 35:25

And how long have you been in Pittsburgh?

Trevor 35:27

Been in Pittsburgh a year less than just. Uh yeah, nine years.

Doug 35:31

Again for the food studies program?

Trevor 35:33

Yep.

unknown 35:33

Yeah.

Doug 35:33

Yeah. And what about food life? I mean, as a youngster, would you have thought I'll be doing fermentation classes?

Trevor 35:40

Oh no, definitely not not. No.

Doug 35:43

Um But you went to culinary school. I went to culinary school. So there was a there was a bug there. So what what was food life like for you?

Trevor 35:49

A very tiny, tiny bug. Basically in high school, I was like, um, well, I'm interested in food. And I took one like home ec class where I learned how to make brownies from scratch, and I was like, that was really cool. Yeah. But I was by no means like a cook, a chef. When I went to culinary school and met people who uh like had skills, they were already into it a little bit more than you were. They had like chefness in their blood. Um, I was like, okay, like I came from a different place. You know, my mom, she would make she would try to cook. She's probably gonna listen to this. Let me rephrase. Um yeah, my mom, she tried her best to cook a lot for the family and make it nutritious, but I wasn't taught how to cook. And that wasn't really that interesting to me. Actually, until my brother, my oldest brother, who is six years older than me, he was in a home ec class in high school, and he would bring back either brownies they made from scratch, or he would make like a smoothie for like me and my brother. Oh, which it was very simple, but it was like mind-blowing for some reason. Yeah. I was like, what you can just throw fruit in a blunder. Eventually I just started throwing everything in a blunder, uh, ice cream, heavy cream, brownies, and just make the the fattiest, uh most sweet desserts for myself. But I didn't have a clear, like eye-opening moment. I was just thinking, like, well, I don't know what else I would do. So let's let's find uh an interesting school and see what culinary school is all about.

Doug 37:21

Well, you've had such a journey, and then these other experiences and work experience, and you know, I love what you what you're both doing right now. So I'm glad you came to be where you are. Me too. Thank you. Yeah. Well, I'd love to take us forward too. So it sounds like you're in the midst of the winter immersion program. So, folks, if they're listening at the airing of this show, they can't really sign up for that one. Do you think you'll do this again? I'm getting head nods. Definitely.

Speaker 2 37:47

Definitely, yeah.

Trevor 37:49

Yeah. So I there will I think there will definitely be a year two, like you know, 2027 uh winter immersion program. Okay. Um and then we are just now talking about what if we did a smaller, more accessible version of this in the summer. A little short course. Yeah. I try to teach less in the summer just because most of my capacity is You're producing and going to markets. Production, exactly. And some feedback that I received, uh, I mean, clearly like this type of program, the 56 hour, that's an investment of money, but also time, people who have a whole weekend to spare. So, you know, we are asking the question like what what shorter version can we do? Can we just teach people the fundamentals, but have it be some sort of cohesive program, maybe over a f just a few months or like one long evening. Um so there's there's some ideas.

Jess 38:42

And also a benefit to that is in the summer, you know, that's when you're you have all of this excess. Yeah. So we're thinking about the summer months when you're particularly at the end of harvest season and um not quite, you know, uh late summer, so that you're you really have a lot and you don't know what to do with it. And that's you know, kind of one of the origins of like where all of this the perfect time to be thinking about these processes.

Doug 39:04

Yeah. Is there anything coming up on the horizon uh for this year? Any other new events or goals or ideas? Good question.

Trevor 39:13

Um That you that you want to share. Yeah. I mean, um I've wanted to do more workshops in this general region, outs even outside of western Pennsylvania. Um so actually last year was the first time that I went on a little road trip to Ohio and I did a few stops teaching workshops there. So I'll be returning to Ohio for a couple workshops in April. I am interested in doing more of that, uh, maybe towards like northern and central PA and down to Maryland. So those are some like some general goals, but I would say for the summer and the excuse me, the farmer's market season. I was at the Lawrenceville market last year. The plan is to do a different uh other market that might be better for my customer base and bring in some more traction around the business. So I will be doing two full-time markets, so that is uh a a bigger jump. You know, I was doing like a market and a half last year.

Doug 40:11

Bloomfield?

Trevor 40:12

Yeah, so Bloomfield and then TBD on the Bloomfield and a Rando.

Doug 40:17

Yeah.

Jess 40:18

Last year we were at Lawrenceville.

Doug 40:20

Okay, yeah. All right. Well, let's do this. I think we've probably piqued a lot of folks' interest. If folks are interested in learning more, finding you, following you, could you remind us of your website, uh, your social handles, where people can sneak on you or contact you?

Trevor 40:37

Yeah, sure. Um, so we do we do have a website, communitycultures.com. There's also a newsletter. I send out on average two to three newsletters a month, basically all the happenings of the month, my fermentation musings, what I'm fermenting at home, what's inspiring me. And then on Instagram uh at community cultures, that's a great way of staying plugged in, seeing um some fun things that are bubbling up and some of Jess's food photography. I saw what you did there with bubbling up.

Jess 41:07

I know you heard it.

Trevor 41:09

Try to throw it in there every now and then. That's good.

Jess 41:11

He really does do this in real life.

Trevor 41:12

That's a good time. Jess, what about your consulting?

Jess 41:16

My consulting for community cultures?

Trevor 41:18

No. Where can people find your oh yeah, Jess? Where can people find and follow you?

Best Bites From The Week

Jess 41:22

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so uh hopefully, maybe by the time that this is launched, um, I will have launched my own uh my own consulting officially, um, Rubus Food Systems Consulting. Um, but they can also just reach out to me, uh Jess Kinos. Um that's my handle out there on social media. Um and uh yeah, I'm looking to work with more food businesses. I have a few projects that are going on and um I like I'm looking to take on new clients to help with small business um food systems support um or food photography too. Um that's something that I kind of do on the side, but it's uh it's it's lovely to just immerse yourself in art a little bit. Um and my whole along with Trevor, my goal for that is um it for it to be accessible as well. So I do pay what you can pricing or sliding scale so that you know new food businesses often need something to show off what they're doing, and um it can be really expensive. Um and we eat with our eyes first.

Doug 42:20

Yeah. I love what you're doing. Thank you so much. Yeah, yeah. Well, yes, Trevor, it's been such a delight to talk with you guys on everything you're doing. I I always have one final customary question for our guests. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've had to eat this past week?

Trevor 42:44

Can it be from home or does it have to be anywhere?

Jess 42:47

I think it has to be from home. We eat out of a very small portion of the time. I know mine. Do you know yours?

Trevor 42:56

You go ahead. You go ahead. That'll give me more time.

Jess 42:58

Um well, uh, so I work with Jay of Popping Mustard Seeds. Um, and I've worked with her for years. So and I've recipe tested, met like and shot all of the things for her meal kit. So I know her recipes pretty w ell. And um, one of them is for schindle, which is a dry dal dish. Um and dry doll? Yeah, so it's instead of like, you know, when you think of doll, you might be thinking of like a porridge. A porridge, yeah. This is a dry dish. Um and so it's you know, um, I like using like actually this time I use like split chana da l. And um, you know, you have some turmeric and cilantro and lemon and uh, you know, spices. And um, it's just like really nutritious and delicious. And um, I get a little obsessed with it. So I have been eating schindle tacos. Um so we got like some delicious corn tacos from Las Palmas and um that with some schindle and actually some mayo, which sounds kind of a little strange. I'll do it. Um, but like that's on the base.

Doug 43:58

I'm sorry, let's let's just pause for a second. You're putting dal on a taco. Yes, we can do mayo too. Yeah. I agree. Agreed.

Jess 44:08

Um, but I've eaten that for breakfast and dinner for at least four days in the past week.

Doug 44:12

So it clearly must be your best bite.

Jess 44:14

It's really good.

Doug 44:15

Oh, all right. Trevor, is this the same bite or do you have something else?

Trevor 44:20

No, I did try it and it is very good. But um, actually, and just on the theme of fermentation, I returned to one of my favorite ferments that I haven't made in a while. Uh, it's a Afro-Brazilian fermented bean fritter. I'm gonna butcher the pr pronunciation. Uh, it's called Acarajae A C A R A J E. Um, and it's Thank you for the transcript that I will do later. Um, and it is uh West African influenced uh bean fritter. Traditionally, they would use. Black-eyed peas. I had Rancho Gordo like pinto beans. The best? Yeah. And so I use those. Basically, you soak the beans, you remove the holes as much as you can. You blend them. You let them ferment this battery you let the batter sit out for 24 hours. Okay. Uh two days. I did two days because I like mine sour. Um, and then you just fry them up. Traditionally, they would be deep fried. I just did a little pan fry. They're very savory. Those proteins are breaking down into amino acids, so you have a lot of umami. And then again, traditionally, they would have like maybe different types of salsas on the side. Yes. But I just use what I had in the fridge. So some cultured almond cheese with it, and really like they're delicious on their own, too. Amazing.

Doug 45:40

Yeah. They're like a little patty fritter kind of citrus.

Trevor 45:43

They kind of look like when you pan fry them, they kind of look like uh a bean burger, I guess.

Jess 45:48

Or like a pancake. Okay. Yeah. They're very fluffy. Oh, yeah.

Trevor 45:51

Yeah.

Doug 45:52

I didn't expect that. I didn't expect them to be fluffy.

Trevor 45:54

Yeah, and actually you're supposed to like whisk them to aerate them a bit.

Doug 45:59

I'm sitting here a little slack job because we're right around lunchtime and everything sounds delicious. So thank you both for sharing your best bites. And thank you once again for educating us a little bit on today's show about fermentation, what the business of Community Cultures is all about. Trevor, Jess. Thanks for being on The Pittsburgh Dish. Thank you so much. Thanks for having us. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.