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Join us at the Yellow Farmhouse for our first in-person KojiconneCT. This full day conference, sponsored by San-J, features koji experts, chefs and fermenters, hands-on workshops, panel discussions, a ferment-forward lunch, and a cocktail reception. We are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker is Takashi Sato of San-J. His family has been making Tamari Soy Sauce for over 200 years. He is the 8th generation member of the founding family.
During lunch, we will host a fermentation swap, providing the opportunity to meet other fermenters, hear about, taste and swap ferments and ideas.
Details and speakers for the hands-on workshops will be announced soon.
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The day will end with a conversation with participants and presenters to discuss the future and power of fermentation. We hope you will also stay for a koji cocktail hour and snacks at 4pm.
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Ticket prices vary:
Community (limited availability) $60
Please consider choosing a Sustainer or Supporter level ticket if you can afford to do so.
Sustainer: $100
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Supporter: $150
Purchasing at the supporter level helps us to build and deliver more koji programs. As a thank you, a Kojicon collector shirt is included with the Supporter ticket.
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A boxed lunch is available for purchase in advance for $20.
As part of our Culinary Excursion Program, we’ll visit local food artisans to get a behind the scenes in-depth look at the work that they do, exploring fermented beverages from spirits to beer to amazake and kombucha. The tour begins at the Yellow Farmhouse with an overview of fermentation by Rich Shih, author of Koji Alchemy. Next stop on the tour is a ferment-forward lunch at the Treehouse in Mystic. After lunch we will head to The Lab at Real McCoy Spirits and Grey Sail Brewing of Rhode Island, where fermented snacks from Westerly Packing will be featured.
The tour begins and ends at the Yellow Farmhouse with transportation being provided on a yellow school bus.
Tickets are $250.
The tour is for adults 21 and older.
conference overview
Kojicon is the brainchild of Yellow Farmhouse Director Jennifer Rothman, Author and Fermentation Expert Rich Shih, and Chef and Author Jeremy Umansky during the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. During the first conference, we expected about 100 participants. We were pleasantly surprised when over 600 people registered for our conference. With the excitement from the Koji community and the expert lineup of presenters, we knew we had created something special.
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We have completed three annual conferences and are looking forward to our fourth next year. Kojicon 2023, Preserving the Past, Fermenting the Future, was a huge success due in part to all of our amazing presenters and the support, dedication, and enthusiasm of our audience. To purchase the recorded content for Kojicon 2023, 2022 and 2021, CLICK HERE!
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Kojicon is presented by the Yellow Farmhouse Education Center, a non-profit 501c3, in Southeastern, CT. Our mission is to connect people to each other and to where their food comes from through food and farm-based education.
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Throughout this two-week interactive conference, participants will gather virtually with experts in the field to share their passion and skills to utilize the magic of this edible mold. During Kojicon 2023, we took a dive deeper into how fermentation, an essential tool of food production throughout history, has shaped our past and has the potential to shape our future for the better. For generations, fermentation and other preservation methods were a necessity for survival. As time has passed, that knowledge transfer started to dwindle and delicious, nutritious, culturally significant techniques were being lost.
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Koji and fermentation also have the potential to change our food system for the better by reducing the amount of food waste we generate, utilizing less climate intensive ingredients, and introducing countless new flavors to people all over the world.
Over the course of two weeks, explore koji with live-streamed conversations and demonstrations and networking opportunities. All experience levels are welcome in this diverse, inclusive, and growing international community of koji enthusiasts.
