Oku — Fermented Foods

Products

What we make, and how long each one takes to become itself.

Miso

Barley Miso

Organic barley, fermented with house koji for six months in ceramic crocks. Deep and savoury, with a sweetness that develops slowly — the kind of flavour that only time produces.

6 months fermentation

Kombucha

Honey Kombucha

Made with honey and a live culture, fermented for 14 days. Lightly effervescent, faintly floral — alive in the way that naturally fermented things are.

14 days fermentation

Shoyu

Fava Shoyu

Fava beans in place of soy, fermented for 18 months in the moromi style. Rich and complex, with an umami depth that builds at the back of the palate.

18 months fermentation

Lacto-ferment

Kimchi

Napa cabbage, traditionally spiced, lacto-fermented. Sharp and active — the fastest thing we make, and the loudest.

4 weeks fermentation

Process

We make things slowly, and we show how they're made.

Source

We start with good-quality ingredients — organic where possible, chosen for what they'll become. We're building producer relationships over time, and we share that search openly as it develops.

Culture

Each ferment begins with a living culture. For miso and shoyu, that's koji grown on rice — it takes 48 hours and smells of chestnuts when it's ready. For lacto-ferments, a salt brine. For kombucha, a SCOBY.

Ferment

Crocks, jars, and vessels in a cool, dark room. We check and taste at intervals — there's no fixed endpoint, only the point at which the flavour is right. Some batches take weeks. Some take most of a year.

Finish

Unpasteurised, with live cultures intact. Every batch is numbered and dated — small enough that we can account for each one. Nothing is standardised between batches, and we don't try to make it so.

Fermented slowly. Made to keep.