Experiencing fermentation
Experiencing fermentation
- At Terada Honke
- At your home
Brewery tour
In our brewery tour, our brewers will guide you through the brewery in the order of the various stages of the sake-brewing process, starting from the area where the rice is steamed in a large koshiki vat, the chambers used for koji making, and the shubo room to the moromi tank and more. After seeing all the main facilities at the brewery, the program will proceed to an in-house sake-tasting event. After enjoying sips of various sake brands, selected by each visitor themselves, the tour participants will move to the nearby restaurant, Café Ufufu, to be treated with an amazing gastronomic experience of carefully prepared fermented food for lunch.
We hope you enjoy indulging with us in the mysterious world of fermentation by using all of your five senses.
Note: It is necessary make reservations in advance, using the calendar that shows when the tour is offered.
Fermentation & Life Study Studio & Café Ufufu
We also opened a small laboratory and café near the sacred forest of Kozaki Shrine so as to materialize our passionate desire of communicating the happiness, gastronomic delights, and mystic wonders of “fermentation culture” as learned through our sake-brewing process.
At Café Ufufu, visitors will be able to enjoy a wide variety of 100% vegetarian & fermented dishes created from traditional and newly arranged recipes featuring sake lees, koji, and amazake freshly made at Terada Honke, along with seasonal organic vegetables carefully grown by local farmers, as main ingredients. The café also occasionally serves as a site for events and workshops organized with specific themes related to fermentation with the aim of sharing with as many people as possible the power of fermentation, which can energize both your body and soul.
“Fermentation at Ufufu!” is our motto.
Okura Festa
Okura Festa is a festival jointly hosted by Terada Honke and another local brewery, Nabedana, on the second or third Sunday of March every year (from 9:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.). The whole town will be in a festive mood on this day, with various booths and events organized along the streets around Terada Honke (including some streets that will become pedestrian-only).
Note: Cancellation of the festival is possible due to certain unavoidable reasons.
Highlights of Okura Festa
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Brewery tour guided by the brewers
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Sake sampling (paid event that requires a ticket/includes a small sake cup [o-choko, in Japanese] with the name of a Terada Honke brand printed on it)
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Sake on sale
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Fermentation cooking class (ticket required)
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Fermentation cosmetics workshop (ticket required)
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Fermentation footbath
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Fermentation talk show
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Fermentation live event
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Complimentary sake served within the premises of Kozaki Shrine (From 9:00 a.m. to around noon, but possible to end earlier when the sake runs out!)
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The streets around Terada Honke will be filled with various booths selling organic food, apparel, merchandise, etc.
Note:
– The nearby paddy fields will be used as a visitors’ parking area on the day of the festival.
– A shuttle bus running from JR Shimousa Kozaki Station to the festival site entrance area and back will operate on the day of the festival, so as to transport visitors that come by train.
– We are always looking for volunteers that are interested in helping us make Okura Festa a great memorable occasion for everyone. Detailed information regarding the volunteer staff application will be posted on our website by around December every year. Please check it out!
Let’s grow rice together!
In our own rice paddy, which we farm ourselves, we are growing indigenous varieties of rice known as “Chiba Nishiki” and “Nakate Shinriki.”
Rice growing can be a lot of fun. Rice planting in the springtime will be an exciting experience, getting muddy with the frogs. In early summer, you can learn the names of various plants growing all over the rice field and you can help the rice plants continue growing healthily by weeding neighboring plants. When the summer changes to autumn, it’s finally time to harvest. You will be impressed by the volume and weight of full-grown rice ears. Come enjoy the harvesting together with all of us at the brewery. The smile on everyone’s face and the sense of fulfillment you can gain after the hard work will simply be unforgettable.
Even if it is your first experience, there is nothing to worry about. Please come join the fun experience with your friends and loved ones from home, including your children!
Rice-growing schedule
| ・From late April to early May | Rice-planting event |
|---|---|
| ・May, June, and July | Weeding event |
| ・Early October | Rice-harvesting event |
Introduction of recipes
The recipes introduced on this website can act as a great guide for those that want to cook delicious, fermented dishes using sake lees, koji, and amazake. The recipes are all arranged so as to be easy to prepare, ranging widely from classic dishes, originals that apply inspiring novel ideas to multi-purpose seasonings and sauces made from sake lees and koji (and that can be preserved), and healthy snacks that can brighten up the faces of your children for sure. These recipes have all been planned by Satomi Terada, who was born and raised at the brewery and who knows by heart how fermentation can make everyone happy with its positive energy gastronomic delights. Please enjoy the pleasant surprises and new learnings that Satomi is looking forward to offering you through the regular recipes that she uses at home.
Read our story
“Things don’t rot when they are fermented.” We, the brewers of Terada Honke, take pride in preserving this simple truth of life that our great predecessor, Keisuke Terada, has gleaned from microorganisms as the seed of thoughts that we intend to continue nurturing, expanding, and sharing with the future generations following us. We are seeing this seed beginning to grow here and there, spreading its roots wider and deeper, and helping us pass the baton of happiness to as many people as we can connect. One way for you to cooperate in this baton relay is to read Hakkodo: The Path of Fermentation and to think about how you can build and share your own art of fermentation. Another book, titled Fermentation Recipes using Koji, Amazake, and Sake Lees co-written by the 24th owner, Masaru Terada and his wife, Satomi, would also serve as a useful reference toward deepening your knowledge about Terada Honke and toward learning a number of easy-to-cook recipes for delicious, fermented dishes as developed by Satomi herself.
