The Real Podcast

Welcome to episode 25 of the REAL podcast, brought to you as always by REAL - purveyors of award-winning non-alcoholic alternatives to sparkling wines. Have you heard that we’re available now in Waitrose? If you haven’t, you’ll want to add a beautiful bottle of Royal Flush to your basket or online trolley next time you’re doing the weekly shop.
Ever wondered what’s going on in your mouth when you taste a great drink? How about the technique behind formulating a winning food pairing? It’s something we think about all the time. Here at REAL we’re lucky enough to meet some wonderful, highly skilful people, and occasionally, when we invite them to come and share their wealth of knowledge on our podcast, they say yes.

We first met Christine Parkinson when she was Head of Wine for Hakkasan, the world-renowned restaurant specialising in modern Chinese cuisine. At the time, her team was looking for a kombucha to be served as a non-alcoholic food pairing and our drinks slid onto the menu very comfortably indeed.

Since then, Christine has gone on to form the Brimful Drinks consultancy – a particularly interesting venture that specialises in helping companies working in the low/no world, some of whom have already been guests on this podcast.

This development fascinated us. That someone who has won Industry Legend awards after her years spent in the wine world should choose to move her attentions to the burgeoning non-alcoholic space... well, that really said something about the sincerity with which this category is being taken.

In this episode, Christine will talk to us about the tips and techniques she learnt for tasting drinks, the science that accompanies taste, the art of creating a great food pairing, and – of course – the considerable interest she has in the world of non-alcoholic drinks. We also learn some of that all-important drinks-tasting vocab – vital if you want to sound like you know what you’re talking about.

Adjust your napkins and set your tongues to drool. It’s going to be a tasty one.

Welcome to episode 24 of The REAL Podcast, brought to you, as ever, by REAL Kombucha. Grab your earphones and a glass of crystal clear Royal Flush. What a time to be supping award-winning non-alcoholic wine-like tipples. What a time to be alive!

Speaking of which, this week’s guest used to work in the world of wine. Bethan Higson travelled the globe as an ambassador for a major wine brand, getting involved in harvests, learning all about yeasts, really getting her head inside what makes a good wine and – just as importantly – how a good wine can heighten an occasion.

Since then, she’s launched one of the UK’s most interesting non-alcoholic drinks startups, Mother Root. If you’re someone who thinks non-alc drinks are little more than sugary pop, you want to try this. Her ginger switchels pack a real punch, bringing a complexity to non-alcohol cocktails that you wouldn’t normally expect to find. A must-have for any non-alc explorer’s toolkit, we were delighted when she found time to drop by and chat about her journey so far.
In this episode, Bethan and Jon discuss a range of things, including the history of prohibition drinks, some of the questions an entrepreneur asks themselves when they start putting their brand out there, and the difficulties of getting a modern crowd to drink an age-old drink. Given her background in wine, we also dig into that world from our own perspective. Her views on the way the non-alcoholic wine world is developing are fascinating. In Bethan’s words, it’s really one for the “crazy thinkers”.

If you’re keen to try Mother Root and find out how it mixes with other non-alcoholic drinks, head to our Know How section. We’ll be adding an exclusive non-alcoholic cocktail recipe featuring our two drinks there. And for our newsletter subscribers... well, who knows what might happen. Treats abound. Worth signing up, dontcha think?

In the coming episodes we’ll be chatting again to REAL founder, David Begg, in a series of short episodes. He’ll be sharing his knowledge on a number of things, including fermentation, tea, food pairing and plenty more. Make sure you subscribe to our podcasts and set your notifications on so you can keep up. See you then.

In this week’s REAL Podcast, episode 23 brought to you as always by REAL, purveyors of award-winning non-alcoholic sparkling wine alternatives, we’re looking at a mind-blowing new book called Koji Alchemy – a gorgeous chunk of coffee-table loveliness, perfect for curling yourself up next to an autumn fireplace with, and devouring over a chilled glass of REAL Kombucha. We’ll be chatting with the co-authors, Rich Shih – an explorer of miso and koji, as well as being an in-demand food preservation consultant, and Jeremy Umansky – owner and chef of Larder, a restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio that was nominated as the Best New Restaurant in America, 2019.

What is koji?

The subject under investigation in their book, and in this podcast, is koji – the microbe behind the delicious, umami flavours of soy sauce, miso and mirin. Like so many of these k-word foods and drinks – kombucha, kefir, kimchi, koji – there’s so much more to be discovered when you start digging beneath the initial flavour. As the guys explain, koji has the potential to be more than a mouth-watering flavour enhancer. Its application in food preparation can speed up the curing of meats and the ageing of cheeses, and their investigations have shown that it may even help with cutting down on food waste at an industrial level. The term “superfood” takes on a bunch of new levels when it comes to koji.

We wanted Rich and Jeremy on the podcast not only because they know so much about koji fermentation, but because they share so many of our own passions and interests, notably that fermentation can be an incredible, natural flavour enhancer, but also a meeting point for pondering minds. Rich and Jeremy also talk about it as a kind of cultural glue – something we all fundamentally share in our ancestral past, and Jeremy even makes a compelling argument for fermentation as essential to human survival. There’s also a description of fermented drinks as being a cosmos in your glass. Prepare to have your mind blown – and then piece it back together and order their incredible book.

We’ve got 3 copies of Koji Alchemy to give away, and that giveaway is open to our newsletter subscribers. For the chance experience more great stuff like this in the future, click here and make sure you sign up. Similarly, hit subscribe on whatever channel you’re currently listening to this podcast on. We’ve got so many great conversations from the world of fermentation and flavour to share with you – we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Before we get going, a brief apology for occasional sound quality issues in this episode. Connecting recordings from three very distant parts of the world brought with it amusing technical difficulties. In fact, I’ll open the podcast with an example of what we were dealing with. Let’s get stuck in.

Want to explore fermentation further?

During the podcast, the guys mentioned Sandor Katz, amongst other people. If you’re not sure who Sandor is and you’re interested in modern ideas about fermentation, spin back to episode 15 of this podcast to see what he had to say, and while you’re there, take a listen to the other 22 episodes we’ve already made. Some amazing chats with some amazing people.

James Golding takes The REAL Podcast on a tour of the ancient walled gardens at The Pig Hotel, Brockenhurst, and explains how farm-to-table philosophy fuels the kitchens he creates his magic in. A wonderful podcast for foodies, history buffs, foragers and gardeners alike.

As we continue our journey at REAL Kombucha, we love meeting and working with people that really seem to be on the same wavelength. Take this week’s guests, for example. The folks at the Belazu Ingredient Company specialise in foodie items that can turn a good dish into something truly exceptional. They talk regularly about living life in full flavour, and about how life is too short for bland food. Living life in full flavour is something we can all aspire, so for this episode, we were delighted to invite their product specialist, Bob Curbishley, and their innovation chef, Henry Russell, to chat about what living a flavourful really means.

Over the next hour or so, we’ll be discussing how travel inspires culinary creativity, and how a little bit of that creativity can also fire the imagination and get the mind traveling, even when you’re stuck at home. We’ll also discuss the origins of Belazu, way back in Borough Market when they were known as The Fresh Olive Company, and how inspiring flavours and high quality have been at the heart of what they do from day one. Bob talks about how he became an olive oil sommelier, and also explains why it’s worth spending a bit extra on a good balsamic, while Henry tells us a bit about what an innovation chef does, answering the time-honoured question: what can I do with a jar of pesto that doesn’t involve pasta?

Along the way, we take in all kinds of food history and even find time for a kombucha tasting, asking Henry how he goes about pairing our fermented drinks with his ingredients. It’s worth noting, too, that the delicious new range of nuts he talks about at the end of the episode is now on the shelves in Waitrose, not too far from our own REAL Kombucha bottles, so you can put both into your shopping basket next time you’re shopping and try the pairing for yourself.

In short, this is a fast and friendly ramble through all things flavourful, on which you’re more than welcome to eavesdrop. Strap on your ear goggles, fire up your imaginations... things are about to get very tasty indeed.