Meet Josh!
Josh grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, where a childhood fascination with plants turned into a lifelong love of growing, fermenting, and feeding people. He’s been making sauerkraut for even longer than he’s been selling it, and for more than ten years, he’s been turning cabbage, radish, and a whole lot of patience into Gitche Gumee kimchi and kraut.
Everything is made by hand in Josh’s home kitchen in Duluth, in small batches, and fermented for two weeks before it goes in the jar. Named for the Ojibwe name for Lake Superior, Gitche Gumee is rooted in the Northland and made for the people who live here.
After an accident left him paralyzed from the chest down, Josh kept doing what he loves. He still runs the business himself, from fermenting to the markets.
HOW IT’S MADE!
Every jar of Gitche Gumee starts the same way: with real vegetables and a lot of hands-on work.
Local and homegrown.
We source our produce locally, and some of it is grown and picked by Josh himself. Cabbage, daikon, carrots, onions, and garlic are chopped, salted, and seasoned in small batches, with nothing rushed.
Made by hand.
Josh handles every step himself, from prep and mixing to packing and labeling. Nothing is mass-produced.
Fermented two weeks.
We give each batch a full two weeks to ferment slowly, so the flavor develops the way it should. Every jar is labeled with a batch number.
Made in a registered kitchen.
Gitche Gumee is registered with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture under the state’s cottage food law, and we carry insurance. Josh makes everything in his home kitchen in Duluth.
Keep it cold.
Our kimchi and kraut stay fresh refrigerated for up to a year, if you can keep your hands off it that long!
video credits - https://www.facebook.com/MakingItUpNorth
Website created and ran by Branden Taus
