Love this store. Like the new location even if parking can be a pain. Got a new vinegar mother and some sour dough starters for a friend on my last visit. read more

Learned SO MUCH in the Jam making class. Totally changed the way I make jam and its SO MUCH EASIER now! Rachel is the best and has very good techniques to teach. I highly recommend it. read more

This shop has a good selection of fermentation-related supplies, some of them hand-crafted. They are not cheap, but often not too expensive. You can also buy plastic lids for Ball mason jars here, which I could only find on Amazon before. I use variously sized mason jars a lot for fermenting and they always come with metal lids which corrode and smell awful, so it's nice to be able to buy plastic lids locally. This store also sells fermentation weights which I use in the jars. Unfortunately the "100% cotton twine" ("NORPRO" brand, "QUALITY FOR THE COOK") sold here is not 100% cotton but has some plastic in it, which is not good if you were planning to use it with food. If you light the end of some of this string on fire and blow it out, it smells like burnt plastic. "Made in China" of course. It seems fairly common for Bay Area retailers to sell items that they don't quite know the provenance of, which may just be a sign of the times. I think most consumers do not know about this easy flame test for the purity of natural fiber products. I found a "REGENCY NATURALS" "100% natural cotton" "cooking twine" product at Ace Hardware which seems slightly cleaner. The best cotton twine in my collection came from Target I think, but the cardboard spool just says "blade included" on it, I don't see a brand name. It is only 10 yards or so. Also, the "Yelp!" website seems to be hacking my computer, so everyone should be grateful that I took the risk of helping inform my community via this medium. read more

What a gem! Read about this shop in a magazine and I'm so happy that I did. I've been interested in lacto-fermentation but didn't know where to start. The staff here are extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. I especially love the kits they make to get you going with the essentials. Lots of great gift ideas here, too. I'm always happy when I can shop local instead of chains or Amazon. I'll definitely be back! read more

Preserved - Small fermentation kit - Cooking Classes Near Me - Oakland, California

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Love the new, expanded location. Expertly curated kitchen shop with a focus (of course) on preserving foods. But really so much more. Doesn't try to be a "everything PLUS the kitchen sink" store. But owner is super knowledgeable and friendly. A great spot to go browse and pick up hard-to-find supplies. And great classes too. Love this place!!! read more

Cute store lots of different kits and tools for the novice chef. Got a sourdough starter unfortunately it did not grow, but thinking about trying a different kit. read more

pleasantly surprised that the Mocktail class was way more in depth than mixing juices and sodas togethers. thoroughly discussed the different layers of mocktail assembly. lots of of DIY samples! my HS daughter walked out saying that was fun, unprompted! totally, worth it if you want to learn more about mocktails. read more

This was a lovely find on my walk down telegraph waiting for my child's hairstyle. They have cheese making supplies, pickling, and sourdough starter. I bought some super cute mason jar lids. I had just lost all my lids somehow so it was a pleasant surprise to find. The person working had a very thoughtful and very patient conversation with someone on the phone about cheese making while I was shopping. I hope to be able to attend one of their classes. They are held in the evening so childcare might be an obstacle. 10/10 highly recommend! read more

Preserved - Bread book - Cooking Classes Near Me - Oakland, California

Preserved is such a great resource! I have been here a number of times over the years for my various culinary hobbies. A few years ago my child was obsessed with kefir, so I was immersed in the making of milk kefir. Today we stopped by for some pickling supplies. My seven year old will eat almost any vegetable as king as it is pickled. We have mostly quick pickles so far. Vegetables pickled to date include beets, carrots, onions, asparagus, cauliflower, garlic and green beans. We wanted to increase our pickling game and came by for their vegetable fermenting kit. We LOVE Bubbies baby dills and have high hopes to recreate them, eventually. They have a giant range of products in their small storefront and are incredibly knowledgeable. read more

Today was the first time I've been to this little shop and I was thoroughly impressed! I took a Kefir and Yogurt class by the owner. She had an amazing knowledge of fermentation. She gave us history, health benefits, alternative methods for preparation and answered any questions thoroughly from all of us that participated in the class. We all went away with heirloom cultures to prepare our Kiefer. I was so excited that we got to taste yogurt and Kiefer in different stages of fermentation. We even got to taste yogurt and Kiefer that had been fermented a bit more and she made cheese, it was yummy! This shop has so many amazing products including raw milk, high-quality gelatin, and anything you would need for fermentation. I will be back again and again Because a lot of these products are so hard to fine. So I've been back for two more classes, a sauerkraut class and today a Kombucha class. I'll be back again and again this place is awesome, I am a fermentation convert. It's not only fun and creative it's great for your health!!! read more

Goodness me, mark my words EVERYONE should visit preserved. Coming here might put you at risk for leaving the city, calling it quits. Let me explain how it will go, you'll make some jam and before you know your pantry is stocked with things you've made, your attachment to technology will fade. You darn your socks, knit a hat, go to Craigslist and list your flat. Life is too fast-paced in the Bay, you become obsessed with getting away. You sell your computer, quit your job. You learn to make an oven from cob. You move to the woods, live off the land, your partner leaves "this is way out of hand." You culture yogurt, press tofu Read Noma's fermentation book through. Jars with air locks bubble away while you make sausage the old fashioned way. Your carrot harvest aligns with the stars, you pluck em, pickle em, put em in jars. With your bounty you'll be hungry never. You are one with the land, changed forever. read more

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A really well thought out specialty store that has kitchen gadgets and tools for just about any project you might want to undertake! They have pantry items that are top tier. Friendly and knowledgeable staff make the store a very special place. Check out their website for their in-person class offerings. Very cool place! read more

Long overdue review. I love this store they have so many great gifts for the person who loves to cook in your life or for you. They are incredibly knowledgeable about all of their products and how to use them. They also host various classes on different topics. Such a gem of a store, always happy to support them! read more

I love this wonderful shop! It's as though walking through a time portal to a simpler place and time, when preserving our food was just part of life, and shoot, it still is! And this shop brings it all back to the timelessness of healthy living. I do want ad a big Thank You to Nina, who has been supportive, patient, and helpful with my budding love for making homemade cheese, Thanks Nina :) read more

Very kind and knowledgeable. Great shop! I make water kefir now and microgreens. And both are delicious! read more

Obvi our experience here is very different from that of the other reviewers. We signed up for a marmalade class and for $60 per person (for a demo class, no hands on) we had high hopes and were looking forward to the day. Sadly, it was a big phail. We thought going to a class at a place called "Preserved" would be down home, DIY, but instead it was a 2-hour infomercial about the instructors book ("The Bible" and "only real book" on jam making), and the shop's products "the $$$$$ copper pot sold here is the ONLY effective pot for this", the best funnel in commercial cooking, the best asorbic acid in a plastic bag that will last years, the best silicon spatula , the best this and the best that. Yep.$$$$$$ Martha Stewart would indeed be proud (and cashing in if she could)!! Very high priced items -- a cotton apron for $92?! Um, ok I think I'll head over to Coles hardware store and find the same item for $25! There are so many truly down home venues in Oakland, you don't have to go "high price/ the best" to actually get what you're looking for. Check out Pollinate, for example. And so many other truly down home options. But if you live in Temescal and want to support your local biz -- and have the bank for it -- then go! read more

I love this little shop! I went there yesterday to get some canning supplies to make sauce out of my bumper crop of tomatoes. The owner was very helpful and even showed my a couple DIY tricks to make this new adventure more likely a success. I also picked up a few sourdough tools that were on my Amazon list, plus another banneton (Mr. Bezos doesn't need any more of my money!) I can't wait to start making cheese, they everything for that jouney too :) read more

excellent resource with knowlegable staff!

Took a ricotta and paneer cheese making class with my wife here over the weekend. I love to cook so my brother bought me the class for Christmas, and it was a great present! The class was informative, interesting and importantly, broke things down well so I feel very confident in going home and making ricotta on a regular basis! Really cool stuff! read more

My husband and I took a sourdough bread making class here. The class was very fun and informative and we got to take home two jars of sourdough starter and two sets of dough to bake the next morning. The first got a little burnt on the bottom but was still great otherwise (we cut the burnt part off and the loaf was delicious). We made some adjustments for the next loaf (put the pan one shelf higher in the oven, added a pizza stone on the shelf bellow to catch some of the heat coming from the bottom) and also made a deeper slash on the loaf and honestly it looks like something you would buy at an artisan bakery. Highly recommended, looking forward to taking more classes here in the future. read more

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Suuuuper cute store - Elizabeth is very knowledgeable and passionate about her craft!! We got some sourdough starter and have been baking delicious bread with it! A++++++ can't recommend enough. read more

Amazing store for pickling/ baking/ vinegar enthusiasts. Incredibly knowledgeable team and high quality selection of equipment, raw materials, starters and books. Bonus: educational website and cards with tips. My favourite cooking store in Bay Area, hands down read more

So happy we decided to venture south on Telegraph to visit this shop. We went to investigate Kombucha making classes and spent a solid 10 min with one of the owners. The space is small and intimate but they have really cool culinary cooking concepts products and utensils. Books and how too guides abound. But the warmth of the owner, the eclectic nature of the offerings with a specific foodie home grown orientation was very refreshing. Armed with our newly purchased citrus press and listing of upcoming Kombucha classes, we vowed to return at scheduled time signed up and raring to go. I personally do not like the drink. Perhaps because the pungent acidic vinegar taste is so acrid that it completely turns me off. The owner let me smell their culture in a large jar. You literally had to put your noise right at the brim to smell the vinegary smell. But it almost smelled like bread and yeast. Not too bad. I'm sure I could hook some up with flavors to mask that funk with some floral and sweet ingredients. Besides as the owner pointed out it's so easy to do and it is really good for you. Besides which it's much cheaper than buying it at the store. Next time in the area I made a mental note to pick up a jar of these mountain capers that looked huge.. to put on my Beauty's bagel and cream cheese. Don't let the line at BSB discourage you!!! Spend a few minutes in Preserve you will learn a thing or two! read more

Do you even know three methods to store the sauerkraut you just started fermenting? Preserved sure does. They have multiple gadgets to help make your fermentation fantastic. Fear not fans of ceramic crocks, mason jars, and other homesteading supplies. This place is practically your mecca. Also they have amazing supplies to help you mash, pulverize, strain, and mix to your heart's content. Are you perhaps curious and don't know how to start saving money by making your own jams, miso, pickles, or kimchi? Well that is where their workshops come in to save the day! Come check this place out and be inspired to reawaken your kitchen exploration. The fun here never stops! Well, actually I think they close at 5 on Sunday, so plan ahead. read more

What a great little shop. I've been pickling home grown peppers and pickles for a couple years and heard about this place only recently. I was on the mission to do some sauerkraut to cap off some home made pastrami I was working on, and decided to check out this shop. What a gem. I wish I went earlier. So many great things and it's local. Julia was a pleasant and knowledgeable person and helped me get a few things along with some advice. I will surely go back and am pretty pumped on getting into a couple classes there. It's places like this that make a community and I hope they will be here a long time! read more

One of a kind store that's clearly a reflection of its amazing and wonderful owner. Where else can you find kanji to make your own Miso or Grape leaves to firm up your pickles? Preserved. read more

It's like dying and going to heaven. I walked in just to grab a kombucha to go with my BSB's chicken salad and ended up wanting to buy half the store. I was impressed at the breadth of resources and materials for any preserving project and love being able to roam around in a store to learn more. I would practically just go there to hang out....like a library.. Elizabeth was gracious and kind answering all my questions about different products in the fridge (coconut milk "yoghurt:" yummy!) and was so courteous going back and forth between me and the other two customers there at the time. I am thrilled to have a store nearby sell Claravale's raw milk and so many other goodies. I have the class schedule on my fridge and can't wait to talk a class. read more

I notified the owner 4 days before a class I had paid for that something came up (family death) and I couldn't attend. I didn't ask for a refund just a credit toward a future class. She responded the following evening via phone msg that their policy doesn't allow for this -- I should give the class to a friend. I had attended a previous class, receive their newsletter...but now with this experience, I will never support their business again. read more

Awesome Place! I went in to get their starter kit for growing my own Kombucha for just $40, and ended up leaving spending a lot more. All great stuff! I would recommend everyone goes there and talks to Julia! She knows her stuff, and even has samples to try. I'll be back when I'm ready to make some pickles! read more

I LOVE this place. Everything you could ever want when it comes to fermented foods. Very kind and knowledgeable staff and a nice neighborhood feel to the place. I can't wait to go back. read more

Instant East Bay gem right here. Perfect place to buy gifts. Incredible collection of yummy goods, drinks, and kitchen equipment, all high quality and well curated. Classes are amazing! I've taken kombucha and sourdough classes and was blown away. Some of the best classes offered in Bay Area. read more

I absolutely love this place. High end fermentation and general kitchen products at surprisingly affordable prices. I made the best sour dough bread I've ever had today using starter I bought there and a recipe, they provided and gingerly walked me through. read more

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I'm going to cop to the fact that one of the reasons I actually went to a brick and mortar store to buy something like a scale was because I've grown tired of my dog's obsession with our front door. What used to be kind of adorable ("awwww, you're in a big city and think you're in charge of protecting us! CUTE!") is now a full-blown Fire Drill event (bark-roaring, throwing herself at the door, "CHELITA! SHH! CHELITA! THE NEIGHBORS!") and I've started adding my rapidly-fraying nerves to the cost of shipping at Amazon. So I swung past the shop I'd noticed by our laundromat, and it's perfect. She curates- my favorite trait in a shop owner- and has excellent taste. I was not bombarded with seven different scales, all of which had their own unique personalities and partisan supporters. I did not need to go through 293842839 reviews of The Best Scales of 2017 for Bread. I was given the exact scale I needed: a scale that measured grams that didn't look like it belonged in a college dorm room weighing out my latest eighth of weed. I've used it and that shit is accurate. Turns out she also had other things I needed: affordable jars for making jam (which I do now because Trump is president and somehow those are related- not sure why) and Ball jars for everything else. I told her I was making my own starter for the first time, and she sells starter- she even let me smell it- and just knowing if I messed up super bad I could go buy a jar of the stuff was actually pretty comforting. Like starter training wheels. OH one more thing: I called the other day to see if they had bread knives. They don't, but recommended another independent kitchen store in Montclair that I'll totally be checking out. Appreciated that they upped another local shop. Very classy. read more

We stopped into the shop when we were in town last year. I picked up some amazing olive oil and vinegar, and felt so inspired for more. Months later, I ordered the vegetable fermenting kit online. Customer service has been amazing. I'd love online classes, if they ever become available! read more

Elizabeth from Preserved was so helpful. I mentioned, in an off-handed way, something extra I didn't know how to deal with. (Too much dairy in my fridge, left over from baking projects. I live alone, and barely ever drink the stuff!) A funny, attentive series of questions follow, and I'm off with a wacky project. She is so smart, interested, and knowledgeable. Carries exactly what I needed. Gave great advice beyond what's on the package insert. And the whole shop is full of fun, interesting gear. I will definitely be back. Highly recommending! read more

Cute little store with lots of fun and unique items for preserving, pickling, etc., for sure worth a look if you are in the area. We took a class Sunday morning on salt fermentation which was fun but would have benefited from less talking and a little more hands on. There are also some brewing supplies and yeasts to be had if you are a home brewer. Fun local place and the owner is very passionate about all things fermentation! read more

Cutest store ever!! Came in looking for a beer kit for my Dad and they had a variety of fantastic options. The person at the front was SUPER nice and helpful and packed it together perfectly for me. All the adorable jars and goods made me want to pickle everything in my kitchen. This place is the best for presents for yourself of others! Will definitely return:) read more

Preserved is great! My mother and I recently attended the sourdough making class taught by Liz from Homestead. Both my mother and I are obsessed with sourdough bread and we both love the sourdough bread from Homestead - so this class was absolutely perfect for us! Liz is an amazing teacher! We learned the various steps of sourdough baking - working with the starter, making leaven, forming the dough, shaping the dough, and actually breaking the bread. We were provided starter to take home with us - it's the starter that Homestead has been working with for years! We also were able to bring two loaves worth of dough home with us - ended up baking two fantastic loaves of sourdough! With the starter in tow, I've been able to bake a ton of bread since - for my friends and family. So happy I took this class! Will be back again to try another class - have always been interested in pickling! read more

The proprietor provided some great recommendations for some items we were looking at, and the store is beautifully stocked. Great location too! This will be a regular destination for us. read more

Excellent service, fabulous system for shopping during Covid, and great selection. I will be back.