Press Release: Sandor Katz Workshop Hosted by Masontops

            October 22, 2016 – Toronto, Ontario – Today Masontops hosted a workshop with leading food fermentation expert Sandor Katz. The Masontops team had the opportunity to meet with Katz while he guided them through an overview of fermentation in the spacious kitchen of Marni Wasserman’s Food Studio. The event was held and filmed to fulfil a $125,000 stretch goal promise made by Masontops to their Kickstarter Backers who helped fund Masontops’ line of Mason jar fermentation accessories. The event will later be digitally shared with the 4,533 Kickstarter backers that supported Masontops.

            Katz filled the room with his charisma and playful personality while he imparted golden knowledge on fermentation, including an explanation of what fermentation is, insight into the science, health benefits, and a step-by-step tutorial on how to make sauerkraut. The audience was able to meet with Katz and ask one-on-one questions with his unparalleled experience at their fingertips. Katz encouraged the audience to restore the biodiversity of their gut bacteria, attributing the bacteria found in fermented foods to assist with disease and illness prevention. “We have experienced in the past century a diminished biodiversity of gut bacteria … a lot of the thinking to what’s behind some of the emergent epidemics we’re seeing are all related to gut bacteria. There is a compelling reason to restore this biodiversity.”

           Katz is famously known for his authorship of “Wild Fermentation” and “The Art of Fermentation.” His diagnosis of HIV in 1991 motivated him to abandon his career in New York City and move to Cannon County, Tennessee where he discovered fermentation. Commonly referred to as Sandorkraut, Katz is largely responsible for the increase in at-home fermentation and for spreading knowledge on the health benefits of fermented food.

           “We definitely had some selfish motivations when we set our $125,000 Kiskstarter stretch goal as a workshop with Sandor Katz. That being, we just really wanted to meet him and are thrilled to be able to share his knowledge with our community. There aren’t many people in the world with as much experience fermenting food as him… he really helped make at-home fermentation accessible, thanks to his knowledge and books. Without his dedication I doubt at-home fermentation would be as popular as it is today,” said Masontops Founder Phil Baron. “That popularity really came through with the support we received from the Kickstarter community. Our campaign proved people are interested in making their own ferments and that there was a demand for a simpler airlock tool. It was an incredible experience to be able to meet our customers and respond to their needs before they even were customers. It made for a very unique and well-prepared product launch. Since the Kickstarter, our product offering has grown tremendously and we are so proud of the success we’ve had with Masontops.com.”

            The workshop was held Saturday, October 22, 2016 from 1:00 – 2:30 PM at Marni Wasserman's Food Studio, 510 Eglinton Ave W, Toronto, Ontario. A video of the workshop will be released in November 2016. In one month the Masontops Kickstarter was funded by 4,533 backers and raised $189,066 USD, making Masontops the most funded Mason jar project worldwide and most funded food-related Kickstarter project from Canada.

About Masontops

            Founded in 2015, Masontops™ is a leading fermentation tool manufacturer and supplier in the health food and kitchenware market, commonly known for the innovative Pickle Pipe waterless airlock tool. Based out of Toronto, Ontario, Masontops strives to provide consumers and retailers with the best tools for Mason jar food fermentation. Masontops continues to develop and manufacture top-quality fermentation tools and other Mason jar related accessories with numerous patents pending. For more information, please visit http://www.masontops.com/.

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