Baker’s Dozen: 13 Questions with Meaghan and Shane Carpenter of HEX Ferments and HEX Superette

Meaghan and Shane Carpenter of HEX Ferments and HEX Superette are very dedicated to teaching us all about the goodness of fermented food and drinks and they have come a long way! From their tiny space at Belvedere Square (next to the equally wonderful Jinji Fraser of Jinji Chocolate) they grew their business very gradually and have made so many Baltimoreans healthier along the way. I bought my first bottle of HEX kombucha – first kombucha ever for me – around 2017, I think, and from the first sip, I was hooked. Ginger and Lazy Days are my forever faves. Also, who else loves using their empty kraut jars in the kitchen??

HEX does so many fun and delicious hands on learning and the offerings change all the time. For example, a few months ago, I attended a popup by my friend Anna of Tom Cat’s Kitchen at HEX’s tasting room and local shopping hub, HEX Superette. Next up: I’m planning to go to a vinegar making class at HEX during the Baltimore Fermentation Festival on May 17. I am ridiculously excited. You can get tickets HERE. The festival is another example of Meaghan and Shane doing such interesting work and bringing fun and educational experiences to us lucky Baltimoreans.

I love trying new things and it’s always exciting to discover new ingredients and approaches to food. I’m a sponge when it comes to things like that. To me, that’s how life should be. Thank you, Meaghan and Shane for making lifelong learning possible for so many people and continuing to teach us about new (and delicious, good for you) things. Baltimore is lucky have you here.

Hope you enjoy this one – make sure you get to HEX soon!!

Cake or Pie? And what kind?

Shane: Either if they are good!  Meat pies have a special place in my heart. Our former production manager’s tres leches is certainly worthy of midnight cravings too. All of it!

Meaghan: Cake, specifically yellow cake with chocolate icing and colorful confetti sprinkles (veggie dyed of course).

Your most prized possession?

Shane: A (mostly) sound mind and body.

Meaghan: Photos of my Mom.

What’s your favorite thing to order out at restaurants?

Shane: Weird combinations and messy stuff.

Meaghan: Something I wouldn’t make or can’t make at home.

What’s your favorite to cook at home?

Shane: A full grill of meats and veggies while I get slightly cooked myself on kombucha cocktails.

Meaghan: We cook pretty simply at home, local meats and veggies mainly. When I have time, I love to bake.

What’s your morning beverage and how do you take it?

Shane: Thread May 68 with a lil’ turmeric, black pepper and frothy non-dairy milk.

Meaghan: Chaga tea with turmeric powder, fresh black pepper, soymilk, touch of maple syrup.

What’s your personal motto?

Shane: Do the best you can in the time that you have.

Meaghan: A current favorite quote by Donna Haraway, “Staying with the Trouble”

“Symbiosis is a ubiquitous condition of life on Earth; nothing makes itself; nothing is really autopoietic or self-organizing. Organisms emerge from and sustain themselves through interactions with multitudes of others. We are all lichens now.”

What’s your favorite holiday and why?

Shane: Thanksgiving, shared with friends and family. Sauerkraut!

Meaghan: Thanksgiving. Food, friends and family, celebration of the harvest. A holiday to celebrate our gratitude for one another, for nature.

Best advice you were ever given? And from whom?

Shane: Finish chewing before taking another bite. (Mom)

Meaghan: “If you made it once you can make it again; go ahead, erase!” From my drawing professor, Howard Quednau, at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where I did my undergrad. 

What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment

Shane: Adulting with a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, in another part of the world. Gosh, how did I get here?!

Meaghan: Starting HEX Ferments, it took three years and many roadblocks to convince the powers that be.Then the feeling that you have made something that feeds people and brings them better health. 

The last text you sent?

Shane: “It’s something like we give her $120 and she gives us a gift(?) and then cuts a lock of hair from her nephew?” (Turns out this is a Peruvian custom called landaruto).

Meaghan: To my sister; “Is this a retrograde week?”

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Shane: Wow, so darn elusive, but riding e-bikes at sunset in Acadia National Park with Meaghan is certainly a “Postcard from Heaven”.

Meaghan: Swimming, kayaking, fishing all day on Star Lake (northern Minnesota where I am from). Followed by my Dad’s walleye, sunny and crappie fish fry, shared with my husband, sister, her husband, my Dad and my Stepmom. 

What do you love most about food?

Shane: It’s relationship to hunger, it’s ability to nourish and delight, and the storehouse of memories it contains. It’s with us for life!

Meaghan: That it is shared with others.

What’s your favorite place in Baltimore?

Shane: HEX patio! Really trying to make a little oasis off of York Road. And speaking of oases, the Mt Washington Arboretum (different from Cylburn) is also quite splendid.

Meaghan: Swimming in the Inner Harbor last year was a profound experience that will stay with me forever. I was a support swimmer for Katie Pumphrey’s Bay to Baltimore swim and as we swam into the Inner Harbor, seeing Baltimore from a new angle, that instantly became my favorite place in the entire city. Seeing Baltimore from the perspective of the water and all the history it holds, as well as promise, gives me goosebumps still. Baltimore has so much potential and working on the health of our water systems is not only integral to our survival but to the healthy growth of our Charm City. 

Read more Baker’s Dozen pieces at Charm City Cook.