Join Firefly Kitchens co-owner Julie O’Brien for a get-to-know fermented foods class at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 29 at Whole Foods Market in Lynnwood.

O’Brien will show you how to incorporate kraut, kimchi and other fermented foods into recipes that will knock your socks off.

Firefly Kitchens has been in business since January 2010. O’Brien and co-owner Richard Climenhage joined forces more than a year before that in order to test recipes and build the business model that brought them to where they are today.The company currently has five staple products: Classic Kraut, Ruby Red, Cortido, Yin Yang Carrots and Kimchi.

Born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, O’Brien spent her childhood harvesting fresh seafood, picking ripe berries, foraging for wild greens and learning everything she could from her parents and community members about the local food system. While growing up, planning nutritious meals around seasonal abundance and nourishment for the body was a way of life.

O’Brien’s love for food, nourishing others and sharing the abundance the local food system stuck with her when she moved to Seattle to start a family. In 2008 O’Brien received her Nutritional Therapy certification and during the course was introduced to the impacts of fermented foods on the health and wellness of the whole body.

For O’Brien, the potential to combine her love for good food and cooking with the ability to nourish and heal unleashed a spark of creativity and turned her into a fermentation junkie. For years things were fermenting on the counters of her kitchen and friends encouraged her to make larger batches so they could reap the benefits. While trying to decide on the best way to work with people and share this new passion, she joined forces with her partner, Richard Climenhage, to start Firefly Kitchens.