The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World

Sandor Ellix Katz

Chelsea Green Publishing, May 14, 2012 - Cooking - 528 pages

Winner of the 2013 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship, and a New York Times bestseller, The Art of Fermentation is the most comprehensive guide to do-it-yourself home fermentation ever published. Sandor Katz presents the concepts and processes behind fermentation in ways that are simple enough to guide a reader through their first experience making sauerkraut or yogurt, and in-depth enough to provide greater understanding and insight for experienced practitioners.

While Katz expertly contextualizes fermentation in terms of biological and cultural evolution, health and nutrition, and even economics, this is primarily a compendium of practical information—how the processes work; parameters for safety; techniques for effective preservation; troubleshooting; and more.

With two-color illustrations and extended resources, this book provides essential wisdom for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, gleaners, foragers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation, and part of the roots of culture itself.

Readers will find detailed information on fermenting vegetables; sugars into alcohol (meads, wines, and ciders); sour tonic beverages; milk; grains and starchy tubers; beers (and other grain-based alcoholic beverages); beans; seeds; nuts; fish; meat; and eggs, as well as growing mold cultures, using fermentation in agriculture, art, and energy production, and considerations for commercial enterprises. Sandor Katz has introduced what will undoubtedly remain a classic in food literature, and is the first—and only—of its kind.

What people are saying

User Review -

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this bible on life.,. Finally one which provides a reader with all they need to start or complete in community. We went and got left over organic produce from our local farmers market. A few pounds of carrots and cucumbers. We were able to make some pickles and crunchy pickled carrots to share with all our friends, neighbours and family. It was an excellent way to barter for some new lids for our mason jars (not needed for fermentation) We all highly recommend this book and we are so happy to have been loaned a copy. Please, everyone buy this book and reclaim your health as well as localize! 

User Review -

Two words: life. changing. Halfway through the book, I put up some carrots to pickle. (SO GOOD.) By the time I finished reading it, I'd also made hard cider. It's full of theory -- which is fascinating -- and also practical tips for all difficulty levels. It's the kind of book that helps you get started if you've never fermented, and can open whole new worlds of ideas for you if you want to go further. I couldn't possibly recommend this enough. 

Contents

• Fermentation as: 1
• Fermentation and Coevolution: 10
• Practical Benefits: 17
• Fermentation as a Strategy for Energy: 32
• Wild Fermentation Versus Culturing: 38
• Water: 44
• AlcoholMaking Vessels andAir Locks: 63
• Fermenting Sugars into: 69
• Tej: 74
• Herbal Elixir Meads Wine from Grapes Cider and Perry SugarBased Country Wines Alcoholic Beverages from Other: 92
• and Ciders Yeast Simple Mead: 128
• Adding Starters to Vegetable Ferments: 132
• Fermenting Sour: 147
• Tonic Beverages Carbonation Ginger Beer with Ginger Bug Kvass Tepache and Aluá MabíMauby Water Kefir aka Tibicos: 174
• Fermenting Milk: 181
• Other Milk Cultures Plant Origins ofMilk Cultures: 207
• Kefir Viili: 230
• Beers with Other Herbs: 273
• Growing Mold: 279
• Making Tempeh Cooking with Tempeh Propagating Tempeh Spores: 305
• Pâtés and Milks Acorns: 313
• Miso Using Miso: 323
• Dawadawa and Related WestAfrican: 331
• Fermenting Meat: 337
• Codes Regulations and Licensing: 378
• NonFood Applications: 387
• Bioremediation Waste Management Disposal ofHuman Bodies Fiber and BuildingArts Energy Production MedicinalApplications: 411
• Resources: 419
• Glossary: 435
• Books Cited: 443
• Endnotes: 451
• 72: 457
• Index: 479
• 281: 488
• 142: 489
• 409: 490
• 181: 495
• 312: 497
• 415: 498

About the author

Sandor Ellix Katz is a fermentation revivalist. A self-taught experimentalist who lives in rural Tennessee, his explorations in fermentation developed out of overlapping interests in cooking, nutrition, and gardening. This book, originally published in 2003, along with his The Art of Fermentation (2012) and the hundreds of fermentation workshops he has taught around the world, have helped to catalyze a broad revival of the fermentation arts. Newsweek called Wild Fermentation "the fermenting Bible," and The New York Times calls Sandor “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.” For more information, check out his website www.wildfermentation.com.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World
• Author: Sandor Ellix Katz
• Contributor: Michael Pollan
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012
• ISBN: 1603583645, 9781603583640
• Length: 528 pages
• Subjects: Cooking / Beverages / Alcoholic / General; Cooking / Methods / Canning & Preserving; Cooking / Reference; Cooking / Specific Ingredients / Natural Foods; Cooking / Vegetarian; Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Nutrition; Technology & Engineering / Food Science