Any good book recommendations for fermenting foods?

[creaker]

I have a friend who's 40th is coming up. He gardens, he's brewed beer, he's been asking about kombucha - I'd like to find him a good text for fermenting foods, if there is actually one that broad. Something more of a how-to on a number of ways of fermenting foods. Any suggestions?

[Tussiemussies]

Hi creaker,

Did a search on Amazon and books came up on each of your catagories. You just have to keep scrolling down to see all of the catagories. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Fermenting+foods


:) Christine

[ApatheticNoMore]

Those by Sandor Ellix Katz are pretty well known, I read his "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved", but didn't make any recipes. His recipes seemed very ad-hoc, as in not precise and messy, kind of like: "leave some cabbage out on the kitchen counter and let it rot and maybe you'll have sour kraut", well honestly not quite *that* bad, but you get the drift, not really the type of precision I would like for that subject area, so hmm that's not really a recommendation, but his name will probably come up as he is well known.

[happystuff]

Not sure if this is what he is looking for or not, but there is Nurishing Traditions. Can't remember the author's name off-hand. It contains a variety of recipes, including various fermented foods.

[Rosemary]

There are several new books I've seen at our library that have the general topic of food preservation, that discuss canning, freezing, drying and fermentation in a fair amount of detail - you might want to browse at your library or bookstore to find what you're looking for.

[herbgeek]

Here's a link to the Nourishing Traditions book mentioned above: http://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politically-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350907707&sr=8-1&keywords=nourishing+traditions

I took a couple of classes this year on lacto fermentation. None of them covered kombucha specifically though. :( I do like the following book for food preservation, they do have one chapter on lacto fermented (pickled) foods. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008846QKI/ref=docs-os-doi_0

[SteveinMN]

I received as a gift "The Joy of Pickling" by Linda Ziedrich. I like it. It goes well beyond the usual kosher dill/bread & butter/sauerkraut trio to examine different methods of fermentation, brining, etc. It seems very approachable to me.

[JaneV2.0]

I just got Katz's Wild Fermentation. I like his free-style approach; I'm not much of a recipe person. I bought a cheap crock and I'm contemplating kimchee.

[Gregg]

We have both the Joy of Pickling and Wild Fermentation. WF is more fun to read, but JOP is our go to source when we actually make something.

[JaneV2.0]

Excellent suggestion, Rosemary. I preview books at the library all the time, and buy the best ones.

I have Nourishing Traditions as well. An excellent kitchen basic.

[Rosemary]

I am going to try making sauerkraut at home. I like the idea of the traditional crocks but didn't like the cost. I bought the "Perfect Pickler" which is a lid and one-way air vent to allow fermentation in a wide-mouth mason jar. I will report back on results...

[JaneV2.0]

I am going to try making sauerkraut at home. I like the idea of the traditional crocks but didn't like the cost. I bought the "Perfect Pickler" which is a lid and one-way air vent to allow fermentation in a wide-mouth mason jar. I will report back on results...

Please do! I saw those on Amazon and wondered about them.

[herbgeek]

For what its worth, I've done my fermenting in canning jars with just a normal lid or a piece of plastic wrap on top.