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72 reviews for:
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods
Sandor Ellix Katz
4.35 AVERAGE
72 reviews for:
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods
Sandor Ellix Katz
4.35 AVERAGE
I use Libby to read everything for free by renting audiobooks/Kindle books from my local library. I've just finished this and I need to have a physical copy. I've been having such romanticized daydreams of me holding this book (heavily annotated and dog-eared) in one hand while making beer and wine and sharing it with my friends, making the kind of kimchi I miss so very much having grown up in South Korea with ubiquitous access to fresh kimchi, making our own tempeh instead of buying the 2-layer plastic-wrapped ones from Publix, and leaning over a crock and stirring fermenting coconuts to make tuba, like my uncles in the Philippines used to do to get drunk on long boat trips. The book emphasizes being connected to locally, sustainably, and ethically produced food -- and in turn, connected to the different cultures (bacterial and human, hyuk!) that give rise to them. I'm a feminist for the 99% and have also worked in the field of microbiology for the past two years, so this dude has really just sunk his teeth into me with this book. I'm not gonna compost my own waste, though. No, thank you. I'm good.
informative
medium-paced
I got this book for Christmas and read it front to back soon thereafter. You can't go wrong with fermentation as practiced by a queer hippie! Especially when he goes into loving detail about the microbiology and politics behind it.
I had dreams about fermentation after reading this book, and I'm quickly building my fermenting skills. It presents a beautiful way of working with smaller life forms for the benefit of all of us! And so tasty! I'm going to read his other book as soon as I can.
This book it great! The author has such a nice style and the book is the perfect balance of informative and accessible. It has a lot of detailed, practical advice to get you started on your own fermenting adventures plus just enough history and relevant discussion of the problems with the way we eat to get you really thinking. The author is obviously passionate about making and eating fermented foods and I appreciate that! Too many "alternative" food/health books really turn me off with their angry tone or finger-pointing.
All I can say now is that I can't wait to go out and make me some delicious yogurt, sourdough, sauerkraut, honey mead, vinegar, etc!
All I can say now is that I can't wait to go out and make me some delicious yogurt, sourdough, sauerkraut, honey mead, vinegar, etc!
This is a really short but fascinating booklet all about how to do your own fermentation. As far as I know the subject (and I know a lot more now) Katz covers pretty much everything you could ferment at home, from pickles to sourdough, miso to beer. I now feel fully able to go out and ferment. In fact I have already experimented with the Kimchi recipe and it was delicious. My next experiment will be Curtido. Aside from the fermentation you also get some background on the author and his life in a commune. I like his sensible, try it and see approach which makes fermentation a lot less intimidating. I also like the fact that he isn't advocating fermentation and fermented foods as the next miracle cure that will solve all your ills. I get uncomfortable with books, like juicing, or sprouting that claim wildly unlikely health outcomes. Katz is enthusiastic about the health benefits of fermentation without over hyping them.
Okay, I admit the 4 stars is more because this is the only fermentation book I've read. I may need to amend the ranking later.
It makes fermenting veggies and fruits approachable rather than intimidating.
I'm still having a devil of a time getting wine and mead to work out - I end up with everything tasting vaguely like corn - but I enjoyed the book and found the techniques described to be effective.
I say give it a go.
It makes fermenting veggies and fruits approachable rather than intimidating.
I'm still having a devil of a time getting wine and mead to work out - I end up with everything tasting vaguely like corn - but I enjoyed the book and found the techniques described to be effective.
I say give it a go.
I get a little cranky when my cookbooks are heavily infested with ideological ranting, even if I generally agree with the content. That caveat aside, I'm quite fond of this book; it has a number of unique recipes that I hope to try in the near future.
Recommended to me by a friend who has been using its recipes for kimchi and sauerkraut. It's the kind of cookbook you can easily "read," which I always enjoy. The author seems like an interesting guy; he has a certain hippie affinity with the author of "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers," but tempered with just a little more down-to-earthness. I am currently using his recipe for "Fruit Scrap Vinegar" to try to make apple cider vinegar out of a bunch of saved apple cores. The jury's out until it's done, but it's definitely fermenting away!
Amazing book. Really inspiring and explained the amazing variety of ferments without overwhelming the reader.
Learning about Sandor Katz's personal life and situation made it all the more touching.
Learning about Sandor Katz's personal life and situation made it all the more touching.