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-colour 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 mould 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.
About Sandor Ellix Katz
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.
