Fermentation Revolution: 70 Easy Recipes for Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Kimchi and More

If you enjoy kitchen work, you’ll have many hours of fun with Fermentation Revolution, plus the benefit of many, many fermented products like sauerkraut, fermented cucumber pickles, or shoyu (soy sauce). Sébastien Bureau and David Côté did an admirable job with this beautiful, richly illustrated cookbook, which has some seventy recipes. Most are easy, requiring nothing but patience and meticulous cleanliness. These recipes will not give instant gratification. Most take time for the microorganisms to complete their work, usually a few days, but some take weeks, even months. The extensive introduction provides you a good start, describing fermentation basics, microbiology, the several different kinds of fermentation (like acetic, amylolytic, and proteolytic), and the necessary equipment. Each recipe gives you the level of difficulty, type of fermentation, prep time, fermentation time, and equipment needed. The recipe instructions are easy to follow, and the recipe ingredients are mostly available, though you will have a hard time finding some (beeswax, garlic scapes). You will end up with fermented products like umeboshi plums, kvass, and shrub syrup but also with more familiar kimchi, miso, and fermented green olives. This is an excellent cookbook.