CONTENTS

Foreword by Michael Pollan . . . . . xi Darkness and Sunlight . . . . . . . 46

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . xv Fermentation Vessels . . . . . . . . 47
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . xvii Jar Method . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Crock Method . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Chapter 1. Fermentation as a Crock Lids . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Coevolutionary Force . . 1 Different Crock Designs . . . . . . . 52
Bacteria: Our Ancestors and Metal Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Coevolutionary Partners . . . . . 1 Plastic Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Fermentation and Culture . . . . . . 6 Wooden Vessels . . . . . . . . . . 54
Fermentation and Coevolution . . . . 10 Canoa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Fermentation as a Natural Phenomenon 12 Gourds and Other Fruits as
The War on Bacteria . . . . . . . . 13 Fermentation Vessels . . . . . . 55
Cultivating a Biophilic Consciousness. . 14 Baskets . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Pit Fermentation . . . . . . . . . 56
Chapter 2. Practical Benefits of Pickle Presses . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Fermentation. . . . . 17 Vegetable Shredding Devices . . . . . 58
The Preservation Benefits of Fermentation, Pounding Tools . . . . . . . . . . 59
and Their Limits . . . . . . . . 18 Alcohol-Making Vessels and Air Locks . . 59
The Health Benefits of Fermented Foods . 21 Siphons and Racking . . . . . . . . 60
Fermentation as a Strategy for Energy Bottles and Bottling . . . . . . . . 61
Efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . 32 Hydrometers . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Extraordinary Flavors of Thermometers . . . . . . . . . . 63
Fermentation . . . . . . . . . 33 Cider and Grape Presses . . . . . . . 63
Grain mills . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 3. Basic Concepts and Steamers . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Equipment . . . . . .37 Incubation Chambers . . . . . . . . 64
Substrates and Microbial Curing Chambers . . . . . . . . . 66
Communities . . . . . . . . . 37 Temperature Controllers . . . . . . . 66
Wild Fermentation Versus Culturing . . 38 Masking Tape and Markers . . . . . 67
Selective Environments . . . . . . . 39
Community Evolution and Succession . 41 Chapter 4. Fermenting Sugars into
Cleanliness and Sterilization . . . . . 41 Alcohol: Meads, Wines,
Cross-Contamination . . . . . . . . 43 and Ciders . . . . . 69
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Yeast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Salt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Simple Mead . . . . . . . . . . . 72

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 Botanical Enhancements to Mead: T’ej Brining Mushrooms . . . . . . . 125
and Baälche . . . . . . . . . . 74 Brining Olives . . . . . . . . . 126
Fruit and Flower Meads . . . . . . . 76 Dilly Beans. . . . . . . . . . . 127
Simple and Short Versus Dry Lactic Acid Fermentations of Fruit . . 128
and Aged . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Kawal . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Continuous Starter Method. . . . . . 79 Adding Starters to Vegetable Ferments . 132
Herbal Elixir Meads . . . . . . . . 79 Liquid Forms of Vegetable Ferments:
Wine from Grapes . . . . . . . . . 82 Beet and Lettuce Kvass, Cultured
Cider and Perry . . . . . . . . . . 84 Cabbage Juice, Kaanji, and
Sugar-Based Country Wines . . . . . 86 Şalgam Suyu . . . . . . . . 135
Alcoholic Beverages from Other Tsukemono: Japanese Pickling Styles . 137
Concentrated Sweeteners . . . . . 87 Cooking with Fermented Vegetables . . 142
Fermented Fruit Salads . . . . . . . 88 Laphet (Fermented Tea Leaves) . . . 142
Plant Sap Ferments . . . . . . . . 88 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . 142
Carbonating Alcoholic Beverages. . . . 91
Mixed Source Legacy . . . . . . . . 92 Chapter 6. Fermenting Sour
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . 92 Tonic Beverages . . . 147
Carbonation . . . . . . . . . . 148
Chapter 5. Fermenting Vegetables Ginger Beer with Ginger Bug . . . . 150
(and Some Fruits Too) 95 Kvass . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Lactic Acid Bacteria . . . . . . . . 96 Tepache and Aluá . . . . . . . . 153
Vitamin C and Fermented Vegetables . . 97 Mabí/Mauby . . . . . . . . . . 154
Kraut-Chi Basics . . . . . . . . . 97 Water Kefir (aka Tibicos). . . . . . 155
Chop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Whey as a Starter . . . . . . . . 160
Salt: Dry-Salting Versus Brining. . . . 99 Roots Beer . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Pounding or Squeezing Vegetables Pru . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
(or Soaking in a Brine) . . . . . 100 Sweet Potato Fly . . . . . . . . . 163
Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Inventive Soda Flavors . . . . . . 164
How Long to Ferment? . . . . . . 102 Smreka . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Surface Molds and Yeasts . . . . . 103 Noni . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Which Vegetables Can Be Fermented? . 105 Kombucha: Panacea or Peril? . . . . 167
Spicing . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Making Kombucha . . . . . . . . 169
Sauerkraut. . . . . . . . . . . .110 Kombucha Candy: Nata . . . . . . .174
Kimchi . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 Jun . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Chinese Pickling . . . . . . . . . .114 Vinegar . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Indian Pickling . . . . . . . . . .116 Shrub . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
Fermenting Hot Sauce, Relishes, Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . .177
Salsas, Chutneys, and Other
Condiments . . . . . . . . . . 117 Chapter 7. Fermenting Milk . . 181
Himalayan Gundruk and Sinki . . . .118 Raw Milk: Microbiology and Politics . 183
Considerations for Salt-Free Simple Clabbering . . . . . . . . 185
Vegetable Ferments . . . . . . .118 Yogurt . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Brining . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Kefir . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Sour Pickles . . . . . . . . . . 123 Viili . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

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 Other Milk Cultures . . . . . . . 197 Chapter 9. Fermenting Beers and
Plant Origins of Milk Cultures . . . 199 Other Grain-Based
Crème Fraîche, Butter, and Alcoholic Beverages . 247
Buttermilk . . . . . . . . . 200 Wild Yeast Beers . . . . . . . . . 248
Whey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Tesgüino . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Sorghum Beer . . . . . . . . . . 253
Factory Versus Farmstead Merissa (Sudanese Toasted
Cheesemaking . . . . . . . . 205 Sorghum Beer) . . . . . . . . 256
Non-Dairy Milks, Yogurts, Asian Rice Brews . . . . . . . . 261
and Cheeses . . . . . . . . . 207 Basic Rice Beer . . . . . . . . . 262
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . 208 Sweet Potato Makgeolli . . . . . . 264
Millet Tongba . . . . . . . . . . 265
Chapter 8. Fermenting Grains Saké . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
and Starchy Tubers . 211 Malting Barley . . . . . . . . . 268
Engrained Patterns . . . . . . . 212 Simple Opaque Barley Beer . . . . . 270
Soaking Grains . . . . . . . . . 218 Cassava and Potato Beers . . . . . 271
Sprouting . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Beyond Hops: Beers with Other Herbs
Rejuvelac . . . . . . . . . . . 220 and Botanical Additives . . . . 273
Porridges . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Distillation . . . . . . . . . . 275
Fermenting Oatmeal . . . . . . . 221
Grits/Polenta . . . . . . . . . . 221 Chapter 10. Growing Mold
Atole Agrio. . . . . . . . . . . 223 Cultures . . . . . 279
Millet Porridge . . . . . . . . . 224 Incubation Chambers for
Sorghum Porridge . . . . . . . . 224 Growing Molds. . . . . . . . 281
Rice Congee . . . . . . . . . . 225 Making Tempeh . . . . . . . . . 284
Old Bread Porridge . . . . . . . . 225 Cooking with Tempeh . . . . . . . 290
Potato Porridge . . . . . . . . . 225 Propagating Tempeh Spores . . . . 291
Poi . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Making Koji . . . . . . . . . . 296
Cassava . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Amazaké . . . . . . . . . . . 299
South American Cassava Breads . . . 229 Plant Sources of Mold Cultures . . . 301
Fermenting Potatoes . . . . . . . 230 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . 305
Sourdough: Starting One and
Maintaining It . . . . . . . . 231 Chapter 11. Fermenting Beans,
Flatbreads/Pancakes . . . . . . . 236 Seeds, and Nuts. . . 309
Sourdough Bread . . . . . . . . 237 Cultured Seed and/or Nut Cheeses,
Sour Rye Porridge Soup (Zur) . . . . 238 Pâtés, and Milks . . . . . . . 310
Sierra Rice . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Acorns . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Hoppers/Appam . . . . . . . . . 241 Coconut Oil . . . . . . . . . . .311
Kishk and Keckek el Fouqara . . . . 243 Cacao, Coffee, and Vanilla
Fermenting Grains with Other Fermentation . . . . . . . . 312
Kinds of Foods . . . . . . . . 244 Spontaneous Fermentation of Beans . 313
Fermenting Leftover Grains Idli/Dosa/Dhokla/Khaman. . . . . 314
(and Starchy Tubers). . . . . . 244 Acarajé (Afro-Brazilian Fritters of
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . 244 Fermented Black-Eyed Peas) . . . 315

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 Soybeans . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Chapter 13. Considerations for
Miso . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 Commercial
Using Miso . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Enterprises . . . . 369
Soy Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Consistency . . . . . . . . . . 370
Fermented Black Beans: First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Hamanatto and Douchi . . . . 327 Scaling Up . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Natto . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Codes, Regulations, and Licensing . . 378
Dawadawa and Related West African Different Business Models: Farm-Based
Fermented Seed Condiments . . . 331 Operations, Diversification, and
Fermenting Tofu. . . . . . . . . 333 Specialization . . . . . . . . 383
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . 335
Chapter 14. Non-Food Applications
Chapter 12. Fermenting Meat, of Fermentation . . 387
Fish, and Eggs . . . 337 Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . 387
Drying, Salting, Smoking, Bioremediation . . . . . . . . . 396
and Curing . . . . . . . . . 339 Waste Management . . . . . . . 398
Dry-Curing Basics . . . . . . . . 341 Disposal of Human Bodies . . . . . 401
Brining: Corned Beef and Tongue . . 344 Fiber and Building Arts . . . . . . 401
Dry-Cured Sausages . . . . . . . 345 Energy Production . . . . . . . . 407
Fish Sauce . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Medicinal Applications of
Pickled Fish . . . . . . . . . . 354 Fermentation . . . . . . . . 409
Fermenting Fish with Grains . . . . 355 Fermentation for Skin Care and
Filipino Burong Isda and Aromatherapy . . . . . . . . .411
Balao-Balao . . . . . . . . . 356 Fermentation Art . . . . . . . . 412
Japanese Nare Zushi . . . . . . . 358
Fermenting Fish and Meat in Whey, Epilogue: A Cultural Revivalist Manifesto 415
Sauerkraut, and Kimchi . . . . 359 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Fermenting Eggs. . . . . . . . . 361 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Cod Liver Oil . . . . . . . . . . 362 A Note on References . . . . . . . 439
Burying Fish and Meat . . . . . . 363 Books Cited. . . . . . . . . . . 443
High Meat . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Meat and Fish Ethics . . . . . . . 367 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

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