The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods

by Wardeh Harmon

• This is the first series book to discuss the wonderful health benefits of live-culture foods and the techniques for preparing them
• Includes over 100 delicious recipes for all types of fermentations

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Health, Nonfiction, Amazon, Preservation

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opener as to how devoid the American diet is of fermented foods. Yogurt, especially store-bought, is not nearly enough. Nice overview of how important ferments are for a healthy immune system and disease prevention. Many are vegan and vegetarian-friendly recipes (I'm not either but I know many who are will appreciate recipes that can be adapted for their needs).

Most recipes are simple and do not require too much time-great for the busy mom like me. Can't wait to implement many of these ferments into our REAL food lifestyle. My infant son will be introduced to ferments as he starts solids.

Very well done book with recipes that will not break your budget.

[Coco V · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very brief, straightforward lesson into the history, science, and art of fermentation. My only complaint is that I would have liked the author to go a little more in depth to some of the methods involving alternative ingredients such as culture starters other than whey, but there is a nice appendix of online resources provided. My first 6 cabbages from the garden this year have been successfully fermenting into sauerkraut for about a week now. I can't wait to start filling my body with armies of healthy super-bugs!

[lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this book up until I got to the recipes. The health benefits of fermenting and the basics are provided and each chapter includes a small summary at the end. Unfortunately almost every one of the recipes provided uses whey. This is alright if you have an abundance of whey on hand, but for a beginning fermenter, this presents a complicated hurdle to overcome before even beginning the process. While whey reduces the salt content and provides a boost of beneficial bacteria from the start, fermentation does not need to include whey. I am going to stick to more simple recipes because I would need to purchase and strain a lot of yogurt to continuously produce the 1/4 to 1/2 cup of whey called for in each recipe.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to fermentation: the basic process as well as many different types of fermented foods (from pickles to kefir to sourdough, even sausages!) It has recipes to tempt pretty much anyone, I would think, except the most microbe-averse. I'm now excited to expand my culturing beyond kefir and kombucha and get back into making sourdough bread. Though I think I'll hold off on the sausages...

I could have done without the gratuitous references to God, but they're easy to overlook, if you're not the type to appreciate them.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been making my own kefir, water kefir, and yogurt for a while, but hadn't really ventured into fermenting vegetables, fruits, or anything else. Halfway through this book I made kimchi, garlic dill pickles, beet kvass, and kombucha! I'm also more excited about my kefirs, and ready to ferment just about anything I can get my hands on. This book is very motivating and gets you excited about fermenting. Very easy to read, good explanations, and step-by-step recipes. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is clueless about fermented foods (like I was!).

[Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay. Poorly reviewed - recipes are sometimes missing steps or measurements. Some good background, but I still often felt lost. Many times the book would refer back to something we'd covered in a previous chapter as if it was the final word on a subject, but I didn't remember the previous chapter being all that clear. Would have liked to see more info on what can go wrong, what else to look for, etc.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good information unfortunately spoiled by the author's recommendation to add whey to everything. That's a recipe for yucky pickles. Also, her recommendation for brine is too salty for my taste, and much more salt than necessary. With alterations I've had good luck with a few of the recipes, and it's nice that the author covers beer and meat fermentation. Unfortunately cannot recommend for beginners due to the first two issues, and experienced fermenters won't find much new here.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book seems to be a good introduction to fermenting foods. In our "kill all the germs" society it's a little disconcerting to leave things sitting on the counter on purpose. I've started my own sourdough and gotten yogurt & kefir cultures going. I was surprised by the ease of the English Muffin recipe, although, there is nothing quick about fermented foods.

[Kimberley Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have several books on bread-baking, but this one has the best section I've found thus far on how to create and use a sourdough starter. Worth keeping for the English-muffin recipe alone! Also, it's helped me create much better sauerkraut than I had before. Thumbs up for this book!

[Angie Libert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not generally like the "Idiot's" series, but when I saw that Wardeh was the author, I figured it would be good. And yep, it was great. Alot of tasty recipes!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful. Full of new fermenting ideas and yummy recipes.

[Lpc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Info is ok, but all the recipes says you need to add whey, which is not the case and misleading.

[Stephanie]

Good basic overview of the science behind fermenting and the array of things you can make. Next up: Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation.

[Margaret Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource and full of recipes that work.

[Mark]

Of reasonable interest. Perhaps a used copy.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy to understand. recipes are easy to follow.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great walk through to fermenting at home. I have not implemented much yet, but I hope to move beyond sauerkraut and pickles in due time. Handy to have on any cookbook shelf.

[Barbara Beebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear instructions and lots of recipes.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it!