Wild Fermentation

The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

By Liz Crain

April 9, 2007

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Title

• Wild Fermentation

Author

• Sandor Ellix Katz

Publisher

• Chelsea Green Publishing Company

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Ever since Sandor Ellix Katz prepared his first crock of slow-fermented sauerkraut, his nickname among friends has been Sandorkraut. His impassioned foray into bubbly, salty, and sour fermented foods has led him around the gustatory globe, concocting drinks such as Ethiopian honey wine and Nepalese rice beer, and crock’ing foods such as kimchi, miso, and sauerruben.

Katz fell first for the fun and full flavor of fermented foods and second for the immune-boosting health benefits of live-culture foods. His first book, Wild Fermentation, is a thorough yet playful illustrated cookbook as well as an engaging cross-cultural food reference, whole-food manifesto, and touching memoir.

Wild Fermentation is not a straightforward cookbook with recipes A to Z. Although Katz is dedicated to DIY and spells out his recipes with plenty of thoughtful variations, equipment and ingredient-wise, his route is often circuitous, incorporating lively tales of fellow rural homesteaders along with communal kitchen pranks.

The result is downright neighborly, a generous and inspiring kitchen reference that frequently twangs the heart strings.

Liz Crain is a writer in Portland, Oregon.

See also: Sauerkraut