Table of Contents
Introduction 9
The Basic Fermentation Process 13
Fermented Foods in Food Preservation 14
Fermented Foods as Medicine 15
The Incredible Flavor-Boosting Quality of Fermented Foods 17
Culture Care and Best Practices 18
Troubleshooting Mold 20
Flow to Eat Fermented Foods Every Day 21
How to Use This Book 21
Vegetables 23
The Science Behind Lactic Acid Food Preservation 24
Understanding Why Vegetable Fermentation Is Inherently Safe 24
Brine Level and Proper Burping: The Keys to an Anaerobic Mason Jar Ferment 26
The Relationship Between Salt, Temperature and Time 27
Knowing When Your Ferment Is Done 27
The When and How of Cold Storage 28
Cold Storage Without Refrigeration 29
How to Avoid Mushy Ferments 30
On Starter Cultures 31
Equipment 32
About the Recipes 34
Homestead 'Chi 37
Summer Squash Cortido 38
Taco Kraut 41
Fermented Fresh Herbs 42
Soured Corn 45
Pizza Green Beans 46
Beet and Turnip Sticks with Dill 49
Fruit Kraut 50
Kosher Dill Pickles 51
Fermented Fresh Shelling Beans 52
Sweet Potato Chips with Dried Chilies 55
Everyday Spicy Carrots 56
Whole Fermented Peppers and Sauce 59
Whole Fermented Tomatoes 60
Basic Brine-Fermented Vegetables 62
Basic Self-Brining Fermented Vegetables 63
Triple-Ferment Potato Salad 65
Five Ingredient or Less Kimchi Noodles 66
Grains 69
Sourdough: The Nutritional, Sustainable Way Forward 70
The Sustainable Sourdough Starter 71
Sourdough Starter: The Main Ingredient 72
Creating a Sourdough Rhythm That Works for You 74
Embracing the Unpredictable Nature of Natural Leavening 74
The Long and Short of Long Fermentation 75
The Gluten Question 75
Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking 76
How to Make a Sourdough Starter 79
How to Maintain a Sourdough Starter: Daily or Weekly 80
Active Starter: How to Use Your Starter at Its Peak 80
About the Recipes 81
Seven Ways to Use a Discarded Starter 81
Wheat Sourdough English Muffins 83
Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread 84
Wheat Sourdough Crescent Rolls 87
Quintessential Sourdough Farm Loaf 88
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread 91
Sourdough Biscuits Sans Baking Powder or Soda 92
Multipurpose Wheat Sourdough Tortillas or Flatbread 95
Seasonal Fruit Fermented Muffins 96
Overnight Wheat Sourdough Pancakes Sans Baking Powder or Soda 99
Sourdough Flour-Free Oatmeal Cookies 100
Gluten-Free Sourdough English Muffins 103
Gluten-Free Sourdough Dinner Rolls 104
Gluten-Free Sourdough Seeded Country Loaf 107
Gluten-Free Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes 108
Perpetual Fermented Porridge 111
Sourdough Skillet Combread 112
Fermented Polenta/Grits 115
Dairy 117
How Dairy Fermentation Works 118
Simple, Sustainable Home Dairying 118
Kefir: The Star of My Homestead Kitchen 118
Dairy-Free Milk Kefir 120
Milk: Your Most Important Ingredient 120
Straining Cultured Dairy 121
Equipment 122
About the Recipes 123
How to Make Milk Kefir 125
Four Methods for Making Yogurt 127
Kefir Buckwheat Muesli with Figs and Ginger 131
Simple Homestead Feta Cheese 132
Okroshka 135
Fruit and Yogurt Slaw 136
Kefir Pancake Syrup 138
Kefir Crème Fraîehe 138
How to Ferment Grains with Kefir 139
Sprouted Buckwheat-Berry Cultured Dairy Smoothie 141
Seasonal Vegetable Raita 142
Fruit and Yogurt Mousse 145
Yogurt Caesar Salad Dressing 146
Lemony Spiced Chicken and Potato Salad 149
Easy-Sipping Second Ferment Kefir 150
German Sweet Potato-Kefir Mash 152
Kefir as a Mesophilic Cheese Culture 153
Milk Clabber 154
Curds and Whey 154
Cultured Butter and Traditional Buttermilk 155
Cultured Buttermilk 156
Sour Cream Three Ways 159
Beverages 161
How Beverages Fit into a Sustainable Food System 162
The Stages of Beverage Fermentation 162
Wild Fermented vs. Cultured Beverages 162
Kvass: The Mother of Wild Fermented Beverages 163
Equipment 164
About the Recipes 164
Sourdough Bread Kvass 167
Sweet Potato Kvass 168
Root Beer Syrup for Any Fermented Drink 171
How to Make Whey Sodas 172
Fermented Horchata Concentrate 175
Cabbage Core Kvass 176
Ginger Ale Syrup for Any Fermented Drink 177
The Pits Soda 178
How to Make Water Kefir 181
Fermenting Various Fruit Juices with Water Kefir Grains 182
Beet and Apple Kvass 185
Dried Fruit Kvass 186
Vegetable Brine Wellness Shots 186
How to Make Kombucha 187
Carrot-Clementine Kvass 191
Condiments 193
The Sustainable Side of Fermented Condiments 194
Food Preservation and Fermented Condiments 194
About the Recipes 194
Charred Onion Tomatillo Salsa 197
Veg Brine Fermented Hot Sauce 198
Fermented Pear and Ginger Sauce 201
Fermented Garden Salsa 202
Veg Brine Mayonnaise 205
Overfermented Salsa Hot Sauce 206
Fermented Zucchini and Fruit Mostarda 209
Cultured Dairy Ranch Dressing 210
Fermented Ketchup, Two Ways 213
Raw Fermented Marinara Sauce 214
Veg Brine Homestead Fermented Herb Sauce 217
Resources 218
Further Reading 218
Acknowledgments 219
About the Author 220
Index 221
