Sandor Katz's fermentation journeys Recipes, techniques, and traditions from around the world

Who knows more about fermentation than Katz (The Art of Fermentation, 2012; Fermentation as Metaphor, 2020)? Here Katz takes his readers on a world tour of fermentation, traversing countries and cultures that have contributed to the techniques of fermented foods. He credits Indigenous peoples worldwide for their uses of fermentation to create alcoholic beverages and other foods. In Japan, Katz delves deeply into koji, the indispensable mold that ferments soy into sake, soy sauce, and miso. He also attends international conventions of avant-garde foodies. Katz goes beyond mere documentation and description to provide recipes that fermentation adepts will find helpful, while neophytes may wish to approach some challenges carefully. There are even fermented meats for the truly adventurous. A recipe for crackers crafted from the lees from sake fermentation demonstrates how even what might appear useless discards can be "recycled" into something delicious. Throughout the book are Katz's own photographs. Their artless simplicity and deeply personal connections reflect the book's approach to nature's basic processes.

From Myanmar, where palm tree sap is transformed into wine, to Greenland, where seabirds are aged in seal skin, James Beard Award--winning author Katz (The Art of Fermentation) documents the joys, quirks, and health benefits of fermentation in all its global variety. This encyclopedic cookbook-cum-travel memoir provides 60 recipes that are seeded within a broader discussion of regional techniques and traditions, peppered with profiles of the experts and eateries discovered by Katz on his voyages. The collection begins with simple sugars used to create tasty quaffs like turmeric mead and the Mexican pineapple drink tepache. A section on vegetables offers Chinese pickles and Croatian kraut, while a chapter on mold cultures puts the "fun" back in fungus with tapè, an Indonesian dessert made from fermented sticky rice using fungal starters. Some of the most surprising treats come from the U.S., including fermented salmon heads (known as "stinkheads") in Alaska, and a garlicky beet kvass from Ohio's Fab Ferments called Bubonic Tonic. Home cooks should be armed with multiple cooking vessels, storage jars, and, most of all, patience, as the aging process for many of these recipes takes days, weeks, or even months. This international romp is funky in the best of ways. (Oct.)