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Published:
April 9, 2019

Fermenting For Dummies

Overview

Fermenting For Dummies (9781119594208) was previously published as Fermenting For Dummies (9781118615683). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Want to ferment at home? Easy.

Fermentation is what makes foods like beer, pickles, and sauerkraut delicious—and nutritious. Fermented foods are chock-full of probiotics that aid in digestive and overall health. In addition, the fermentation process also has been shown to add nutrients to food, making already nutritious food even better! Fermenting For Dummies provides step-by-step information for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper

understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation.

Fermenting For Dummies gives you the scoop on the fermenting process, the tools and ingredients you'll need to get started, and 100+ recipes for fermenting at home. So what are you waiting for?

  • Shows you how to ferment vegetables, including slaw-style, pickles, and kimchee
  • Covers how to ferment dairy into yogurt, kefir, cheese, and butter
  • Explains how to ferment fruits, from lemons to tomatoes, and how to serve them
  • Details how to ferment beverages, including mead, beer, kombucha, vinegar, and more

If you're interested in preserving food using this ancient method, Fermenting For Dummies has everything you need to get started.

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About The Author

Marni Wasserman is passionate about real food. She inspires people to eat well and live well everyday. She shares many of her recipes and tips at www.marniwasserman.com. Amy Jeanroy is passionate about healthy, homemade foods and has been making and eating fermented food for 20 years. She shares daily recipes on her site, www.thefarmingwife.com.

Sample Chapters

fermenting for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Fermenting foods requires a little bit of planning, research, and preparation before you can begin. Understanding the terms used in fermenting recipes is vitally important. And once you're ready to start fermenting your own food, you must make sure that your tools and equipment are completely clean.Glossary of fermenting termsFermenting foods and beverages requires a little bit of know-how.

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There are so many reasons of why you should consider fermenting your foods. Not only can you improve your health and change your entire experience with foods and flavors, but you also get to play with new kitchen gadgets! The following list gives you good reasons to get started with some fermenting recipes today.
Fermenting foods is one of those endeavors that requires patience and sometimes a little trial and error. When things don't seem to be working as you expected, check out these tips about the fermentation process. My fermented food is too salty. What do I do? When you taste fermented food, if you find it extremely salty, try rinsing it in a little water before eating.
So, you're all set to try your hand at winemaking. The following recipes can get you started with the right ingredients for delicious homemade wines, but take note: Making a bottle of wine from start to finish may take six months or a year. Importantly, everything hinges on what happens in the week or two of fermentation — the period in which yeast activity extracts all the flavor, aroma, and texture goodies from the grapes and skins and converts the sugar to alcohol.
One popular form of fermenting and pickling is done with the common cabbage. Sauerkraut is an incredible recipe that uses the process of wild fermentation, meaning that no starters are needed. The natural bacteria living on the plant life are responsible alone for the ferment. It doesn't get any easier than that, which makes sauerkraut a perfect recipe for fermentation beginners!
You need several types of containers for fermenting. In some recipes, containers may be called vessels. Containers are made of various substances and come in many sizes. Different types of containers are better suited for different fermented foods. If possible, try to get lids with your containers. You won't always need the lid for sealing the jar, but when you do, it's next to impossible to improvise a tight-fitting lid.
Four basic building blocks make beer — barley (malt), hops, yeast, and water. Of the four main ingredients used to make beer, barley — really, grain in general — makes the biggest contribution. What does barley do for beer? Barley’s responsible for giving beer its underlying flavor, its sweetness, its body, its head of foam, and its mouth feel — the textural qualities of beer on your palate and in your throat, such as viscosity (thickness), carbonation, alcohol warmth, and so on.
The practice of fermenting helps you get the most out of your food in terms of nutrients and flavor. Before you start your next fermenting project, be sure you know where your food is coming from and how it was raised. Food is our main source of fuel, yet few of us have ever seen it through its entire life cycle.
Choosing meats, fish, and eggs for fermenting means recognizing and choosing only the freshest cuts of meat, the freshest fish, and eggs that have been purchased soon after having been laid. When buying meat from a butcher, let him or her know that you will be fermenting a specific cut of meat. He will keep the piece a manageable size and not potentially grind it into burger as he would normally.
Have you ever picked and tasted fruit fresh from the tree? Or picked spinach straight from the soil? It sure is different from the experience of buying it in the grocery store. And when you know where your food comes from and how it was grown, you can be more confident in its quality. If you're going to the trouble of fermenting foods, you want to start with quality ingredients.
When fermenting, having a clean work space and tools ensures that your good bacteria outnumber the bad. Cleaning your work area and equipment is essential to for creating a delicious final product. Here are some general steps you should follow when preparing to ferment food: Wash all containers, utensils, and weights that you’re going to use in a dishwasher or by hand with hot, soapy water just before use.
Each fermentation category has different food ingredients and requires different starters to begin fermentation. A starter contains some of the good bacteria you want in that food and helps get the fermentation off to a good start. Some ingredients are common to most fermentation recipes, such as the following.
Fermenting foods requires a little bit of planning, research, and preparation before you can begin. Understanding the terms used in fermenting recipes is vitally important. And once you're ready to start fermenting your own food, you must make sure that your tools and equipment are completely clean.Glossary of fermenting termsFermenting foods and beverages requires a little bit of know-how.
Fermenting fruit is a fun way to enjoy fruit beyond its expiration date and one of the only ways to make fruit last without unnatural or artificial preservatives. The lactobacilli, which are "friendly" bacteria, are the primary agent that ferments the fruit. How fruit fermentation and vegetable fermenting differ Fruit fermenting is quite different from vegetable fermenting.
Both white and sweet potatoes can be fermented. You may lean towards the latter, as sweet potatoes are a rich source of vitamin A, beta carotene, and fiber, and just taste delicious. However, if they are not your thing, you can even get your hands on "white sweet potatoes," which look like a potato but taste like a sweet potato.
Many fermenting recipes involve seeds and nuts. But most people don't realize that they're a healthy source of protein. That's right: Protein doesn't have to come from meat. Nut and seeds are a great protein-packed meat alternative. And in addition to protein, they provide healthy fats, which provide your body with the good cholesterol you need.
Fermenting foods and beverages requires a little bit of know-how. It's definitely more complicated than grilling a chicken or baking a cake. But if you take the time to familiarize yourself with some of the processes and ingredients, you'll have a much easier time creating delicious fermented items. The following glossary should help: amasake: A sweet fermented rice drink that has traditional roots in Japan.
Food can give you insight into cultural and culinary traditions from around the world. Every part of the world has had a fermented food to be proud of. From beverages and breads to vegetables and fruits to meats and milk, there is often a whole culture and ritual behind these fascinating fermentations. Mesoamerica: Calling all chocolate lovers!
If fermented foods didn't taste good, they wouldn't have remained as popular or as widely used as they have for centuries and centuries. Overall, fermented foods can provide your meals with additional texture and crunch and loads of extra and often unique flavor. You can ferment a variety of foods, which means you can get an exceptional range of health benefits from pretty much all the food groups.
Fermenting is a glamorous term for decaying your food in a controlled method. But fermentation is not the only method of food preservation. Salt curing and drying are commonly heard terms that may be confusing to sort out from the fermenting process. Salt curing: This method of preservation is easily recognized in the cured favorite: bacon.
There are many beliefs and recommendations about how many fermented foods you should eat. Some people say to eat them many times a day, and others a few times a week. Your goal might be to get some fermented foods in your diet now and then — to acquire a taste and to improve your health. Of course, if you're a novice, you may not even be making fermented foods yourself but rather buying a local kombucha or sauerkraut or enjoying the odd bowl of miso soup — and for you, perhaps this is enough.
Pickling is the process of preserving food using a brine (saltwater) solution. The salt in pickling acts on the food by drawing out the water from its cells and kills any bad bacteria that may spoil the food. The process that occurs inside the brine is called fermentation, but the act of making brine and placing food into the saltwater solution is called pickling.
Kombucha has its roots in ancient Asian tradition but has become highly popular. Today you can find kombucha where health foods are sold, where yoga's practiced, among new age crowds, and in the crafty corners of exploratory breweries, but more and more in the mainstream. Why the sudden popularity? Likely, it is due to the health properties that captured the hearts and health of many.
Choose fresh produce for your ferments. The key to fermenting is that the decay is controlled. You want only good bacteria to flourish — not the bad — so make sure your vegetables aren't past their prime. You don't want to introduce any unwanted bacteria in the equation. Choose produce that's slightly under-ripe.
Kombucha has become a popular fermented beverage you can find in health food stores, yoga studios, and craft breweries. It is said to have many detoxifying qualities, and in small doses, this elixir is full of gut-healing benefits. It aids in digestion, increases your energy, and promotes the growth of healthy gut flora.
A starter culture is a microbiological culture that actually performs fermentation. Starters usually consist of a cultivation medium — such as grains, seeds, or nutrient liquids — that have been well colonized by the microorganisms used for the fermentation. Here are various options for some great, nondairy, fruit-fermentation starters: Finished water kefir: You use this at the same rate as whey: about 1/4 cup per quart of ferment.
Fermented dairy products are cultured at room temperature or above. After they reach the desired fermentation, you chill them to slow the fermentation. For fermented dairy recipes, follow the recipe to the letter, taste it, and decide whether to stick with the same storage time based on how well you like the flavor.
Soy is a species of legumes, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Soy has traditionally been used in Asian and Japanese cultures as a condiment. Soy is added to many commercial products — including milk, cheese, and other packaged products — as a stabilizer or enhancer. Soy is loaded with protein, fat, and immune-enhancing properties.
If you're interested in making sausage and other fermented meats, you need some equipment you may not have in your kitchen already. Fermenting meat requires extra care when cleaning and sterilizing equipment to avoid food-borne illness, so if you have old, rusty equipment, you may want to purchase new. Meat grinder for fermenting food To make sausages and other forms of fermented meat, you need a meat grinder.
Nuts and seeds contain all the energy and nutrients needed to grow a plant in a concentrated form. It's as though they are asleep, waiting for the right conditions to allow them to grow. Sprouting a seed or nut wakes them up, and they begin to release their nutrients and activate their enzymes. To make delicious sprouts, start with the best quality nuts and seeds you can find.
Vegetable fermenting is an easy process that involves a few basic steps and a bit of time. By fermenting fresh veggies from your garden — or from your local farmer's market — you can enjoy produce that lasts longer and keeps your body feeling better! Preparing your vegetables for fermenting You can chop, shred, or leave your veggies whole, depending on the vegetable you're using and the end result you want to achieve.
True vinegar is more than the flavor behind a dill pickle. Vinegar in its raw form is actually a living food, containing the beneficial bacteria you need to digest your food properly. Several types of vinegars are used in cooking. Some of them are commonly found in a well-stocked pantry, while others are usually found in a specialty store or the specific country where they're used.
When you begin exploring the world of fermentations, you'll hear people talking about sourdough, sourdough starters, and wild yeasts. A sourdough starter is really just another name for any fermented grain. It's a grain that starts to predigest during the fermentation process, which ultimately makes the flavor more sour.
The fundamental things you need to ferment foods are often the same, but there are many variations of those ingredients that can change your results. Fermenting containers: Fermented foods must be made without the presence of oxygen or spoilage will occur. A good fermenting container is essential to your success.
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