Fermentation

August 13, 2019 9:36 AM

Here is a curated list of links on fermentation: Beers, Mead, Rice-based Beverages, Wines, Bean Ferments, Blogroll, Crocks and other Equipment for Fermentation, Dairy Alternative ferments, Dairy Ferments, Fermentation Art and Ideas, Education, General Links, Small Scale Producers, Food Activism and Advocacy, Food History and Anthropology, Grain Ferments, Lightly Fermented Beverages, Kombucha, Nutrition Information, Plants and Herbalism Links, Recipes, Vegetable Ferments, Vegetarian Resources, Vinegar, & Wild Foods
posted by aniola (16 comments total)

How timely! We just put by 1/2 bushel of fermented pickles on Saturday. They're merrily foaming away in their bins right now.

My recipe: for each 3 litres of trimmed #2 cukes (we made 7+) I used 6-8 dill stalks, 4 smashed garlic cloves, 3 bay leaves, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 aniseed star, 1/2 tsp peppercorns, and 1 bag of cheap black tea (for tannins). Some crocks had extra garlic or extra mustard, or a cut up hot pepper for variety. 5% brine for the full sour action.

They smell SOO GOOOOD even now.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:00 AM on August 13, 2019 [6 favorites]

I make beer, braggotts, meads and melomels. I am familiar with many of the links, but not all of them, so thanks.
posted by terrapin at 10:25 AM on August 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thanks. This is going to kickstart me back into the kombucha thing. I had to stop when I was pregnant.
posted by Catbunny at 10:39 AM on August 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

Thanks! I finally live somewhere with space to devote to things like this and I’m very excited to make pickles, and perhaps one day mead!

terrapin, can you tell us more about your mead-making?
posted by skycrashesdown at 11:09 AM on August 13, 2019

I do a lot of fermented hot sauces and always have a jar of fermented sliced serrano chilies in the refrigerator.
posted by slkinsey at 11:31 AM on August 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

I love me some fermentation! I'm always down for making something new. It's my garage's whole reason for existence. :)

(And Sandor's books have really stayed relevant to people - thhe joy of fermentation being ancient)
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:33 AM on August 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

I knew which site this was before I clicked the link. It's a throwback to the good part of the 1970s, when people were aggregating useful information about a highly specific topic and discovering that holy shit there's so much more here than anybody was expecting.

Anyway, I had some long-standing problems with making yogurt and the resources set me straight. It's the best of the web, there -- Wild Fermentations' own forums are pretty good too.
posted by ardgedee at 11:59 AM on August 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

terrapin, can you tell us more about your mead-making?

I made my first batches last year with 8 year old honey a neighbor had given me. I made a 5-gallon (19l) batch and then split it into two to make one a melomel using elderberries my MiL picked and cooked. I was so damn surprised how easy mead is to make that I plan to make more. I believe one could make mead with only 2 carboys, and an airlock. You don't even need to boil the honey it is so easy! And the equipment takes much less space than brewing beer.

Forgive the self-links, but I did post a few blogs and videos about making mead and melomel on our site. We only started tasting it recently, and expect to allow it to age for winter consumption.
posted by terrapin at 1:54 PM on August 13, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've dived into fermentation in the past 6 months and it's been so much fun and so easy!

Wild Fermentation is a great book. The Noma Guide to Fermentation is also a good, pared down intro for those who are comfortable with cooking in general. The careful stepping up from lacto-fermentation, to vinegar-making, to miso, etc. is very well-paced—though the particular recipes/uses for fermented foods they offer can be highfalutin'. I mean, dehydrated fermented mushroom mignardises? really?

Mastering Fermentation is another good, comprehensive one.

I've fermented greenbeans, garlic, cauliflower (do it with garam masala and garlic!), yellow and red bell peppers (with nanami togarashi!), plums (stop the fermentation quickly!), and shiitake and cep mushrooms. All are great snacks, but cooking with them is a whole new adventure. I might get into kefir, too.

I'm thinking about going to this meetup, if anyone wants to buddy up: https://www.meetup.com/NYCFerments/
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 2:20 PM on August 13, 2019

The salt-fermented chilies recipe from Fuschia Dunlop’s Hunan cookbook is the ultimate gateway drug for home fermenting:

- 1 pound hot peppers, washed, dried, stemmed and roughly chopped (and optionally seeded)
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- mix the peppers and salt in a stainless or glass bowl. Let rest for 20 minutes or so to soften for easier packing.
- pack into a quart jar or two pint jars and seal.
- stick in a dark room temperature place for 2 weeks.
- refrigerate, good for a couple months at minimum.

It doesn’t get much easier than that.
posted by notoriety public at 2:49 PM on August 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

OH oh - on my way home, driving past a Cracker Barrel I could swear I smelled... Fermented Ranch. Like potently. It was a bit disgusting but I love ranch and I know some people (like my roomie) just loves pickled/fermented stuff, so I wonder... Is there a "Fermented Ranch" sauce and if not, how would one make it.
posted by symbioid at 5:37 PM on August 13, 2019

https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/lacto-fermentation-recipes/fermented-ranch-dressing/
posted by symbioid at 5:37 PM on August 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'd say that's a very cultured list. ;p
posted by rufb at 8:14 PM on August 13, 2019

Loving this quote from the Whole Cabbage article:

In addition to its scurvy-slaying powers, kiseli kupus is also responsible for one of this alcohol-steeped region’s favorite hangover cures: rasol. Rasol is, essentially, the raw brine in which the cabbages pickle. With its somewhat snotty green color and jarring smell, this may not seem like the most intuitive thing to reach for on those repentant Sunday mornings after a few too many shots of rakija, but people who have tried rasol swear up and down about its curative properties.

I started playing around with fermentation a few years ago, after eating this amazing pickled bean dish at a chinese restuarant, and did a bit of internet hunting at the time. It's like the internet of the early 2000's. Full of obsessed people who do their own research and testing and share that information complete with dodgy pictures and very little formatting.

This post inspired me to track down this podcast interview with Jane Campbell, which is as delightful as I remember.

If I ever stop doing lab work regularly, I'm expecting to find myself doing more. I really enjoy the process, and often enjoy the product. The great thing about most fermenting is that it's cheap and it's safe.
posted by kjs4 at 9:12 PM on August 13, 2019

Found a typo:
A commercial brain of prepared koji, made in California.
It's the brand I get from my local Japanese market. I like it. MORE BRAINS!
posted by Metacircular at 11:02 PM on August 13, 2019

MORE BRAINS!

Then may I suggest this excellent Welsh brewery?
posted by terrapin at 5:35 AM on August 14, 2019