7 best fermentation cookbooks: Perfect the preserving process

Hailed as the “fermenting bible”, this book is a rich source of information and research. Sandor Ellix Katz, whose first book Wild Fermentation has been tipped as the book that started all the hype, began his foray into fermentation while living off-grid in a counter-cultural community for LGBTQ+ people in Tennessee.

It holds an encyclopaedia of fermentation knowledge and experience, based on Katz’s own experiments and personal encounters during his travels. This is a book you can return to time and again, be for inspiration or to troubleshoot a ferment you’re tinkering with.

If it’s recipes you’re searching for, Katz does include some between the reams of information and tales of his own adventures. However, The Art of Fermentation is more loved for igniting curiosities and interests in what home fermentation could bring to the dinner table.

Koji refers to a specific type of fermentation culture or mould that is inoculated into rice, soybeans, barley, and other types of starchy foods. It’s responsible for the umami flavours we know and love – the ones present in soy sauce and miso, as well as used to make alcohol such as sake and shochu. Writers Jeremy Umansky and Rich Shih are both chefs obsessed with what they call “the magic of koji” and use the mould to rapidly age anything from cheese to charcuterie to other types of more experimental ferments.

Koji Alchemy is the first deep dive of its kind into this specific ferment culture. Inspired by this book, one of our testers got themselves a bag of dried koi rice (available online) in a bid to make miso, and found the aroma of the rice is interestingly sweet and almost floral – far from what you would expect it to be considering it is, essentially, mouldy rice.

It is a fascinating topic and this book is an excellent read for anyone interested in what koji could do to enhance their culinary experiences. It is similar to The Art of Fermentation, but with a specific focus, and readers will be delighted to find more than 35 recipes for sauces, pastes, ferments and alcohol to experiment with.

This book is a great introduction to ferments from across the world, and it is particularly great for those looking to expand their culinary horizon. Authors Kirsten and Christopher Shockey, from Oregon, offer a brief history and background on Asian fermenting methods and foods – from popular miso and tempeh to lesser known products such as natto (sticky fermented soybeans) and amazake (a sweet alcoholic drink).

It’s packed with interesting recipes (heirloom cranberry bean miso, anyone?) and is perfect for people looking for more complex ferments to experiment with. Some may think they’re too complex or intimidating, but the authors break down each fermenting method and recipe into easily digestable information, making it more than accessible for home kitchens.

Vegans will be delighted to hear that this book is packed with plant-based recipes for krauts, kimchis, brews and cheeses, and is perfect for readers who are interested in foraging. Pascal Baudar, a wild food researcher and “self-styled ‘culinary alchemist’”, brings the reader’s focus onto their “local terroir”, highlighting the benefits of getting to know one’s own local landscape or garden, and the delicious gems that could be hiding within.

We found this book to be full of creative recipes and projects – from making your own fermentation crock out of a log of oak to harvesting your own sea salt to use in ferments. Wildcrafted Fermentation takes readers step-by-step – first detailing the types of tools and jars needed to get one’s fermentation station started, to exploring what’s available around you. However, before you get out there and immediately start picking things from the local park, be sure to check British foraging laws, as picking wild edible foliage or mushrooms may be prohibited in some areas.

There is little room for waste in Baudar’s book, which is a delight. There are suggestions for every part of a plant – roots, shoots, leaves, flowers, fruit – to be used in ferments. Particularly interesting is the section on plant-based cheeses, which teaches readers how to flavour and age pastes of seeds and nuts to yield both soft and hard vegan cheeses.

It may be the smallest book on our list, but expert yogurt and cheese maker Gianaclis Caldwell’s contribution to the DIY fermentation wave is brimming with ideas and recipes for making gut-friendly ferments. It’s an easy and accessible way to delve into dairy fermentation, but also offers ideas for plant-based yogurts.

Fermented dairy products is a common source of probiotics, which are active bacteria cultures generally used to improve gut flora and strengthen immune systems. Yogurt and kefir are particularly rich in these gut bacteria and are consumed by nearly all cultures throughout the world. Caldwell’s introduction to the history of dairy fermentation and microbes makes for an exciting and educational read.

We particularly enjoyed the straightforward nature of this book, with recipes that can be easily recreated at home without too much faff – a strong favourite being the quick yogurt mozzarella, which was a fun experiment of medium difficulty, with a very satisfying result.

Aside from looking absolutely beautiful, this tome which is the brainchild of Rene Redzepi –who runs the critically acclaimed two-Michelin-starred restaurant Noma in Copenhagen – and Daniel Zilber, the restaurant’s head of fermentation, is an inspiration. Redzepi calls his restaurant’s love for fermentation a “story of accidents” – they have their own fermentation lab that readers can get a glimpse of in the late Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown travel series on Netflix. The Noma Guide to Fermentation is a tribute to the discoveries and patient work carried out in that lab.

Together, the authors write painstakingly about how they use lacto-fermentation, kombucha, vinegar, and koji to produce umami-rich foods to be used in lots of different ways. Umami, is a “fifth flavour” derived from monosodium glutamate (MSG) – a misunderstood additive that is responsible for some of the world’s most delicious food, and it is to our testers’ delight that Noma makes its approval of MSG clear.

Redzepi and Zilber’s imagination in the kitchen is made tangible in this book – from black apples to rose and shrimp garum, to “peaso”, their signature miso made with peas instead of traditional soybeans. It’s a cure for boredom in the kitchen and opens readers up to a whole new world of possibilities in fermentation.

Our final pick is a book closer to home, by author Rachel de Thample, who teaches River Cottage’s preserved and fermentation courses. Her book on fermentation is the latest addition to River Cottage’s huge inventory of handbooks. Readers interested in using more seasonal British produce to create a more sustainable lifestyle will be especially interested as Thample walks you through an array of krauts, pickles, and brews that make the most of the seasons.

From making use of foraged wild garlic and elderflower to using up leftover buttermilk and late-season vegetables, this handbook aims to get people excited about preserving their own food. It is undeniably exciting to open up a jar of probiotic piccalilli for the first time after you’ve put a bunch of vegetables, spices, salt, and water into a jar and left it for a week or more. And the nervousness about the bottle of fermenting ginger beer brewing away, potentially about to explode in your kitchen cabinet, is actually a lot of fun.