Basic Fermentation: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Cultural Manipulation
128
Basic Fermentation: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Cultural Manipulation
128Hardcover(Third Edition)
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
A classic beginner's guide to fermenting just about anything.
At last, a new edition of fermentation guru Sandor Katz's first published work, including all new, step-by-step photography. A great introduction to fermenting foods at home, whether you're looking to expand your kitchen repertoire into exciting new flavors or seeking to make affordable, natural, probiotic food to heal your guts and soothe your soul. Includes clear, straightforward instructions to get you started making anything fermentable, from bread to cheese to yogurt to kimchi to miso to injera to honey wine. Who knew making tasty, healthy, interesting food could be so simple?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781621068723 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Microcosm Publishing |
| Publication date: | 07/11/2017 |
| Series: | Good Life Series |
| Edition description: | Third Edition |
| Pages: | 128 |
| Sales rank: | 1,074,631 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.30(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.50(d) |
| Age Range: | 14 Years |
About the Author
Sandor Ellix Katz considers himself a fermentation revivalist. He has written several award-winning books and taught hundreds of workshops around the world empowering people to create their own fermented foods. The New York Times calls him “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.”
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
[SAUERKRAUT]
It all started with sauerkraut. I'd loved it as a kid in New York City, frequently chowing down on street vendor hot dogs, always with mustard and kraut. My dad told me it had been dubbed "liberty cabbage" when he was a kid and the U.S. was at war with the krauts. I also loved it on reuben sandwiches — classically corned beef, thousand island dressing, sauerkraut with cheese melted over it all. When I stopped eating such mysterious and unsavory processed meat products I ended up not eating much sauerkraut.
That is, until I hooked up with macrobiotics, a dietary ideology and practice that I adhered to for a couple of years. The regime is restrictive — mostly grains and vegetables and legumes, prepared in simple ways. Macrobiotics emphasizes the health benefits and in particular the digestive stimulation provided by live, unpasteurized sauerkraut and other brine pickles. I started eating sauerkraut near-daily and have been making crock after crock of the stuff for almost two decades, earning the nickname Sandorkraut.
Sauerkraut is easy to make:
INGREDIENTS for one gallon: Cabbage (approximately 5 pounds)
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket — cylindrical shape is what's important.
PROCESS: Chop or grate cabbage, finely or coarsely, with or without hearts, however you like it. I love to mix green and red cabbage to end up with bright pink kraut.
Sprinkle salt on the cabbage as you chop it. The salt makes the cabbage sweat, and this creates the brine (salty water) in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting. Do not use iodized salt because iodine inhibits bacterial action.
Three tablespoons of salt is a rough average. According to the food scientists, the sauerkraut process works best in 2-3% brine solution.
I never measure the salt, I just shake some on after I chop up each quarter cabbage. I use more salt in the summer, less in the winter. It is possible to make kraut without salt, using ground kelp and other sea vegetables instead.
Add other vegetables (onions, garlic, other greens, brussels sprouts, small whole heads of cabbage, whatever) and herbs and spices (caraway seeds, dill seeds, anything) as you like. Experiment.
Mix ingredients together and pack into crock. Pack just a bit into The crock at a time and tamp it down hard using your fists or any sturdy kitchen implement. The tamping packs the kraut tight in the crock and helps force water out of the cabbage.
Cover kraut with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly inside the crock. Place a clean weight, like a gallon jug filled with water, on the cover. This weight is what will keep the cabbage submerged in the brine. Cover the whole thing with a cloth or pillow case to keep dust and flies out.
Press down on the weight periodically until the brine rises above the cover. This can take a while, as the salt slowly draws water out of the cabbage. Some cabbage, particularly if it is old, simply contains less water. If for some reason the brine does not rise above the plate level by the next day, add enough salt water to bring the brine level above the plate.
Check the kraut after a few days. If any moldy scum appears on the surface, scrape it away. Taste the kraut. It should start to be tangy after a few days, and the taste gets stronger as time passes. In cool temperatures, kraut can keep improving for months and months. Eventually it becomes soft and the flavor turns less pleasant. The process is faster in summer, slower in winter.
Enjoy. Scoop out a bowlful at a time and keep it in the fridge. I start when the kraut is young and enjoy its evolving flavor over the course of a few weeks. Try the sauerkraut juice that will be left in the bowl after the kraut is eaten: sauerkraut juice is a rare delicacy and unparalleled digestive tonic.
Each time you scoop some kraut out of the crock, you have to repack it carefully. Make sure the kraut is packed tight in the crock, the surface is level, and the cover and weight are clean. Sometimes brine evaporates, so if the kraut is not submerged below brine, just add salted water as necessary.
Some people preserve kraut by canning and heat-processing it. This can be done, but so much of the power of sauerkraut is its aliveness that I wonder: why kill it?
Develop a rhythm: Start a new batch before the previous batch runs out. I take what remains in the crock out, pack the crock with fresh salted cabbage, then pour the old kraut and its juices over the new kraut.
This gives the new batch a boost with an active culture starter.
While researching this book, I found a lab project for a food sciences class at the University of Wisconsin where they make kraut and analyze it at intervals during its fermentation period of five weeks at 70 degrees fahrenheit. What was interesting to me is that the process involves a succession of microorganisms. According to the experiment's write-up:
"As no starter cultures are added to the system, this is referred to as a wild fermentation. The normal flora of the cabbage leaves is relied upon to include the organisms responsible for a desirable fermentation, one that will enhance preservation and organoleptic acceptability. The floral succession is governed mainly by the pH of the growth medium. Initially, a coliform starts the fermentation. Coliforms which have contributed to our lab-made sauerkraut in recent years have included Klebsiella pneumoniac, K. oxcytoca and Enterobacter cloacae. As acid is produced, an environment more favorable for Leuconostoc is quickly formed. The coliform population declines as the population of a strain of Leuconostoc is a heterofermentative lactic acid bacterium, much gas (carbon dioxide) accompanies the acid production during this stage. The pH continues to drop, and a strain of Lactobacillus succeeds the Leuconostoc (on occasion a strain of Pediococcus arises instead of Lactobacillus). The complete fermentation, then, involves a succession of three major groups or genera of bacteria, a succession governed by the decreasing pH."
— From John Lindquist, Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, jlindquist.net/
[MISO]
Miso is a uniquely grounding food, the product of a year or more offermentation. It was noted in the wake of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings that miso helped survivors of the fallout reduce levels of radiation and heavy metals in their bodies. In our radioactive world we could all do with some healing. Making miso requires great patience, but waiting is the hardest part of the process. Making it is simple.
I recommend making and decanting this hearty food in winter.
INGREDIENTS for one gallon: 4 cups dried beans
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Ceramic crock or food grade plastic bucket Lid that fits snugly inside (plate or hardwood)
PROCESS: Soak overnight and cook until soft 4 cups of dry beans. Soybeans are classic, but I've used chickpeas, black beans, split peas, lentils, black-eyed peas and more. Cook until the beans are soft and crush easily. Take care not to burn the beans, especially if you're using soybeans, which take a long while to cook.
Take about 3 cups of the reserved bean cooking liquid (or hot water if there isn't enough or you accidentally poured it down the drain) and mix into the salt and seed miso. After that is well mixed, add the koji. Finally add this mixture to the mashed beans and mix until the texture is uniform. If it seems thicker than miso you've had, add some more bean cooking liquid or hot water to desired consistency. This is your miso; the remaining steps are packaging.
Label clearly with indelible markers. This is important once you have multiple batches going from different years. Store in a cellar, barn or other unheated environment.
Wait. Try some the fall/winter after the first summer of fermentation. Repack it carefully, lightly salting the new top layer. Then try it a year later, even a year after that. The flavor of miso will mellow and develop over time. I tried some nine year-old miso and it was sublime, like a well-aged wine.
A note on decanting: When you open a crock of miso which has Been fermenting for a couple years, the top layer may be quite ugly and off-putting. Skim it off, throw it in the compost, and trust that below the surface the miso will be gorgeous and smell and taste great. I pack miso into thoroughly clean glass jars. If the tops are metal, I use a layer of wax paper between the jar and the lid, as miso causes metal to corrode. I store the jars in the basement. Since fermentation continues, the jars build up pressure, which needs to be periodically released by opening the jars.
To avoid that, you can store miso in the fridge.
A note on a cooking with miso: Boiling miso will kill it. When making soups or sauces, cook your stock and just prior to serving turn off the heat, take a little hot liquid out, mix it with miso, return it to the soup, and stir well.
[AMAZAKE]
When I make miso each winter, I try to order a little extra rice koji so I can make amazake. Amazake is a particularly dramatic ferment, because in a matter of hours it transforms the starch of plain brown rice into sugars. The result is a uniquely sweet rice porridge, which can be eaten as a pudding, strained into a drink, or used as a bubbly base for pancake batter or bread. Amazake is from Japan, and can be found in refrigerator or freezer sections of many health food stores.
INGREDIENTS for a half gallon: 2 cups brown rice
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Half gallon jar Insulated cooler
PROCESS: Bring rice and water to a boil. Cook, covered, for 45 minutes, or until most of the water has absorbed. The high proportion of water will result in a somewhat wet batch of rice, which is what you want. Alternatively you can use leftover rice, rehydrating it and warming it by adding boiling water gradually in a pan over a low heat, while breaking up clumps of rice with a spoon or spatula.
Allow rice to cool, stirring periodically to release heat from the center, until rice is still warm but comfortable to the touch.
Preheat half gallon jar and insulated cooler with hot water.
Add koji to warm rice, mix until distribution seems even, and fill preheated jar with the mixture. Cover jar with a piece of cloth and a rubber band, or loosely cap.
Place the jar in the preheated insulated cooler. If much space remains in the cooler, fill it with bottles of hot water — but not too hot to touch — and/or towels. Close the cooler.
Taste the amazake after eight hours. If it is sweet it is ready. If not, rewarm by sitting the jar of amazake in hot water. Being too hot to touch is okay now since you are trying to raise the temperature of the ferment. Re-insulate it for up to eight more hours.
If you plan to store the amazake beyond a couple of hours bring it to a boil to stop fermentation before refrigerating. The sweet phase passes rather quickly and the amazake begins to transform into an alcoholic grog, which I understand to be the basis for sake, the delicious and strong Japanese rice wine, though I have never taken the process that far.
[SOURDOUGH BREAD]
Bread is a staple food in many cultures around the world. It can be made from different grains and in an extraordinary variety of style. Many excellent books are devoted exclusively to the fine and nuanced art of bread baking. Bakers I have known feel that bread making is a spiritual exercise that connects them to the life force. I quite agree; like any ferment, bread requires the harnessing and gentle cultivation of life forces, in the form of yeast. Bread also requires the full body involvement of kneading. Kneading develops gluten, the rubbery component of wheat and other grains, which enables the dough to trap bubbles of gas released by the yeast as it reproduces, thus yielding a light and airy loaf of bread.
I will walk you through the most basic sourdough process. I never measure anything when I make bread — I find appropriate proportions through texture. But I have tried to offer rough measurements. Take them with a grain or two of salt. Consider the descriptions of consistency and texture more closely than my somewhat arbitrary quantifications. It takes several days for the yeast to colonize your batter. But once it does you can make bread from it for years, even pass it down unto the generations, the way people used to do these things. Once you experience the magic of sourdough bread making you are likely to want to experiment. Deviate, explore, enjoy!
MAKING THE STARTER:
In a quart size jar, mix two cups of warm — bath temperature — water with four tablespoons of honey and/or molasses and one cup of flour. Honey and molasses have very different flavors, but in this process they both serve the same purpose of attracting and stimulating yeast. Likewise, any kind of flour will do. Stir the mixture vigorously and cover it with cheesecloth or other porous material that allows free air circulation.
Wait. The batter will attract yeast from the air. Store your batter in a warm place with good air circulation. 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal, but work with what you have. Visit your batter as often as you think of it — at least daily — and stir it vigorously. The more agitation it has the greater exposure it receives to the yeast that will transform it.
After some number of days you will notice tiny bubbles releasing at the surface of the batter. That is how you can tell the yeast is active. Note that the action of stirring the batter may create some bubbles. Do not confuse these with the bubbles the batter produces when you are not actively introducing air into the mixture. The number of days it will take for yeast to colonize your batter will depend on environmental factors. Every ecosystem has its own unique yeast populations. This is why sourdoughs from specific locations can be so distinctive.
Many cookbooks recommend to start a sourdough with a pinch of packaged yeast to get the process going more quickly. I prefer the gratifying purity of the yeast magically finding its way to the dough.
If you do not find bubbles forming after three or four days, find a warmer spot or add a pinch of packaged yeast.
Add a little more flour (roughly a quarter cup) to the mixture each day and continue stirring for three or four days after the bubbles first appear. You can add any kind of flour, or leftover cooked grains, or rolled oats or whole millet or other whole grains soaked in water overnight. You are feeding the sourdough.
The batter will get thicker, and start to rise, or hold some of the gas the yeast releases, but you want it to remain essentially liquid in form. Add more water if the sourdough gets so thick that it starts to become solid.
Once you have a thick bubbly batter pour half of it into a mixing bowl. This will become your bread to bake (see below); the half in the jar is your "starter" to keep the sourdough going.
Add water roughly equal to the volume you removed for bread, and some more flour. Keep it going by feeding it a little flour every day or two if you are baking at least weekly. If you use it less frequently you can refrigerate it (thus slowing the yeast) and feed it about once a week, then take it out of the fridge and feed it a day or two before you plan to bake to warm it up and get the yeast active again.
MAKING BREAD FROM THE STARTER:
Now, back to the batter in the bowl: Add a cup of water and enough flour or leftover cooked grains, rolled oats, whole millet or other soaked whole grains to make it a thick batter again. Stir it well. Let it sit in a warm place, covered with a towel or cloth, for about 8 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally, until it is good and bubbly.
When it is good and bubbly, add more flour and a little salt. Salt inhibits the yeast, which is why we don't add it early in the process. But bread without salt tastes flat and lacking.
Let it sit, covered, in a warm place for a few hours till it increases noticeably in bulk. Gradually add flour, stir well, and let the dough rise, until it becomes so thick you cannot stir it with a spoon.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Basic Fermentation"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Sandor Ellix Katz.
Excerpted by permission of Microcosm Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Related Subjects
Customer Reviews
Related Searches
Explore More Items
![Mastering Pizza: The Art and Practice of Handmade Pizza, Focaccia, and Calzone [A Cookbook]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9780399579226_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Mastering Pizza: The Art and Practice of Handmade Pizza, Focaccia, and Calzone [A Cookbook]")
