from Anna
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Elix Katz may well change your life. I was pretty excited about my new pickle-making jones before I read this book, and now I think I'm well on my way to total addiction to culturing all kinds of food. I've got experiments bubbling all over my kitchen! There's so much to do beyond pickles... there are so many enticing recipes in this book, each a simple, tasty way to connect to ancient foodways and improve your family's health to boot. Aside from those glorious brine-pickled vegetables, I've made simple cheese, started a sourdough culture, soaked and fermented beans and grains, and infused vinegars. (The cheese and the vinegars, strictly speaking, weren't really fermentation projects-- I didn't allow the cheese to age and the vinegar wasn't homemade-- but they were still recipes from the book and awesome fun!) I've never encountered a cookbook that got me so jazzed up to immediately test out so many recipes-- I guess it is because each one is like a science experiment... or maybe more like dabbling in magic. However, even if you aren't the sort to enthusiastically engage in kitchen wizardry, I guarantee you Katz's book will be a fascinating read. He writes passionately about the ancient origins of fermentation processes, the cultures (!) that sprang forth from their practices, and the varied societies that lend us these remarkable foods that he so obviously adores. There are recipes from all around the globe, as virtually every people have traditional ferments figuring prominently in their cuisines. I particularly love that he is so enamored with the foods of his Eastern European Jewish heritage-- some of our family's favorites!-- and am so thrilled to give it a go with his live sourdough version of his uncle's mother Tobye's Challah recipe. Katz's book also, more than being merely an instruction manual for delicious, nutritious projects, dips into being a bit of a blueprint for the ferment of our own modern society-- he is, after all, a back-to-the-lander communard political gay activist, a long-term AIDS survivor who lives in a rural queer intentional community in Tennesee. He's got plenty to say about living off the grid, milking goats, facing his own death... and can interupt directions for creating delectable foodstuffs to wax philosophic about which pronoun he should use to describe the transgender friend who originally shared the recipe with him. I especially appreciate that he is so fervent in his DIY ethic, and adamant that one does not need to buy a lot of fancy equipment or measure amounts and temperatures with scientific accuracy-- he believes wholeheartedly that the real joy in fermenting comes from allowing truly wild cultures to flourish by nourishing our microbial friends who are already with us, and really enjoying the experience of learning as you go and experimenting with what works for you, in your kitchen. He is certainly inspirational. The book genuinely is, as the backcover blurb purports, a "whirlwind trip" and you are sure to get caught up in it. He ends his book thusly: "Draw inspiration from the action of bacteria and yeast, and make your life a transformative process." Amen, brother. Amen.
(Check out Amber's older post Optimal Digestion for Optimal Health: Fermented Foods and Bitter Herbs for more).





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