7 best fermentation cookbooks: Perfect the preserving process

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.

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.