Of Cabbages and Kimchi: A Practical Guide to the World of Fermented Food

For a limited time we have bookplates signed by James Read.

If fermentation has always seemed interesting but you have been put off a certain aura of mystically-laced scientific rigor, consider this introductory guide which will introduce you to “the occasional muted bubble pushing its way out of a kimchi pot airlock, a faint background burp escaping a couple of times a minute, like a tiny, slumbering drunk uncle.”

James Read founded a kimchi company in the UK, but here he offers help in making fermentation a hobby in which you engage because you like fermented food, not because you want to rule the world of microbes.

There are chapters on modest home production of:

• Sauerkraut

• Kimchi

• Soy sauce

• Hot sauce

• Vinegar

• Kefir

• Kvass

• Tepache & ginger beer

• Kombucha

• Yogurt

There are recipes for producing the fermented foods themselves, as well as for using them. Your choices range from feta and kimchi muffins and Thai crab cakes with avocado hot sauce to kefir fried chicken and soy caramel dark milk chocolate tart.

Not the last word by any means, but a very welcoming introduction.

Hardcover. Playful watercolor illustrations throughout.