Fermented Foods for Health: Use the Power of Probiotic Foods to Improve Your Digestion, Strengthen Your Immunity, and Prevent Illness

Packed from beginning to end with lots information on the why's and then the how's of eating and making fermented foods. I have made sauerkraut and the fermented salsa so far working with both a brine and then the whey method for the salsa. The salsa tasted like regular fresh homemade but with a pronounced tang. So far I've only managed to get 2 weeks of fermenting on my cabbage before I've run out of jars in the refrigerator and have to break into another 3 liter jar that is fermenting (3L will hold approx. 3 heads of cabbage shredded and packed) - it's that good. Have to make more and faster.Side note for information sake. I've been making my fermented foods in 3L glass jars with the bale and rubber gasket method that I learned about on MOFA (Maine Organic Farmer's Assoc.) and figured it sounded like a less expensive and easier way to go rather than spending big bucks for a fermenting crock. Check them out and you decide.The only recommendation I can seriously make about buying the book, is to buy the book, skip the e-book download if you are really serious about using this information. I bought the e-book and have been about to pull my hair out on a few occasions using it on my iPad. The pages DO NOT CORRELATE correctly with the numbers so finding a page is very difficult, search pages do not go to the correct page or read it with a pen and make notes. You will want to refer back and forth when you are reading descriptions of recipes, making Simple Brine, etc. and try to find them, eeeeck! Buy a used book because you probably will be using it enough that it will be fairly used and loved before you know it anyway and only slightly more than the e-book.Great book, full of tons of information, easy to read and understand.

All we ever wanted to know about fermented foods we can now understand. What are they? Why should we eat them? Can we make them? How? Can we buy them?Some facts from this book: Digestion, the ability of the body to absorb and assimilate food, is key to healthy cells. Eating fermented probiotic foods promotes good digestion. Beneficial bacteria in fermented foods fight off non-beneficial bacteria and thus help to support our immune systems. Many common diseases including gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, eczema, fibromyalgia, kidney stones, obesity, sinusitis, and more may be addressed effectively with fermented foods. Kefir, kombucha, tempeh, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso are fermented foods which provide a multitude of health benefits and can be found in grocery or health food stores.Follow the beautifully illustrated recipes in this book to enhance the nutritive properties of your favorite foods. I recommend it both as a health food book and cook book.

Good book if you want to learn to ferment your own food. My only complaint is that the print is small and light gray so it makes my eyes tired to read it for long periods of time.

I was ignorant to the process of fermentation. I did not even know what it was, why it was good, or why I should be incorporating it into my life and the lives of my family. I went to a garage sale and a young man made fermentation crocks and I knew I liked Kombucha Tea so I bought a crock. When I got home I thought well now I have a crock and I need to know what to do so I went on Amazon and bought two books on the process. I really like this book because it explained to me what fermentation is, why fermentation is good and how I can incorporate fermentation into my daily life. I got a Komucha starter from my neighbor and am now if the process of making my first batch of tea. This is a great book!

First, to the reviewers that are upset that recipes use whey, you can always omit it. Whey is not necessary for lacto-fermenting. Some people like to use it and think that it yields faster/better results. I never use it and my ferments turn out great!I do use the airlock system vs just covering my ferments with a cheese cloth. I have never had a ferment mold or not turn out right since I started using airlocks. It's pretty easy to make your own too, and half the price!The first half of the book gets into the biology of ferments. What are probiotics, how and why do they work, which different strains grow in different foods. She explains why food has a longer shelf life, is rich in vitamins, probiotics, and boosts the immune system. For anyone that is looking to heal their body, making and eating fermented foods daily is the place to start!

Found it to be a wealth of helpful information. Made my first fermented dish and it turned out perfectly.