Top Books on Lactic Acid Fermentation

Top Books on Lactic Acid Fermentation

​Lactic acid fermentation, also known as lacto-fermentation, is a widely used fermentation technique employed to produce various foods, including sauerkraut, kimchi, cheese, yogurt, kombucha, and others. Lactic acid fermentation primarily utilizes lactic acid bacteria, often wild and not cultured, unlike alcoholic fermentation, which employs yeast. For more information on lactic acid fermentation, please visit my previous blog post. Although you can get tons of information online, in blogs, Facebook groups, and more, I still enjoy having books on certain topics. The following two books are the top two I own on fermentation, although I have several more on my to-buy list that I have heard great things about.

1. The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi & David Zilber
​This is a comprehensive guide to fermentation written by two chefs. René Redzepi is the co-owner of Noma, a Michelin-star restaurant in Copenhagen. David Zilber is the director of the fermentation lab at Noma. They cover common ferments, such as lacto-fermented vegetables, kombucha, and vinegar, as well as less common ferments, including koji (rice or soybeans inoculated with a fungus, Aspergillus oryzae), miso (soybeans with koji), shoyu (soy sauce), and others. In addition to numerous recipes, this book also contains background and historical information about many ferments. This guide does not contain any dairy, meat, or bread ferments.

2. The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
​The Art of Fermentation is another comprehensive guide to fermentation by Sandor Katz, a food writer and fermentation expert. This book covers the background and benefits of fermentation, typical lacto-ferments, and necessary equipment, but also alcoholic, milk, bread, and meat fermentation. The author also wrote a popular book, Wild Fermentation, which is on my to-buy list.