Welcome Sandor Ellix Katz author of Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation

This week Sandor Ellix Katz will be joining us to answer our questions about fermentation.

There are up to two copies of his book The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation up for grabs.

Sandor himself will be popping into the forum over the next few days answering questions and joining in discussions.

From now through this Friday, any posts in this forum, ie the food preservation forum, could be selected to win.

To win, you must use a name that follows our naming policy and you must have your email set up in Paul's daily-ish email..

The winner will be notified by email and must respond within 24 hours.

His website is wildfermentation.com

Posts in this thread won't count, but please feel free to say hi to Sandor and make him feel at home!

Welcome Mr. Katz! I am so excited to have you here on the forum.I will be wracking my brain for questions for your wisdom. Thank you for all of your earnest work in fermentation!

Welcome! I really enjoyed Wild Fermentation and am looking forward to trying out some of your recipes as the growing season progresses.

Welcome Mr. Katz! I have been a huge fan of yours for the last few years and use your books religiously. I had both Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation out again at the kitchen table this morning seeking your wisdom in our fermenting endeavors. We procured some water kefir grains yesterday and started some new projects this morning. Ever since reading your books I have begun fermentation projects wherever I move and have at least 6 bubblies going within the first two days of moving somewhere. We just started a few liters of water kefir trying out turbinado sugar in one, agave syrup in another, and almond milk in a third. We also bought a mango and a couple coconuts to try out some fruits. A couple questions: doesn't seem like the almond milk is doing so well. I read this morning that it is possible to use water grains for nut milks, but I am wondering if I also need to add some sugar? Also, what are your favorite fruits to use in water kefir? Super stoked you're on Permies this week!

HI Sandor, I enjoyed your podacst/interview over on herb mentor a while back. Glad to see you are still at it!! Thanks for making yourself available to us!

Ho great! Welcome! I would love to do fermenting when my kitchen will be finished and organized!
At the moment I buy some saurkrout and other fermented veggies...

welcome, Sandor, so glad you are here! Your book 'Wild Fermentation' is a favorite of mine at our library.

What a coincidence. My yoga teacher just turned me on to "Art of Fermentation" last week. I rushed out and got a copy and am about a third of the way through. I love the concept of Biophilic Consciousness and how you express that idea throughout the book. I had started to become afraid of bacteria over the last few years as so much anti-bacterial propaganda has been forced upon us, but now I realize that I can just relax and not worry about it and start to love the little critters!

Sandor, I'm so glad to see that you will be here at Permies.

I hope all is well with you and yours....

Rumor has it that you will be with us at the Connection for Change this fall. I would love to chop chop for you again, let me know, I'll bring my own Knife this time. When you are in the area you are welcome to stay at my Humble Dwelling here on the River. I'm sure your Hosts at the MI have much more glamorous accommodations though.... Thank you for all you do for the World Sandor. You have touched this Crone's life.
Hope to see you soon My Soul Son....Peace~Love Sue Dutra

Welcome Mr. Katz,

I'm new to the idea of fermented foods. So far I have only tried kumbotcha and loved it, but have not made any myself. What would be a good starter food to try to make myself, and what if any special items would I need to acquire.

Hello Sandor, thanks for joining us.

I was wondering what you think about the recently surfacing health interest about bacteria in the interior of our bodies? "American Gut" seems to be gaining interest.

My brother was hurt in the US years ago and finally escaped to Bolivia 15 years ago. He calls the US medical model "assassination medicine." He has been treating himself with the help of doctors in Bolivia and claims to be alive today, because those doctors appreciated and worked with the bacteria in his body. Last year, my wife and I visited him and were surprised how he had healed and we have now added bacteria in its many forms to our diet.

I am wrapping up my business in Montana and will soon re-join my wife in Santiago, Chile. Amongst other small businesses, we plan to produce and sell fermented food for health and joy out of our house in Santiago. So my question is, what products or thoughts do you have on creating a small business based on fermented foods. Food storage equipment and methods is another related possibility.

I am looking forward to learning from your books.

Thanks,
Mykl Mahr

Ps. Off subject: Please excuse my Webster induced poor phonetic spellings on this forum, because the ethnocentric American owner is stuck in poor spellings from his childhood upbringing. I am happy to see in my world travels that archaic English spellings are being replaced in countries that are converting their native languages to phonetic spellings. It is my hope that the English language does not go the way that the "International French Language" went, because of its need for purity.

Welcome to Permies Mr. Katz,

I must admit I know very little about fermentation but I'm excited to learn. I suppose in my perfect world I could get my hands on a copy of your books and then not ask redundant questions that can be answered by reading (I'll check my local library to see if I can find a copy). As a newcomer to the idea of fermentation as preservation, I apologize if my questions this week are overly simplistic. I'm super excited to have this access to your expertise. Thanks for partnering with Paul and Permies.com to share with all of us.

Hi! Been following you for a while, but never was able to pick up your books. Hope to make it up to Tennessee sometime, too. A potter at the farmers market gave me my kombucha and kefir starters last summer.

Welcome Welcome Welcome!! This is a topic that highly excites me. I was fortunate to receive a book for Christmas that tells a lot about the history of wild fermentation. It has few recipes in it, but is still really rich in information.

My husband and I are on a journey to become more self sufficient, so this is right up our alley! We are in our third year or gardening and practicing permaculture principles. We have a long way to go, but feel we have come so far already:)

I had read that in fermenting, when yeast is needed you can get it naturally from grapes. It said that the yeast was the white film on the outside of the grape. Would this only show up on a grape that is still on the vine? I wonder because I've had store bought grapes before seeming to have a thin white film, but I wonder if I could be wrong and it's just some form of condensation since it is easy to wipe away with your finger and leaves no residue on the finger when that is done.

Peace and blessings Sandor,

I am wondering if you have any recommendations or alterations to your recipes for tropical climates. We have made kimchi, crauts, kefer, and kambucha. If we try to ferment them more than a few weeks they get nasty or little worms make it in and eat them. We have your book and love it. If you have any feed back for wet/dry tropical specific, I would be grateful to read it.

Thank you and keep shinining!
Alana Bliss

Like a previous member, I am also hoping to start selling fermented food at our thriving farmer's market next autumn (primarily kombucha & fermented veggies to start with), and I would echo his question about asking you to share your thoughts on methods, equipment, etc, that we should consider when making larger quantities.

I find it so exciting that the general public is beginning to become more aware of the presence and importance of healthy gut flora! I'm sure this is due in part to your role in getting the message out there. I heard a great interview on CBC (Radio Canada) recently about a university studying the role of intestinal flora in healing from several diseases. Wonderful that mainstream science is beginning to catch up, lol!

Hello Sandor! Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions. I've heard you say a few times that you use your extra sourdough starter to whip up some tortillas. Would you elaborate on that a bit? Do you thin it out to a certain texture? (My starters tend to be thick and spongy). Thanks again, and thanks for the great books. I've got a copy of WF (still saving up for the "Art of..."). I very much appreciate your work.

Tortillas from sourdough starter? Now that sounds good! I would also love more info on that is you are willing to share.
As for me I am in the beginnings of fermentation exploration. I have successfully made cultured veggies over the years(and sometimes not successfully, lol). I am waiting for a sourdough starter as I tried my own but it went bad and as I have never worked with it before I would love to see what the smell should be so I have a better frame of reference. I believe I let it sit past it's prime as I thought it was starting to smell right but I thought it would need longer. Now I am wondering if it is ready to use as soon as you get that sweet yeasty smell.
I am also waiting on water kefir grains that I purchased.
And away I go on my fermenting journeys! Glad I found this forum.

I have been wanting to read Art of Fermentation for quite a while, and now I have another book, wild fermentation to add to my to-read list! I have made my own soda, beer, wine, and sauerkraut. I am really looking forward to the new techniques in these books!

Any tips for someone who wants to try fermenting, but is rather intimidated by the process?

Caroline

HI Sandor, I enjoyed your podacst/interview over on herb mentor a while back. Thanks for making yourself available to us!

Hi Sandor,
Thanks for giving me the confidence to ferment...just about everything
There's an enormous bucket of runner beans, along with chillies and garlic, fermenting out the back.
Hopefully they'll be ready for an autumn festival this weekend or I'll be handing out fermented goods all around the neighbourhood!

I'm curious as to what Mr. Katz's all time favorite fermented food/recipe is.

Hello! This is probably a stupid question, but can things like kifir and yogurt be dehydrated, and if they were would the cultures be viable? I'd like to have my own "culture" that I could store long term.

I'm not sure if anyone is going to get a esponse to their post here in this thread about tortillas. You may want to create a new "topic" in the "food preservation" forum if you want to get a response from Sandor. As tempting as it is to minimize the competition in the contest, I'd hate to see you miss your chance to get a response or to win a copy of one of his books....

Welcome. Looking at your videos on the web and eager to start.

welcome and thanks for sharing

So I ran the winner picker app in the forum software and the winners are ...


Rebecca Norman
and
Adam Ormes


Congratulations Rebecca and Adam!

I sent you an email to ask for the email address of the person that first referred you to Permies.com. That person (if qualified) will also get a book.