In a pickle: a guide to resources for fermenting and pickling

The art of curing and pickling foods is more popular now than any time since prior to the advent of refrigeration. Finding good sources to begin either of the two processes can be confusing, but luckily Food Republic has done the hard work for us. They’ve produced a guide of their 40 favorite print and online resources for fermenting and pickling.

Food Republic made its selections based on the source’s accessibility for home kitchens and its effectiveness in explaining complex concepts. The list covers fermentation (vegetables, fruits, and more), sourdough, canning, cheese making and related dairy, food history books, and cookbooks that specialize in incorporation fermented foods and flavors. EYB Members have jumped on these trends; many of the books listed are already on Member bookshelves, like The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz, Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish, Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll and Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

The online resources are few but diverse, and include Ferment.works, billed as a “fantastic troubleshooting and community forum” and Nordicfoodlab.org , a “science-based fermentation lab located in Denmark (NOMA)”, among more well-known sources like Food in Jars by Melissa McClellan. Other than the Danish website, the list contains primarily U.S. sources. If you’re interested in finding additional books that people find useful and inspirational for pickling, preserving, curing, and fermenting, look no farther than the EYB Library. There are nearly 150 books dedicated to smoking and curing and over 1,200 books on preserving, including popular books not on Food Republic’s list, such as Salt Sugar Smoke by Diana Henry and Cornersmith by  Alex Elliott-Howery and James Grant.