Double Review: The Wildcrafting Brewer and Fermented Probiotic Drinks at Home

Every once in a while I like to review non-fiction books that are of general interest, whether gardening, cooking or hair styling. Yes, even I can't read only fantasy and sci-fi. Today I'm looking at health and beverages, by considering two excellent books on fermenting beverages. Fermented foods and drinks are increasingly known to be gut-healthy sources of probiotics. This is a topic near and dear to me because I have celiac disease, a complicated autoimmune disease of the small intestine in which your gut microbiome health is important to stabilizing your overall health. It's easy to get started with fermented beverages like kefir. Once you tackle those, you can appreciate all that these two books offer. The Wildcrafting Brewer is a great resource for information on cultivating wild yeasts that can be used in some of the recipes in Fermented Probiotic Drinks at Home.

The Wildcrafting Brewer by Pascal Baudar

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Stars

I've been fascinated with wildcrafting ever since I saw the movie Where the Lilies Bloom when I was about thirteen. I promptly inhaled the book by Bill and Vera Cleaver (I still have the 1974 release) and embarked on an interesting summer stay at my aunt's house in Burnsville, North Carolina, trying things like sodas made with Queen Anne's Lace (aka wild carrot) flowers and baked goods made with wild carrot seeds at the farmer's market. It was a short hop to my wild berries obsession. So I hesitated over whether or not to try this Net Galley offering because, having celiac disease, I feared the disappointment of seeing a whole bunch of gluten-based brewing recipes that would leave me disappointed. Boy, was I wrong! This book is a treasure trove for the alternative beer and winemaker. As a treatise just on growing wild yeasts it's a thrill. And to top it all off, this book is truly beautiful to look at.

This book may not be something an urban dweller will find easy to work with (although if you have a good farmers market there are plenty of workarounds). My only hesitation about recommending it is that, like a real wildcrafter, you had better be very sure about what you're picking and fermenting. The whole debate about thujones in wolfsbane aside, there are a lot of mildly to very poisonous things out there, from pokeweed to bittersweet to yew-berry to holly. Some are well known to be poisonous and some are lesser known. For city-raised brewers, having a guidebook or other resource to the plants and fruits you're planning to use is vital. Likewise, as Baudar points out, using these recipes if you're pregnant would not be wise.

With those caveats out of the way, this is a beautiful book that is going to be purchased for my New Hampshire kitchen. One of these days I'll hope to post photos of my version of the Mountain Raspberry/Blueberry soda!

Fermented Probiotic Drinks at Home by Felicity Evans

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone who has purchased storebought probiotics knows how expensive it is to get high colony forming unit products. One great solution to that problem is to make fermented food and beverages. While sauerkraut and kimchi might not be to everyone's taste, it's a sure bet that at least one of the fermented probiotic beverages in this book will be. This is an excellent book with crystal clear instructions on how to make cultured fermented beverages (kefirs, kombucha, jun) and wild fermented beverages (kvass, pineapple tempache and honey mead). Evans tells you what you should expect in terms of scent, taste and appearance and what to do if that's not happening for you.

I'd coincidentally started making goat's milk kefir about a month and a half ago and it would have gone more smoothly with this book in hand. Now I'm planning to try to make ginger bugs and pineapple tepaches, as well.

One thing that I felt was missing from the book was a list of resources for kefir grains and SCOBYs. While you can buy kefir grains on Amazon, for instance, some may have concerns about whether those grains come from organic, grass-fed animal milk products or some mass-produced farm. Also, I found no warnings about fermented products like kombucha if you are immunosuppressed (cancer patient, some autoimmune patients, etc.). Those with fragile immune systems should consult a physician before consuming some of these drinks.

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