I'll throw another recommendation that people try it out. I got the Noma book (The Noma Guide to Fermentation, a really wonderfully written book) and got started with it. You can ferment such a variety of stuff.
My kids love it, my 4yo helps make lots of things. Fermented tomatoes (pulp is amazing, the liquid you get then is incredible in vinaigrettes and to poach fish in), fermented mushrooms, green beans are popular, kimchi (which is great because it's so expensive to buy here), strawberries. We've got some red sauerkraut on the go right now.
This book is excellent if you're a skilled enough cook to extrapolate the techniques out to other ingredients and make use of the results. Those results will be incredibly interesting almost unique ingredients in their own right and for that reason will not be easy to just substitute in for other things.
There's a reason most people start with sandor katz.
Yes, it's very much not a recipe book, that's good to highlight.
I think many here would like the style - it's a cover of the history, why and how something works and then a set of examples to showcase the variety with tips on how to use them.
For example, it'll explain what lacto-fermentation is & how it works, then give an example of fruit / berry / vegetable / mushroom / something else. Each comes with "how we'd use this at Noma". Given that it was a restaurant regularly chosen as the best in the world, sometimes they are a bit "extra". The base things aren't, but while I've made vinegar from things we picked I've not embarked on the more out-there projects. For anyone who hasn't read it, it'll also go into koji, shiso, misos, garums, kombuchas and vinegars.
> Those results will be incredibly interesting almost unique ingredients in their own right and for that reason will not be easy to just substitute in for other things.
I'm not sure I'd quite agree but I don't think we're at opposite ends here. The results are lots of base ingredients and information on how to use them. Substituting things is heavily encouraged (it's not saying here's how to do blackberries it's "here's how to do things like blackberries"). I've walked away from sections of the book with many more ideas and more confidence about what could be done.
I find it a very interesting book because it's less about giving a set of rigid things to do and more about showing the range and variety of what you can achieve. Also, it's written in a way that's not flowery but very passionate. I find it hard not to be excited when reading it.
I think a lot of techies would like it, but other sources are also excellent for taking you through how to use something.
It's worth a visit to Noma's fermentation lab + restaurant, too. It's a fun place. My favorite "bite" in the lab was fermented black truffles, which was such a unique and vibrant flavor.
My kids love it, my 4yo helps make lots of things. Fermented tomatoes (pulp is amazing, the liquid you get then is incredible in vinaigrettes and to poach fish in), fermented mushrooms, green beans are popular, kimchi (which is great because it's so expensive to buy here), strawberries. We've got some red sauerkraut on the go right now.