Reddit reviews Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

I also do sauerkraut first thing in the morning but also before bed. Sauerkraut/fermented foods is the fucking king for achieving a healthy gut IMO. I don't recall the source or even if it was a good study but it mentioned how raw sauerkraut is in the Trillions of organisms where supplements are in the Billions, a whole order of magnitude greater, so to be honest, I'm surprised that the probiotic supplement industry even exists seeing how easy it is to make your own (salt, cabbage, jar). Which is both frugal and a fun hobby :) I haven't read the book that some one commented but I got started with http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Fermentation-Flavor-Nutrition-Live-Culture/dp/1931498237, and the author, Sandor Katz, is very dedicated and has put out over 10 books on the subject.

I am also a big fan of chia seeds (soluble fiber) and supplemented glutamine (ie. 50g/day for week one, 10g/day sustaining) for achieving a healthy gut. Prebiotics (aka vegetables) are very important and probably number one but I know a lot of Paleo friends who still struggled to take regular happy poops despite living the paleo lifestyle until they incorporated a 1/4 - 1 cup of chia seeds a day.

If you still find that your belly is unhappy after all this, fasting for a 24-48 hrs (ie. weekends) every two weeks, can give the digestive system a break from its daily role to allow the organisms inside to figure things out for themselves. I personally like to fast one weekend per month which has a host of other benefits too.

This is a slow process, assuming you've kept a consistent diet through your life, those little guys have had a home for a long time fighting for their spot and they will not want to leave. Gods speed in your quest for the ghost wipe.

This is a great book that I use...
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Fermentation-Flavor-Nutrition-Live-Culture/dp/1931498237/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323788466&sr=8-1

I had a few other books prior, but I was finally able to quit googling everything after I purchased 366 delicious ways to cook rice, beans, and grains.

I've recently bought wild fermentation - I don't know your feelings on sauerkraut or other fermented foods, but this book (I also took a class) has really opened me up to some amazing, ridiculous things.

As a culture, we're just beginning to feel around the edges of the hugely important role that gut flora/our microbiome plays in our health. It seems like almost every day some new and exciting information is coming out regarding this area of knowledge.

At our house, we do a lot of ferments. We've done kombucha, milk and water kefir, lacto-pickles, sourdough culture and homebrewed beer. We also have a friend that has started a local business making amazing sauerkrauts.

If anybody is interested in this stuff, I'd highly recommend Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz. Both excellent books with background info and recipes.

Fermentation can seem unsafe/intimidating, but I've been surprised at how simple it is to do, and how few issues there are in regards to food safety (the whole reason people started fermenting food in the first place was to keep it from spoiling, after all).

You're gonna love it. I've never tried the gizmo to which you link, but it looks interesting. I do my fermentations the easy way, with one of these crocks. I have never worried about an airlock (for this anyway, homebrew beer is another story...).

I would recommend two books to get you started. Between the two, they've probably got a recipe for everything fermented you could ever want. Wild Fermentation and Nourishing Traditions. My local library had the Nourishing Traditions one.

I've made a couple of batches of sauerkraut and a batch of kim-chi. The sauerkraut I am enjoying this week with home-corned beef. YUM! Here's my sauerkraut "recipe":

Chop/shred about 5 heads of cabbage. Discard cores, or put 'em in the crock to ferment with the rest, your choice. As you chop a cabbage, start putting it in the crock, with a little bit of salt. Once you get a decent amount of cabbage built up in the crock, start pounding it with a mallet or your hands. Keep adding cabbage and a bit of salt as you go. Feel free to add any spices you want- suggestions include dill seeds and/or caraway seeds. As you continue adding cabbage, salt, and pounding it, liquid will be released from the cabbage. Once you've got all the cabbage in the crock that you are going to add, weigh the cabbage down somehow to keep it below the level of the brine. You can do this with a plate, but I prefer a ziploc bag full of salt-water (the salt-water is in case it leaks into your sauerkraut). More liquid will be released for the first day or two as active fermentation begins, and your crock may overflow, so plan for that. Capture the overflow if possible, and add it back in to the crock (the volume will reduce as the cabbage ferments). Check it as often as you want, sample as you go. It's ready when it tastes like sauerkraut. In my last batch, 5 heads of cabbage were packed into a 1 gallon crock, final volume of sauerkraut was about 1/2 gallon. Enjoy!

May I point you towards the book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.

I recommend sauerkraut, sourdough starter (I add a tsp of honey to mine starter), kombucha, rejuvelac, pickles, and / or kimchi.

Also Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz, this is a great book full of a great store of fermentation wisdom.

Wild Fermentation (Sandor Ellix Katz) has a pretty good section on kombucha.

Wild Fermentation is a pretty good book to get started with. The guy is a bit of a hippie and sometimes it's a bit out there, but I think it has some things you might be interested in and some good info as well.

>I need like a step by step manual.

http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Fermentation-Flavor-Nutrition-Live-Culture/dp/1931498237