This is the kind of cookbook that i am not sure about.
I mean, I like books that teach me new techniques
But I feel there are a lot of superfluous recipes in there and not enough know-how. The layout and photos are like most books of that kind. So again, it left me a bit iffy.
I am not sure who I would recommend this to, as I feel I could get all the info online simply by askind google

I wanted to like this book. I have only recently gotten into fermented drinks and was looking forward to reading this. I expected a how-to guide, but it was repetitious--and preaching to the choir--as it mostly goes on and on and on about the benefits of consuming these beverages.

Wow , so many probiotic drinks with their description , making and uses along with the recipes to use them..........

Being a devoted kombucha lover, this was an excellent book for me. It is definitely a guide for either beginner or experienced fermenters, with a lot of creative flavoring offered.

Disclaimer: I am a COMPLETE novice when it comes to ferments, whether they be liquids or solids. So this book really impressed me, as it was the first one specifically on my interest, kombucha, that I have read. I have read other books on ferments before, on vinegar specifically, but since that isn't my particular interest, it didn't grab me like this book did. Your mileage may vary depending on your knowledge and skill level, but for this beginner, I really appreciated it.

This book has the history of fermented liquids and an introduction as to why fermented food and drink was so important. It had BEAUTIFUL pictures and clear lists of what you would need to ferment at home on your own. It does go into some chemistry briefly, for those who are interested in the science side of things. The recipes were great, clearly written and simple, a great combination!

I just bought a starter kombucha kit while on vacation and reading this book really helped me have a bit more confidence in not mucking it up too horribly. We are going to start the Great Kombucha Experiment today, in honor of me finishing this book today.

I highly recommend this book if you are a novice like me. It's written in a rather down-to-earth style, with a very good sense of humor, at least, their humor matches mine, so I enjoyed it! Again, the pictures are very clear, the recipes are not too complex and the relaxed writing style helped to calm my nerves. I suspect it might do the same for other beginners like me. 5, bubbly, stars!

My thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds Press for an eARC copy of this book to read ans review.

I had high hopes for a book on DIY kmobucha but this just fell flat for me. Lackluster and clunky.

I was pretty excited to see this up on Netgalley the same day I ordered some kefir grains, and even more excited to be approved to read and review it!

Sadly, despite being one of only two drinks billed in the title, this book doesn't really talk much about kefir.

The first 25% of the book talks about why you should drink fermented drinks, the history of culturing food, and the science of fermentation. The last 30% (yes you read that right) contains a limited list of resources for further reading and where to find supplies (basically Amazon, Craigslist, Reddit, and three actual specialists located in the US), and a big index ... on an ebook ... which has a search function. 55% of this book is not a guide to fermenting.

The actual content of that first 25% is pretty pointless. It's largely a repetition of the authors preaching about how great fermented foods are and how terrible modern diets/food/ingredients/basically everything is. This is also sprinkled through the rest of the book and it's pretty tedious. It's also not useful. While there are plenty of scientific studies exploring the benefits of consuming the bacterial species often present in fermented foods (and coming up with tentatively positive results), the reader isn't actually presented with any of that. We're not really presented with anything except pseudo-scientific sounding woo that honestly had me convinced there was no evidence of the value of this stuff until I went digging for this review. It reads like an advert from a fermenting company (one of the authors does own one).

The section on the science behind fermentation is at once too detailed and not detailed enough. It actually tries to teach the basics of biochemistry. While biochemistry is what's happening in your fermenting jars, the vast majority of people wanting to experiment do not want to wade through biochemistry before they get to some actual recipes. More than that, it isn't necessary to understand the molecular makeup of sugars and acids and alcohol in order to make this stuff happen on your kitchen counter. If you ARE interested in the science of it, this book is not detailed enough to be of much interest.

After explaining it all, the authors managed to dismiss these incredibly solid, observable, facts of science as something like just another random explanation for fermentation, alongside old beliefs like 'a spirit did it'. They also liken nuclear reactions to "alchemy". Their snooty attitude towards science is really irritating.

Moving onto the recipes, which is what I actually wanted out of this book, I found it difficult to actually move on because the recipes often digress into preaching some more. Seriously, it was so hard to get through it.

The recipes themselves, what small part of the book they constitute, are great. They're clear, detailed enough that you won't be left confused, and varied. I had no idea you could ferment fruit into soda yourself! I'm not sure I want to blend sauerkraut into a drink, but there are plenty of options for unusual beverages and suggestions for more.

None of the recipes are overly complicated and apart from a few requiring hard-to-source ingredients, I would expect most people to be able to tackle these in their kitchen. If there's one thing I've learnt from this book, it's that fermenting stuff really isn't difficult.

That said, recipes for the fermented foods in this book can be found in just as simple a format, for free, online. On websites that contain far more information. In fact, the authors frequently tell you to go search for recipes online because they didn't put them in the book. I'm really glad I didn't pay money for this.

So many fizzy drinks to chose from
A couple of months ago I started cultivating milk kefir at home from fresh kefir grains. Now, I am also interested in cultivating kombucha, and this book will help me with that . Cultivating fermented beverages at home saves me a lot of money and the beverages taste so much better and fresher than their store bought counterparts. When opening the book, I was surprised about the variety of fermented beverages that can be made at home. There are so many fizzy drinks to chose from. Every recipe is different. The first recipe I will make is the Orangina. Root beer and ginger beer are next on the list. And next time I have guests, I will make the country wine with fresh fruit. I have weaned myself from canned sodas and am happy to have found so many tasty alternatives in Kombucha, Kefir, and Beyond.

As someone who has making Kombucha for a couple of years now I was interested in this book to learn more about it, plus get recipes for other drinks. This book does a good job of showing what is needed to create a variety of fermented drinks, from Lasse, to Jun to Kombucha, just to name a few. Interesting parts too, such as the history, the chemistry and the background of a lot of these drinks from around the world. Easy to pick out just the areas you want to read more about, and the recipes are described well. A bit more visuals showing step-by-step would have made it easier, especially for the novice, but overall a great book. Highly recommend this book, and eager to try some of the other recipes here.

As I have been brewing my own Kombucha and Kefir for a few years now I very much enjoy seeing fermented beverages and foods becoming increasingly more popular. That said, I think this resource is best suited to beginners as there was not a whole lot of new information for those that have been dabbling in fermentation for a while. I was excited to see a recipe for Tepache, it's something I've always wanted to try but never really got around to. Now I have no excuse!

My only experience with non-alcoholic fermented beverages is store-bought kefir which I purchase regularly because I not only enjoy it, but I also know it's good for me. Lately, Kombucha has come up quite often in the books I have been reading, and since I am very curious about things I hear about and haven't tried, I'm glad that is included here.. Truthfully, I never even considered trying my hand at making anything like this, but when I cam across this book, and saw how easy it could be, I was hooked.

The authors have taken a lot of time to truly explore this subject. Not only do they delve into the history of fermentation, , but they also explain the health benefits. I feel that fermented products like this are "the next new thing" in healthy living, so this book is definitely a valuable resource. They also include the tools you will need, and I'm sure that most people will have to buy very few things to get started. Much to my surprise, I also already had a lot of the ingredients!

In this book you will find recipes for: Kombucha; Sweet Lassi; Salt or Savory Lassi; Doogh; Salty Fermented Lemonade or Limeade; Switchel; Sekanjabin; Ginger Bug; Milk Kefir; Whey; Vinegar and more. There are 24 recipes altogether.


This is definitely a book worth trying. I give it 5 stars.

"Kombucha, Kefir, and Beyond" explains how to safely make your own fermented drinks. The authors talked about why you should drink fermented drinks, provided an evolutionary history of fermented drink consumption, gave a simplified version of the science of fermenting foods, and described the tools that you need or might like to have to make your own fermented drinks.

They provided about 24 recipes that use fermented foods--plus other ingredients--to make a drink. Most of these were in the fermented cocktails section. The rest of the recipes were how to ferment a food, some part of which can be used as or made into a drink. They started with 6 master recipes for making ginger bug, yogurt, milk kefir, whey, vinegar, and water kefir.

The next chapter was about tea fermentation (kombucha and jun). Next were 6 recipes for vegetable drinks using brine from fermented beets, cucumbers, or radishes and making a juice out of kimchi and such. Next were 7 recipes for making bubbly sodas by fermenting hibiscus, coconut water, grapes, lemons, limes, oranges, or fruit juices. The last chapters covered recipes for fermenting mildly alcoholic drinks: 5 beer recipes (including root beet and ginger beer), 10 wines and ciders (including berry wine, apple cider, pear cider, mead, and rice wine), 4 Mexican drinks, and 18 fermented cocktails.

The instructions were easy to follow and most should be easy to do. They don't require expensive equipment or ingredients. I've made yogurt and kefir in the past, and I felt like they gave good instructions for those. It looked like the other recipes were as useful. I plan to try the ginger bug, apple cider (non-alcoholic version), and coconut water soda recipes soon.

An interesting read, however it was a bit intimidating for me -- when I see scientific formulas, I'm brought back to my highschool classes and slightly break out into hives :)

I can understand the need for very detailed information/history about fermenting drinks, but after reading the book, my takeaway was that it's healthy, however I was unable to retain 99% of the information (but I know it's my brain!). For me, it read almost like a textbook -- and I think it's for those who really, truly want to ferment their own drinks :)