A clear, confident, and joyful guide to making—and cooking with—miso, kimchi, quick pickles, kombucha, and more.

"An open-hearted collection of stories, practical tips, and excellent recipes."—Ottolenghi Test Kitchen

Ferment gives you all that's needed to start your fermented foods adventure—whether you want to make simple pickles, dive into lactofermentation, or discover flavor-packed meals to cook with your homemade (or store-bought!) ferments.

Pickles and ferments bring so much flavor and variety to meals, and they're much easier to make than they seem. Enter third-culture cook and fermenting expert Kenji Morimoto, who shows just how simple it is to introduce homemade kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, miso, super-quick pickles, and more into your everyday cooking with delicious, gut-healthy results.

Recent research encourages us to eat thirty plants a week to help our microbiome to thrive. Thanks to Kenji's inventive, globally inspired recipes, eating fermented foods becomes a pleasure as well as the healthiest choice. Whether it's Kimchi Onion Bhajis served with Cilantro and Mint Miso Chutney, Green Bean Miso Soup with Curried Crispy Lima Beans, Kombucha Sorbet, or Preserved Rhubarb and Mixed Berry Pound Cake, this is flavor-forward food like you haven't seen before.

Part one shows you how to make your own ferments and pickles, giving you all the trouble-shooting advice and step-by-step guidance you need, plus plenty of Kenji's unique spins: think Watermelon Rind Kimchi, Pumpkin Miso, and Koji Chimichurri. Part two introduces easy and irresistible apps, dinners, desserts, and even cocktails to make with them. (Or, if you prefer, you can prepare them with your favorite store-bought products instead.)

Ferment is a stylish and practical cookbook that will help you bring this ancient technique into your own kitchen.