Discover the Many Rewards of Homemade Spirits—Unique, Flavorful, Economical and Surprisingly Easy to Make! Today’s renewed interest in making wine and beer at home amounts to nothing less than a renaissance. No matter why you want to join the new generation of homebrewers—to complement your cooking, to save money, or simply for a truly rewarding hobby—Strong Waters will tell you how. In this do-it-yourself guide, Scott Mansfield makes a grand tradition accessible for today’s enthusiasts. Beginners will welcome his tips for getting started inexpensively with everyday materials, and experienced hobbyists will be inspired by recipes for longtime favorites and forgotten delights, including: Limoncello, the perfect aperitif to conclude an Italian dinner Perry, apple cider’s sweeter cousin, made from pears Jalapeno Wine, a healthy drink that doubles as a marinade Rhodomel, an ancient Grecian mead flavored with roses and honey Spruce Beer, a North American classic since colonial times Worried that making your own spirits is complicated? Don’t be! Strong Waters covers everything from the basics of bottling to the science of sweetening. It’s surprisingly easy, and as eight pages of color photos illustrate, the results are tantalizing. Cheers!

The essential guide to energy independence – fully revised and updated

"A guide to brewing and fermenting beverages with minimal time commitment, including beer, mead, cider, kombucha, kefir, soda, and alternative fermentations"--

Fruits and vegetables are some of the most expensive parts of any regular menu in your home. With rising transportation costs, a food increase in the summer of 2008 of almost 2 percent, and continually shrinking supplies, the cost of maintaining a healthy supply of these necessary staples is becoming harder and harder for many families. However, with the right resources and planning, you can take advantage of an age old method of storage that will allow you to buy fruits and vegetables when they are least expensive or to grow your own and store them for future use. This book will walk anyone through the process of building and using a root cellar to store their fruits and vegetables for later use, through the cold winter months when even the most basic items can cost an arm and a leg. Before even starting your root cellar, you will learn the basics of choosing the right crops and planting them at the right time or buying them in advance for your root cellar. You will learn how to know which crops and which specific vegetables and fruits are good to keep and which ones should be left alone. You will learn how and when to bring in the harvest and how to prepare for storage effectively. You will learn the basics of spoilage and what to expect from your foods. You will learn what to expect each winter for multiple month storage and which vegetables and fruits to start expecting in your cellar. You will also benefit from interviews with the top experts in the field of storage and root cellaring and farmers who have been storing vegetables for years. You will learn how to start your own underground garden and what various types of cellars exist trenches, closets, and hideaways. You will learn how to start planning your root cellar, how to utilise your basement if you so desire and how to start excavating and preparing it for the first harvest. No matter your situation or your crops, you can benefit from this book and its take on the world of root cellaring and long term fruit and vegetable storage.

"The bible for the D.I.Y set: detailed instructions for how to make your own sauerkraut, beer, yogurt and pretty much everything involving microorganisms."--The New York Times *Named a "Best Gift for Gardeners" by New York Magazine The original guide to kraut, kombucha, kimchi, kefir, and kvass; mead, wine, and cider; pickles and relishes; tempeh, koji, miso, sourdough and so much more...! Winner of the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship, and a New York Times bestseller, with more than a quarter million copies sold, The Art of Fermentation is the most comprehensive guide to do-it-yourself home fermentation ever published. Sandor Katz presents the concepts and processes behind fermentation in ways that are simple enough to guide a reader through their first experience making sauerkraut or yogurt, and in-depth enough to provide greater understanding and insight for experienced practitioners. While Katz expertly contextualizes fermentation in terms of biological and cultural evolution, health and nutrition, and even economics, this is primarily a compendium of practical information--how the processes work; parameters for safety; techniques for effective preservation; troubleshooting; and more. With two-color illustrations and extended resources, this book provides essential wisdom for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, gleaners, foragers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation, and part of the roots of culture itself. Readers will find detailed information on fermenting vegetables; sugars into alcohol (meads, wines, and ciders); sour tonic beverages; milk; grains and starchy tubers; beers (and other grain-based alcoholic beverages); beans; seeds; nuts; fish; meat; and eggs, as well as growing mold cultures, using fermentation in agriculture, art, and energy production, and considerations for commercial enterprises. Sandor Katz has introduced what will undoubtedly remain a classic in food literature, and is the first--and only--of its kind.

Winner of the 2007 IACP Cookbook of the Year Award Winner of the 2007 IACP Cookbook Award for Best Book on Wine, Beer or Spirits Winner of the 2006 Georges Duboeuf Wine Book of the Year Award Winner of the 2006 Gourmand World Cookbook Award - U.S. for Best Book on Matching Food and Wine Prepared by a James Beard Award-winning author team, "What to Drink with What You Eat" provides the most comprehensive guide to matching food and drink ever compiled--complete with practical advice from the best wine stewards and chefs in America. 70 full-color photos.