Kombucha, Kefir, and Beyond

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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