Let microbes do the cooking.

Warm milk set by lactic bacteria into a soft, tangy curd — the easiest ferment to start with.

4–12 hours to set

Yoghurt strained of some of its whey for a thick, rich, higher-protein result.

2–8 hours of straining

Milk fermented at room temperature by kefir 'grains' — a tangy, lightly fizzy drink.

12–48 hours (usually about 24)

Milk thickened and soured by cool-loving (mesophilic) cultures — for baking, marinades and drinking.

12–24 hours

Cream cultured at room temperature until thick and tangy.

12–24 hours

Salted yoghurt strained until thick enough to spread — or roll into balls.

12–48 hours of straining

Cream soured with cultures before churning, for a fuller, slightly tangy butter.

12–24 hours culturing + 20 minutes churning

Shredded cabbage and salt, fermented under its own brine — the classic tested vegetable ferment.

3–4 weeks at 21–24 °C; 5–6 weeks at 15.5–18 °C

Salted napa cabbage coated in a chilli, garlic, ginger and often fish-sauce paste, fermented briefly then kept cold.

1–2 days at room temperature, then weeks in the fridge

Whole cucumbers fermented in a salt-and-vinegar brine with dill — NCHFP tested recipe.

3–4 weeks at 21–24 °C; 5–6 weeks at 13–18 °C

Carrot sticks in salt brine with garlic or ginger — a quick, crunchy brine ferment.

1–2 weeks at 18–22 °C

Chillies fermented with salt, then blended into a tangy hot sauce.

1–4 weeks

Garlic cloves fermented in brine or honey. Low-acid garlic is a botulism risk if handled wrong — follow the rules exactly.

Brine: 2–4 weeks. Honey: about 1 month of slow fermentation

Flour and water fed daily until wild yeasts and lactic bacteria make it rise reliably.

7–14 days to become reliable

Bread leavened by an active starter with a long fermentation — the Bread & Bakery studio has the dough maths.

About 24–36 hours start to finish (mostly waiting)

Soaked rice and urad dal ground smooth and fermented overnight until bubbly and sour.

8–14 hours in a warm kitchen (up to about 24 h when cool)

A thicker rice-and-urad batter fermented overnight and steamed into soft idlis.

8–14 hours

Teff batter fermented for days into a sour, spongy flatbread; appam and naan use shorter ferments.

1–3 days

Milk fermented at room temperature by kefir 'grains' — a tangy, lightly fizzy drink.

12–48 hours (usually about 24)

Sweet tea fermented by a SCOBY into a tart, lightly fizzy drink. Follow the NCHFP method exactly.

7–10 days

Translucent grains ferment sugar water into a light, fizzy drink.

24–72 hours (+ optional 12–48 hours second ferment)

Cooked soybeans, koji and salt aged for months into a savoury paste.

Sweet white: weeks to about 2 months; red: 6–24 months

Cooked, acidified soybeans bound into a firm cake by white Rhizopus mycelium in 24–48 hours.

24–48 hours

Steamed soybeans fermented by Bacillus subtilis var. natto into a sticky, stringy, pungent dish.

18–24 hours + 1 day in the fridge