FermenteaWhere food goes to change
626 sourced equipment pages: vessels, tools, appliances and built structures.
What the food sits in while it changes: jars, barrels, tanks, skins, gourds, baskets and wraps.
A floating-lid tank is an open-top vessel whose separate lid rests at the liquid level. In contemporary stainless-steel models, an inflatable perimeter seal reduces the air space above a variable volume of wine, cider or juice.
Ezir is the earthenware jar used in northeastern Algeria to ripen Khliaa ezir, a cooked meat kept in olive oil and rendered fat. Its standard shape, capacity and construction are not documented.
A lahal is a wooden bowl used in household lait caillé preparation in northern Senegal. Repeated use leaves a surface biofilm that the documented household process uses as part of its fermentation ecology.
A handi is a cooking pot used in dum, a slow-cooking method documented in northern India. Sources record earthenware handis in a Delhi village and dough-sealed cooking pots in Awadhi and Delhi food traditions.
A Quechua pottery vessel catalogued by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian for storing chicha. This 2003 Pisac example has an alpaca-hair-yarn sling; the catalog does not establish that it was used to ferment the drink.
The Oseberg bucket is a 36 cm yew stave vessel bound in bronze, its enamelled human fittings a rare record of skilled craft and elite display.
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A conca is a thick-walled marble basin used in Colonnata, Tuscany, to salt-cure and mature lardo. Its local white marble and close-fitting stone lid form the documented vessel for Lardo di Colonnata IGP.
The Borana gorfa is a pear-shaped milk vessel used in southern Ethiopia to sour milk and churn it into butter. Sources document woven fiber and smoke treatment; one museum specimen also records gourd and cowrie-shell materials.
The gerle is a broad wooden vat used to receive and work milk for Salers cheese in its French AOP area. Its coopered form and microbial role are documented, but sources do not establish when this particular vessel first appeared.
A hand-formed, unglazed clay-and-calcite cooking pot from Zlakusa in western Serbia. Potters make varied forms for cooking and baking through a living hand-wheel craft.
Saba is a large Kazakh horsehide vessel used to prepare and keep kumis. An Omsk museum specimen shows a tall, narrow neck above a broad, gusseted body, with seams stitched in hair thread and hide smoked to make it water-resistant.
A plain drinking cup made from a dried gourd cut in half, catalogued by Sierra Leone’s National Museum as a Kono poyo cup associated with Yengema.
The jebena is an Ethiopian terracotta coffee pot, typically rounded at the body and narrow through the neck. It brews coffee over a fire and serves a communal ceremony; materials, profiles and household practices vary.
The khokhuur is a traditional Mongolian airag vessel made from prepared cowhide. Its flexible leather body holds mare’s milk while it is churned with a separate wooden buluur paddle.
A natto warazuto is a rice-straw bundle that encloses soybeans during natto fermentation. Documented Japanese forms vary by region: Ibaraki examples include boat-like bundles, while Yamagata accounts describe straw tubes.
A purpose-made earthenware testi jug acts as the cooking chamber for testi kebabı. A documented Nevşehir account describes a cloth-and-dough closure with a small vent; size and craft specifications are not established.
A Nepali woven bamboo tray used for winnowing and drying foods. A Sagarmatha field report records mushrooms drying on nanglo above Namche; contemporary sources also document its ongoing manufacture and sale.
A sake taru is a short wooden cask for holding and presenting finished sake; traditional examples may show bare cedar or a woven-straw covering.
A lidded woven bamboo or rattan basket used in Laos to hold steamed sticky rice and keep it warm and soft for serving.
A tongba is a serving vessel for fermented millet drink: it holds the grain as water is added while a narrow bamboo straw draws off the liquid. Documented forms include bamboo and wood, with no single standard design established.
A kumgan is a handled pouring vessel with a narrow spout. This Sosnovsky museum example is Gzhel-painted porcelain made in Rechitsy in the early 21st century, representing a form used in Russia to serve historic drinks.
An earthen cooking pot associated with Gujarati undhiyu: Gujarat Tourism describes it turned upside down and fired. A field report documents a related ubadiyu matlu near Dungri in South Gujarat.
A large earthen fermentation vessel used for cashew-apple juice in Goa; sources describe underground burial, with one recent field account showing pots partly set into the soil.
A jiuhai is a large vessel for storing and maturing baijiu. This entry focuses on a documented Xifeng example: a giant basket woven from local twigs and lined with layered paper, cloth and coatings. Other jiuhai use different materials.
A rectangular Aizu Hongo-yaki ceramic bowl made for layering Hokkaido dried herring with sanshō leaves in Aizu's nishin no sanshōzuke; it is documented as a marinating dish, not fermentation equipment.
A Zulu earthenware brewing vessel used for grain beer; a woven basket cover keeps out dirt and insects. Imbiza is a distinct pot class, not the serving ukhamba or transport uphiso.
A large fired-clay jar for Alentejo wine, the talha has a wide mouth for grape-cap management and a low outlet for drawing wine. Its form and lining vary by maker and locality.
A carved, close-necked wooden vessel used for dahi in Nepal. Established thekis could be used without added starter; new vessels were conditioned.
A karas is a large Armenian clay wine vessel used in several documented practices. Placement and use vary; one modern producer reports maturing wine in karasi buried about three-quarters of their height.
Painted long-necked hu vessels and bowls from Qiaotou, Zhejiang, associated with residues the researchers interpret as beer; the evidence concerns drinking and serving, not proof that these vessels were fermenters.
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A shoyu kioke is a very large upright wooden vat for fermenting and ageing soy-sauce mash; Japanese sources document cedar-stave examples held together by hoops.
A contemporary household enclosure for preparing mā, fermented breadfruit, documented in Hawai‘i using food-safe buckets, coolers or large sealable bags in place of a pit.
A bulk brining vat holds cucumbers and other vegetables under cover brine for fermentation and storage. North Carolina sources document a mid-century wooden tank yard and later outdoor fiberglass systems.
A large, transparent, spherical borosilicate-glass vat designed for modern wine fermentation and maturation. The 220-litre Wineglobe model has a wide neck, fitted lid and support; its use and fittings vary by model.
Excavated Mijiaya pottery includes wide-mouth pots, funnels, pointed-bottom jiandiping jars and pottery stoves. Residue analyses support a beer-making interpretation; exact vessel roles remain uncertain.
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A sake pressing bag holds moromi while cloth separates liquid sake from rice-and-yeast lees. Traditional fune presses stack filled bags; material and shape vary by method and period.
A long birch-log roasting trough used for Lemi särä, the slow-roasted lamb and potato dish of South Karelia, Finland.
A wide-mouth polymer pail used to ferment homebrew, commonly sold with a removable lid and sometimes a tap; materials, closures and capacities vary by model.
Concrete wine tanks are heavy, fixed vessels in rectangular, cylindrical and tapered forms. Their thermal response and wine contact depend on mix, wall construction and interior finish.
A wooden carrying dish used in Aboriginal food, water and seed work. Western Desert examples are called piti or ngurti; the general term does not imply one uniform form or fermentation use.
A natural sausage casing is a cleaned animal intestine or, for some products, another prepared organ used as an edible envelope. Its anatomy shapes the sausage, while diameter and material affect stuffing and drying.
A wooden curing vessel used for Valle d’Aosta Lard d’Arnad: 1763 records already list four old doils in Arnad Castle, and the current DOP process uses native hardwood containers.
Perforated plastic bags and covered trays hold tempeh in a thin shape while admitting air; they are modern packaging options, distinct from the documented leaf wrapper.
Leather bags stored dried wild onion, sarana and kandyk for winter use in Tofalaria. The traditional plant store is documented, but the bag's shape, construction and hide species are unknown.
A modern ovoid concrete wine vat with smooth curved walls, made in several sizes and fitted according to model. Used for wine fermentation and maturation; support, access, cooling and interior treatment vary.
A lidded box used inside a cheese cave or cool cellar to create a small humid ripening space. A raised mat keeps cheese off the base so its underside can breathe and drain.
An open sycamore trough bound with iron hoops, recorded in use for salting pork at Penally, Wales, between 1850 and 1900.
A coolship (Dutch koelschip) is a broad, shallow, open vessel that cools hot wort before fermentation. In Belgian lambic brewing, its open surface exposes wort to the brewhouse environment; materials and results vary.
Thai nam pla ferments fish and salt in more than one kind of vessel. Sources document earthenware jars alongside larger wooden or cement tanks; no single shape, capacity or construction detail applies to every maker.
A prepared animal-stomach pouch holds butter in Kazakh and Kyrgyz traditions. Field images document empty and filled qarın in southern Kyrgyzstan, while a Kazakh tutorial distinguishes animal-specific qaryn forms.