Coffee Kombucha

Ready to make that daily coffee of yours healthier? 

Enter Coffee Kombucha.

Surprisingly tasty.

Despite how it mutilated the SCOBY.

But I anticipated this.  After all, the coffee is so acidic that there is no need to add previously fermented kombucha.

This may turn you off from making this beverage, but quite honestly the coffee SCOBY reminded me of a placenta.

Even a placenta can be eaten, though.

If you can’t stop bleeding after giving birth, a chewy bite of your placenta will act like Pitocin.  (God is so creative.)

Ingredients

• 2 quarts caffeinated organic brewed coffee
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• kombucha SCOBY(use an offspring – not your main SCOBY)

Directions

After brewing your coffee, add sugar while the coffee is still hot.

I love the designs the steam made as it cooled.

Once cooled, add your SCOBY.  Cover and allow to rest for 5 – 10 days, depending on your taste buds and desire for all the the caffeine and sugar to be eaten.

You will see some carbonation when you transfer it to a storage jar.

Chill and enjoy!

For video instructions  or should you desire to purchase a kombucha SCOBY, refer to Cultures for Health. 

To see my tutorial on Kombucha Tea refer to this recipe.

Kombucha Babies

I make my kombucha differently than I used to.  I forgot to tell you.  The mother is much happier and healthier these days.  So are her babies. 

So  . . . if you used to make it like this and it works for you . . . great. 

But this is how I do it now. 

(sweetened tea {left} ready to be fermented beside fresh kombucha{right})

Ingredients

• 3 tsp organic loose black tea 
• 1 tsp organic loose green tea
• 1 – 1 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
• filtered water (I use 3 quarts)
• Kombucha SCOBY (I recommend using Cultures for Health)
• 1/2 cup kombucha from previous batch (you can also use vinegar)
• clean round bowl or “candy jar,” preferably (in my opinion) with a lid or mason jar
• towel and tape if you don’t have a lid (see original instructions) or paper coffee filter

Directions

I have changed from being adamant about using white sugar and Lipton tea . . . despite the directions I received with my last SCOBY. 

I am better educated.

Plus . . . I like using organic ingredients.  I’m Granola Mom after all.  But seriously.  SCOBY’s absorb whatever they come in contact with . . . which is why you don’t want them to contact metal or linger in plastic. 

Do use sugar, not honey or other sugar substitute.  You want to maintain a proper PH and deter unwanted organisms from growing in your culture. 

• Heat your water to boiling. 
• Add sugar and heat until it has dissolved.
• Once boiling has resumed, stir in loose tea.
• Turn stove off and allow tea to steep approximately 10 minutes or until cool.
• Strain tea leaves (don’t forget to compost!)
• Transfer sweet tea to glass jar and add SCOBY and 1/2 cup of previous kombucha (or vinegar substitute).  
• Place your well fed SCOBY in a dark, safe place . . . preferable a quiet spot away from your compost container and fruit flies for 5-10 days, depending on your taste buds.  The warmer the environment the faster the fermentation. The longer you allow it to brew, the more tart it will become. 
• Bottle, chill and enjoy!

Each time you make kombucha, you will always grow a baby.  You can give this baby to a friend or place it in your compost pile. 

Or make a sling shot out of it . . . it works great as a substitute leather.  Just saying.

Serious Yum Kimchi

The first time I ate kimchi was on an airplane flying towards Seoul.  I didn’t order the kimchi specifically, I ordered a meal called a bibimbap.  I figured that because it was so much fun to say,

bibimbap (link to listen)

. . . . that it had to be as much fun to eat. 

Bibimbap means “mixed meal.”  According to Wikipedia (which we all know is the world’s most trusted source of known facts {grin}) bibimbip is,

served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating.  It can be served either cold or hot.

Ours was served cold.

And I pronounced bibimbap wrong. 

The bibimbap was great, despite the fact that at the time I had NO IDEA what I was eating.  It looked like eel and who knows what else. 

I tried the kimchi . . . and we didn’t like each other.  My taste buds were not used to such an acquired taste.  Kind of like vegemite. 

Fast forward six years.  I like to ferment.  I enjoy a satisfying, zesty, and crisp sauerkraut.

Kimchi is my newest and latest fermentation endeavor and love.  It tastes NOTHING like what I had on the noisy airplane.  And yes, I do remember what the nastiness tasted like.  Your taste buds change every 7 years.  It has only been six.  I think.

It has passed the kid test, the teenager test, and the grown up test.  It just might surprise YOU!

Kimchi

Ingredients

• 1 Napa cabbage
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 3 peeled carrots
• 1 bunch of radishes
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 chili peppers (mild or spicy – to do it over again, I would go for spicier)
• 4 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon Whey per mason jar (optional)

Directions

For the majority of my chopping, I allowed my Cusiniart to do the work.  I have also found that various sized cheese graters can do the job.  Use a small grater for your carrots and ginger, and a large hole cheese grater for your cabbage (or just chop it finely). 

Mix the vegetables with salt.

Place kimchi mixture into mason jars, pounding down to release juices. 

Add whey over the top (optional), cover with a lid, and set at room temperature to ferment for 2-3 days without opening. 

Transfer to fridge after that and use with food!  I suggest chopped vegetables, chips (if you eat them), chicken, lamb, hamburgers . . . . even plain! 

For more great recipes, click on the piece of blueberry pie!  Cara has got some great Grain Free Meal plans! 

Things Are Coming to a Close

The deadline is almost here. 

Two free books.  And one symbiotic culture (water kefir grains).

• Always True by James MacDonald . . . . This isn’t just a good book.  It’s a GREAT book.

Hardly any of my IRL friends have entered.  Does anyone read my blog anymore? 

Let’s see, leave a comment telling me what is stopping you from make all the changes in your life that you need to make to be healthier. 

I will randomly choose someone to send some homemade granola to.  Are you listening?  Enter all three giveaways, give yourself three entries (comments).  Tweet about it and give yourself another entry.

400+ of you receive my blog posts in your email.  Are they going to no-man’s land?  Another handful of you read me on Facebook.  The other handful pick and choose what you will read of mine on your Google reader . . . . and the last bit find me on Twitter.  Which are you?  Tell me by leaving a comment for another chance to win my granola. 

Back to the giveaway recap:

• Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon . . . . seriously if you follow my blog . . . you know a lot of my recipes come from here.  You could even email me . . . requesting me to write a tutorial on a certain recipe.  On this particular giveaway you receive bonus entries if you sign up for the Get Cultured e-course.

Speaking of which, there is a bonus lesson being offered.  Bonus.  Free extra lesson.  Yup.  Sign up for the Get Cultured e-course through this BONUS link.  You’ll receive 2 VIDEO TUTORIALS, 2 RECIPES, 2 PRINT TUTORIALS, and 2 FAQ SHEETS.

Here is a bit of subliminal advertising.  Play the following video (in your bedroom) over and over all night long while you sleep.  Then, in the morning . . . sign up for the Get Cultured e-course.  (You can give yourself another entry for the Nourishing Traditions giveaway if you watch the below video.)

Remember, set your calendar to have some school in your pajamas on March 4th, 2011 with the Get Cultured:  Learn How to Ferment Anything (shoelaces?  twinkies?).

The price goes up on March 1st, 2011. 

All I am asking you to do is pray about it.  Discuss the course with your spouse or your parents or your dog before you purchase. 

I wouldn’t be nagging you . . . OK harping at you . . . if I didn’t think that fermentation was important. 

It’s just that I think it is important.  I so wish I had had the Get Cultured e-course at my fingertips when I entered the whole foods/traditional eating/fermenting lifestyle.  Life – would --  have --  been – easier. 

I’m done with my speel. 

Have a great rest of the weekend.  Stay tuned for some questions.  Questions that my IRL (in real life) friends DREAD me asking.  They are coming your way. 

Library, Gardening, Food, and an Explanation

You are due some sort of an explanation. 

You will have to keep reading to find out what the explanation is.

First I just have to tell you that I went to the library today.  Very dangerous.  I heart books.  So when I go to the library and am surrounded by free books to bring home . . . I bring them home. 

Not just a few.

A lot. 

They weren’t books for children either.

They were . . . gardening books.  After a vacation from my summer hobby, I *think* I am ready to dirty my hands in the soil.

This year I have so many possibilities.

With four years of gardening under my belt, I have been given the opportunity to start from scratch (again) with slightly questionable soil.

The field has been mowed and is hibernating under a dense pile of snow trodden leaves.  It is awaiting a deft hand to turn the microorganisms upside down and a layer of Mel’s mix (1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost) poured on top. 

I desire to employ the square foot gardening principals that have worked so well under my tutelage, but with a twist. 

Slow foods style.  I call it that because I saw a Slow Foods garden that I wish to copy. 

Meandering.  Whimsical.  Heirloom.  

The perfect place for a constitutional.  (Thanks, Renee.)

I’d really like to have someone come and design it for me, like William Alexander did in his book, The $64 Tomato, which I am reading right now.

However, one has to have time to drool, to plan, to organize unused seeds, to order new seeds . . .

Which brings me to what I need to explain.

I’ve been blogging a lot about food.  Nourishing food.  Fermented food.  Grain Free food. 

The reason is because if you already thought we were in deep with eating traditionally – you haven’t seen anything yet.  Whole foods eating, once uncovered, is like the rabbit hole.  Not only do you uncover an amazing world of taste, but also of health. 

I don’t know that I will be doing the whole liver thing, though.  Or brain.  Can’t go there. 

And this time, health (though taste has been a perk) is the reason we are getting out our shovel and digging deeper. 

There is some surmising that the Granola Family is suffering a bit from The Fall.  You know . . . the one in the garden.  Of course, we all have stumbled due to this fatal bite of fruit, thanks to two certain people which shall remain nameless (ahem . . . Adam and Eve). 

Some of us fell harder.

What I have come to realize is that sometimes NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO sometimes you can’t completely overcome the obstacles in your health without some outside intervention and strict attention to what you are ingesting and using externally.

Because I have had to make serious changes in certain family members diets . . . I have been doing a lot of research on food  and on food preparation.

I discovered that I need help.  I need one thing less to plan.

I signed up for the Nourishing Kitchen meal plans.  Three dinners a week are planned, providing plenty of leftovers for the remaining nights.  Included in each week’s packet are one ferment and one soup.  And because these meal plans are set according to the season . . . I am hopeful that I will be able to use the produce from my garden to supplement our grocery budget.  Hence the reason I was telling you about my garden.

I discovered that my thyroid needs healing. 

The particular thyroid disease that I have is triggered by an inflamed gut.  Though I have been eating relatively well the past 5 years, it hasn’t been well enough to heal my thyroid. 

Had I been living more of a SAD (Standard American Diet) the past 5 years, there is no telling what my health issues might be. 

This is where my love of fermentation has been encouraged.  Health begins in the gut.  A healthy gut is a happy gut.  Fermented foods, when eaten in reasonable amounts, act like a natural medicine.  For this reason, I am super–duper excited about Jenny’s Get Cultured e-course. 

By the way – you can still sign up.  Classes don’t begin until March 4th.  BUT on March 1st the price goes up to $199 (currently it is $149).

Then . . . the bomb got dropped on me.

A health professional strongly encouraged us to avoid all grains . . . unless properly prepared . . . and then only sparingly. 

I didn’t and I don’t have the time to research the GAPS diet.  So, I am relying on Cara, from Health, Home, and Happy, to guide us through this learning curve by subscribing to her menu plans for our breakfasts and lunches.  (By the way, it is rare for the Nourished Kitchen meals to contain grain.)

And so . . . my friends . . . that is why I have been talking about food . . .

A Lot.

There is your explanation.  A rather long one.

Must Have Refrigerator Item: Apricot Butter

There is something intensely gratifying about fermenting food. 

It’s a habit for me.  A healthy addiction, you might say. 

One day . . . I went a little wild.  I wanted to grow as many organisms as I could.  And I did.

See that Mason Jar with the brown stuff in it?  It’s good.  It’s good for you.  And by fermenting this certain little brown dried fruit you . . . . um . . .  don’t get the “toots.” (Not that I ever “toot.”)

Was that TMI?

Ready for this fermented must-have?

Probiotic Apricot Butter

(compliments of the Nourished Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried unsulphured apricots
• 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
• 3 tbsps fresh whey, divided
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger

Directions

• Cover apricots in hot water and jealously watch them soak in that luxurious hot bath (can you tell what I would like to do with a good book?)

• Drain and process in a Vitamix or other food processor with sea salt and two tablespoons fresh whey until smooth.

• I know . . . it looks concerning.  But trust me – it’s good for your gut!  Kids will want to dive into these formerly bathing beauties!

• Transfer creamy apricots into the confining Mason Jar and cover with remaining whey.

• Allow said contents to nap for two days (lucky) covered, while you busily live life around resting apricots. 

• When it’s time to wake the apricots up, slide them back into the Vitamix along with honey, cinnamon, and ginger.

• Process until smooth.  Spoon into a clean Mason Jar and place this tasty concoction in your fridge.  It will be good for 6-8 weeks.

Recently, we finished our probiotic apricot butter by lathering it on some sprouted Holy Homemade Crackers. 

Divine.  Seriously.  God knew what He was doing when He gave someone the inspiration to start fermenting foods.  And I’m thankful how simple recipes like this are improving my resistance to infection (slowly but surely). 

If you have been enjoying my fermenting recipes . . . you can thank Jenny over at the Nourished Kitchen.  If you really want to start fermenting foods in your kitchen, then I highly recommend enrolling in the Get Cultured e-course.  Use the code sourpickles to receive $20 off!  Classes start March 4th.

Water Kefir Grain Giveaway

Finally.  It’s here.

I am giddy.

Stupendously excited to share a unique giveaway with you.

You could be the future owner of  your very own Water Kefir Grains. 

• If you are a soda addict – now is the time to give it up. 
• If you love juice – now is the time to put your juice into a healthier beverage and still maintain the sweet flavor you savor. 
• Struggle to remember to ingest your daily dose of probiotic pills but always remember to drink a beverage throughout the day? 
• Like a little carbonation?

Water kefir baabbyyyy.

This giveaway is for you.

Water kefir grains . . .




Unusual . . . yummy . . . healthy . . . refreshing . . .

EASY to make.  Easy. Seriously.

Everyone wins something in this giveaway – see the mandatory entry.

Enter to win

a

Water Kefir Starter Kit

(includes grains and strainer)

RULES
Please, please, please . . .do not put more than one entry per comment. I will be using www.random.org to pick the winners. Make sure you are logged in to Disqus or leave your email address in your comment.  All options are worth 1 entry.
 
(Mandatory) Click on the link and subscribe to the Cultures for Health newsletter.  (You will receive a free kefir recipe e-book to download.)

1. Become one of my fans through Google Connect if you aren't already! (It’s over there on your right . . . see all of the little people?)
2. Read about The Nourished Kitchen e-course and tell me one thing that you would like to learn if you enrolled in it.
3. Read my blog post about making Water Kefir and tell me you did so . . . be honest.
4. What recipe would you make with your Water Kefir grains?
5. Tweet or blog about the giveaway and then come back and leave me the link.  Only once a day, please.
6. Tell me why you want to win some water kefir grains and how long have you been wanting to make this delightful beverage. 
7. What else would you like me to do a tutorial on?  Pick something out from Cultures for Health or something from your own brain.
8. Subscribe to my blog.
9. Leave me a note that will make me laugh! 

Remember, only #1 is mandatory. The rest of the entries are optional, but you MUST comment separately for each one.

The Fine Print: I will email you when you have won. You must respond within 48 hours.
Contest ends February 27, 2011 at Midnight


Author's Note: I was not given this product to review from Cultures for Health.  I purchased it over a year ago, BUT you will be given a new batch of water kefir grains and strainer. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine unless otherwise noted.

Get Cultured!

I like to grow bacteria. 

It’s fun.

And now you can learn to grow bacteria . . . in your PJ’s. 

With some accountability.

At your leisure. 

You could even use it as a home-economics course for your school room. 

Nourished Kitchen has just announced its upcoming e-course, Get-Cultured:  How to Ferment Anything!

So instead of reading my blog, you can take a course.  You could become a certifiable licensed bacteria-growing specialist.  How cool would that be?

Sorry.  The title doesn’t come with a badge. 

What will you learn?

(Ahem.  I thought I knew a lot.  But reading the checklist of what the Nourished Kitchen will teach you . . . I don’t know diddily-squat.)

• Why fermented foods  are critical to your health
• How beneficial bacteria can actually work with your DNA to build immunity
• How to enhance digestive health through real food
• How you can make everyday foods like ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise that enhance your family’s health
• How to make yogurt and kefir using raw milk, pasteurized milk or even coconut milk
• How to make natural, low sugar sodas that are actually good for your kids
• How to make bacon and corned beef without added nitrates/nitrites in just a few simple steps
• How to preserve foods naturally with the lost art of fermentation
• How to troubleshoot when your home-fermented foods go funky
• How to ferment foods naturally and safely

OK . . . if this list wasn’t enticing enough to you foodies  . . . then here is WHY you NEED to take this e-course:

• You want to build immunity naturally
• You want to optimize gut health and digestion
• You want to give up processed commodity foods and start eating real
• You value cooking from scratch and mastering the lost arts of traditional foods
• You want to restore the proper balance to your gut
• You  or your family suffers from digestive ills or food intolerances.
• You adhere to a real food diet or the dietary guidelines of the Weston A Price Foundation.
• You want to SAVE money by making good food at home from scratch
• You’re on a restricted diet such as GAPS or SCD which places importance on the value of fermented foods

What will you get (for a lifetime) with this $149 class that lasts 13 weeks (or one week access for $20)?

A lot.  Originally, I had it all listed for you.  But to see a detailed description of the course, head on over to Nourished Kitchen.

What else will you get?  The benefits to this course are long lasting.

I am excited about the recipes . . . and learning to make coconut yogurt. 

I don't share this with you lightly.  I believe in the value of including fermented foods with EVERY meal.  My journey into whole foods and fermentation was initially LONELY.  There was a lot of trial and error.  And no one to ask.

But you have the opportunity to learn with a group . . . and gain valuable information that can provide true health. 

So, sign up.  Your gut will thank you. 

Registration ends February 28th (the price goes up March 1st) and classes begin March4th! 

Fermented Lemons

We are eating THEM tomorrow night.

I am slightly scared.  (Not really . . . things have grown in mason jars on our counters for longer than seven days before . . . try 20!)

At least we won’t get scurvy.

The boys learned about bacteria . . . and culinary practices . . . and why they should have a little something fermented with every meal.  Improved digestion, in case you were wondering.

This was a new type of fermentation for me, though. 

Fruit. 

Thank you Nourished Kitchen.  Jenny’s cooking comes into my “in-box” every week.   And she said that I could share some of our meals with you. 

I don’t know why, but I like Jenny.  She takes good pictures.  She also lives in Colorado.  (I think.)  She cooks really good food.  At least, it tastes good on my dinner table.

I subscribed to the Nourished Kitchen meal plan for a lot of reasons.  For starters . . . I needed a menu plan.  Secondly, I needed someone else to do it for me.  I’m more like a sheep in the kitchen.  Tell me what to cook and I’ll follow.  Thirdly, the Nourished Kitchen meals are exactly how we eat anyway.  (Minus a few  choice animals, which I substitute.)

Lastly, Jenny sends me a grocery list.  I loathe making grocery lists. 

Oh, one more reason.  I almost forgot.  I hardly have to change my produce bin for my Green B.E.A.N. delivery.

I need simplicity.  Likewise, I need fermentation.  I crave it.

Ready? 

Fermented (Preserved) Lemons

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lemons, preferably Meyer lemons  (The reason—they have a softer skin!)
• 2 tbsp unrefined sea salt

Directions:

Cut the lemons, as though to quarter them, without splitting them completely through. For some reason, I struggled to understand this . . . lack of sleep, I suppose.  The point being, keep your lemon in-tact.  My thumb is hiding the fact that these lemons really are attached by a pretend neck.

(By the way, I’m assuming you {the adult} will cut the lemon – not your child.   I just thought I would clarify.)

Sprinkle the flesh of each lemon with sea salt.  You might want to supervise this task if you have little helpers. 

If it happens to be snowing outside, you might find salt descending upon your kitchen counters in the same way.  Just saying . . .

Umm . . . your kids will have fun with this.  Just make sure they don’t have a paper cut or tiny flesh wound on their fingers.  Salt will slightly aggravate said cut and potentially cause a wee bit-o-pain and a slight spillage of tears.

Manually force Place the lemons in the mason jar.

Mash the lemons with a wooden spoon (we used a wood rolling pin) until they release their juice. 

Their juice should combine with the salt to create a rich brine. 

Continue layering, salting, and mashing until your lemons are exhausted and the brine covers the lemons.

 

Place a lid loosely on the jar and ferment at room temperature for one week before removing to cold storage.

Wanna know what we are going to eat this with . . . Moroccan Chicken.  (The bird is thawing right now.)

I’m Not the One Craving Pickles

There is someone in our household who pretty much has to have a continual supply of pickles.

And that person is NOT me.  Even though I am pregnant.  (I’m craving cherries, but that is for another post.)

Mr. Smackdown adores pickles.

The pickles that we buy are fairly natural.  However, there is one little ingredient that I don’t like.  And they aren’t fermented.  They are in a vinegar solution. 

When we went to the Farmer’s Market this past Saturday my goal was to find my favorite sauerkraut and some pickling cucumbers, since I won’t see a harvest of them from my garden this year.  (We are moving this weekend.)

I only scored on the cucumbers. 

Smackdown washed them.

 

And measured the filtered water, while I prepared the whey.

Then we combined all of the ingredients.

Voila . . . pickles.

I have no idea if they taste good or not.  We have to wait three days.

Guess what?  You can try this at home, too!

Good For Your Belly Pickles

• 4-5 pickling cucumbers
• 1 tbls mustard seeds
• 2 tbls fresh dill, snipped (We used dried dill.  We were attempting to use an herb from our garden until I realized it was fennel.) 
• 1 tbls sea salt
• 4 tbls whey (or use an extra tbls of sea salt if you don’t have any whey)
• 1 cup of filtered water

Place 4-5 washed cucumbers in a wide mouthed mason jar.  Combine remaining ingredients and bathe your cucumbers in the mixture.  Add more water if your cucumbers are not fully submerged.  You don’t want them treading water.  The liquid should be 1 inch or more below the top of the jar.  Cover tightly and allow the jars to decorate your counter for 3 days.  Should you choose to make sliced pickles, only leave the jar out for 2 days.  Transfer to your refrigerator. 

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