Re: Is the salt and or vinagar/whey really necessary when soaking

July 4, 2002

> second: If you soaked the grain or beans without the whey (or

> other

> dairy) or the vinagar (or lemon juice) would the phytic acid still

> be

> removed?

>

,

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer to your question, but I have a

story that might be worth two cents.

I lived in East Africa for 2 years. At the time, sadly, I had no

interest in healthy food or in traditional preparation methods. I was

struck by one thing, though. Anytime I was in a rural area, the most

common question I was asked was, " What is your staple food? "

At first I thought that an odd question and would think to myself,

" Pizza? Ice cream? " I quickly found out they wanted to know what staple

grain or starchy root was eaten where I was from.

Now that I'm interested in traditional food preparations I look for

opportunities to ask Africans living here about their " staple food. " One

man from West Africa (don't remember the country) said theirs was corn

and it was prepared by first soaking it in a warm place for 3 days. If

it was not warm, he stressed, it needed to be soaked for 5 days. I asked

if they added anything to the soaking water. " No, just water. "

So, I wonder if Sally's use of whey in the soaking water speeds up the

process so we don't have to soak for 3-5 days? This is just speculation.

I also asked an Ethopian woman about how they prepared their teff for

injera (their fermented bread). She said they soaked it in just in water

(don't remember how many days). I read somewhere that teff has a natural

yeast on it. However, she said that here in the US, they add yeast to

the soaking water because it won't ferment correctly like it does in

Ethiopia. (I've heard they combine wheat with the teff when making

injera here.) She also said that she can't each as much injera here as

she used to in Ethiopia because it doesn't " digest as well. "

No conclusions; just interesting stories.

Oh - one more: I remember being served sour milk in a village and having

the worst time getting it down because I was repulsed by the idea of sour

milk. Little did I know it was one of the healthiest things they could

have offered me! If I were there today I'd drink it gratefully!

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