Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 > and would like to know what you might have successfully used > to start yourselves or family members eating these foods. > ~~ Jocelyne I think the easiest way to start with fermenting foods is kefir. Rather than trying to find someone nearby with grains to spare, I just bought mine from Gem Cultures www.gemcultures.com. You don't even need to have access to a raw milk source -- good quality store-bought organic milk will do fine. Check out Dom's " in-site " for everything you'll ever want to know about kefir making: http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/Makekefir.html. Despite some purists' insistence on not using metal spoons or strainers, I've had no problems (so far) in my kefir when using ordinary metal kitchen tools. I find that using 1/2 gallon canning jars and plastic lids (available on Amazon) fits well with my brewing habits. It's much easier than I thought it might be before I got started. I'm slowly working up to enjoying the sour flavors. I typically add a dose of cherry or blueberry juice concentrate (from http://www.brownwoodacres.com/cat01.htm) to mine for flavor and extra antioxidants (it also makes for some intensely- colored pink or purple beverages!). If it's still too tart to enjoy, I'll add a squirt of agave nectar (try these folks if you can't find any locally: http://www.naturalzing.com/ -- they have lots of raw foods and herbs too.) Remember also that you can control the tartness by varying the length of time you let the grains brew -- shorter times yield milder flavors, in general. Kefir making can provide you with whey, which you can then use to experiment with sauerkraut-making, etc. When you're ready to try more, check out http://www.wildfermentation.com/thebook.htm! If you're trying to introduce kids to fermented foods like kefir, you can mix it in with milk or make smoothies with it -- it seems to be more readily accepted that way. If you involve them in say, making pickles or kraut, they may have more of an interest in the eating aspect than if you just put it on the table and announce that " it's good for them. " (disclosure: I'm only a customer of the sites I mentioned...) go for it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I don't normally like fermented things either, was an avowed hater of all things sour, sourdoughs, pickles, sauerkraut, and vinegar, ugh, I hated it all! I think a lot of my dislike came from not having access to well done, homemade and nutritious versions of these foods. And certainly when inundated with a steady stream of sweet foods, of course the sour stuff does seem so, well, shocking. I think we started with sauerkraut, although I made it according to instructions from _Wild Fermentation_ by Sandor Katz. I *highly* recommend his book, as he makes fermentation of foods sound less frightening and exacting. He's very reassuring that the microbes, be they kefir or sourdough yeasts or the myriad of stuff in sauerkraut are all around us, just waiting to help ferment our food. Katz has a web site, www.wildfermentation.com; I recommend checking his tour schedule. I went to a local demo for his sauerkraut & kimchee preparation, and that totally made me feel like I could do this stuff at home. Katz's sauerkraut method is open air ferment (crock is covered with a cloth). Initially I wasn't too jazzed about the taste results, but what I noticed immediately was how *good* I felt after eating sauerkraut. I know it's only supposed to be a condiment, but in the early days I would eat a bowl at night as a late night snack! My body definitely craved the probiotic activity, and now the sour taste doesn't register as unpleasant. I also think my daughter had the same response--she's 5, and initially acted like we were trying to kill her if I made her eat a bite or two of sauerkraut. But then, thinking I would let her off the hook and stop forcing her to eat it, once night I served myself the sauerkraut, and served my husband, then put it away. My daughter looked at me and said with righteous indignation, " Why don't I get any? " I promptly put some on her plate, and she happily ate it. A few days ago I started my first batch of NT sauerkraut, lidded and inoculated with dairy whey, we'll see how that comes out. It's an easy enough recipe, but we'll see if it has the same effect. Someone got us started with kefir, and then we were blessed that Heidi shared her kefiili with us. Quite frankly I prefer the kefiili (so does my daughter, and the chickens), but my hubbie loves the kefir. Initially he wouldn't drink it unless it was sweetened with a bit of maple syrup, and I would add 8oz. of coconut milk to 1/2 gallon to add flavor. Now he can drink it straight without all the flavorings. Fermenting the milk products is a lot easier than making sauerkraut, just buy a jug o'milk, put in the granules, and let it sit til it's done. The more difficult thing is not forgetting about it while it's sitting in a jar doing it's thing. Last night I made kefiili- cultured butter and it is soooo yummy. The kefiili-izing of the cream took the most time. Once I began agitating the cream, from start to finish (including stopping to drain off butter milk and then salting at the end) it took 15 minutes to turn the cultured cream into butter. We are a wheat free family, and a local friend shared some wonderful wheat-free sourdough starter with us and I am totally enjoying baking with this. After browsing _Alaska Sourdough_ by Ruth Allman I learned some pointers for working with the sourdough to get maximum " lift " , and got the hang of how to make the wheat free become solid. Using soured milk in my sourdough recipes I get some waffles and flat breads that are suspiciously close to wheat-style baking. There's also a great NT recipe for making dhosas/idlis? a soured rice & lentil Indian " bread/dumpling " . Truthfully, I don't know how they are supposed to come out, but ours came out like an amazing and yummy burger substitute. Anyway, good luck, Leann > I am fairly new to NT, and need some suggestions. I don't normally like > fermented products, and would like to know what you might have successfully > used to start yourselves or family members eating these foods. > > I have been using yogurt cheese (which I find it palatable) and am > exploring new uses for it. I made some rejuvelac, but it just tasted nasty. > > I would like to be able to ease myself into this, and would welcome any help. > > ~~ Jocelyne > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Message: 5 Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 06:54:39 -0000 From: " ebaypeeps " <happygardeners@...> Subject: Re: Newbie Suggestions Leann wrote: >I don't normally like fermented things either, was an avowed hater >of all things sour, sourdoughs, pickles, sauerkraut, and vinegar, >ugh, I hated it all! ....... >I think we started with sauerkraut, although I made it according to >instructions from _Wild Fermentation_ by Sandor Katz. I *highly* >recommend his book, as he makes fermentation of foods sound less >frightening and exacting.... >Someone got us started with kefir, and then we were blessed that >Heidi shared her kefiili with us. Quite frankly I prefer the >kefiili (so does my daughter, and the chickens), but my hubbie loves >the kefir. Leann, glad to hear from a former sour-hater. It gives me hope. :-D Thank so much for your suggestions. I'll check out the book and try a few recipes. What is kefiili and how is it made? ~~ Jocelyne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 wrote: >I think the easiest way to start with fermenting foods is kefir. Rather >than trying to find someone nearby with grains to spare, I just bought mine >from Gem Cultures www.gemcultures.com. You don't even need to have access >to a raw milk source -- good quality store-bought organic milk will do fine. >Check out Dom's " in-site " for everything you'll ever want to know about >kefir making: http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/Makekefir.html.... Hi . Thanks so much for the advice and the product links. Locally, I have seen a Yogourmet kefir starter. Do you know if this is differrent from the grains I have heard other referring to? ~~ Jocelyne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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