Cultured Foods

How to Make Yogurt Without a Packaged Starter

granola

I figured out how to make homemade yogurt, without a packet of starter culture or a yogurt maker. I am pretty excited because this is saving me money. Healthy food is expensive. I truly believe in paying the farmer instead of the doctor, but ouch, it can be hard on the wallet. I have grown vegetables, joined a CSA, and preserved food, but the food budget is still pretty high. Cultured foods, when store bought,…

How to Make Tart Cherry Kombucha

kombucha

This flavorful fizzy drink has become popular, even outside the small circle of “real foodies”. What is it? It is Kombucha. Apparently, some people have a very difficult time breaking the habit of soda consumption. This Donna Schwenk has a FANTASTIC blog about fermented foods, and she has a personal testimony about how Kombucha helped her kick her soda habit. You can read her story here. If you are trying to break the habit of drinking soda…

How to Make Probiotic Pickles

pickles

(The Old Fashioned Way) Kefir is the quickest and easiest fermented food to make, but lacto-fermented pickles is a close second. I am surprised how long it took me to try making pickles the “old fashioned way.” Once I did I was hooked, they taste so much better than the pickles that are preserved in vinegar. If you want to introduce fermented foods to your family but you do not know where to start, lacto-fermented pickles are…

How to Make Yogurt Without A Yogurt Maker

yogurt dehydrator

Kefir was my “gateway” ferment. Surprisingly yogurt was not the first “cultured food” I experimented with. A few of my friends make yogurt regularly, and I thought about trying it, but I was a little weirded out by the thought of leaving milk out of the refrigerator overnight. (This was before I made kefir). I also contemplated buying a yogurt maker, but I was not sure I would use it a lot, and I already…

How to Make Water Kefir

water kefir

Soda addiction is very common. Though I am a recovering sugar addict, I have never been a fan of soda. But I know many people who have a soda addiction. I also know many parents who struggle to get their kids to drink something healthy or eat probiotic foods. Water kefir is a good alternative to juice and soda and it actually tastes good. I was first introduced to water kefir around four years ago….

How to Make Probiotic Pineapple Salsa

salsa

Homemade salsa is something I have always wanted to try. I honestly don’t know what took me so long, it really isn’t difficult. Part of the problem was living in South Korea where limes and cilantro were hard to come by. A few weeks ago I finally did it, I made homemade salsa. But this wasn’t ordinary salsa, it was LACTO-FERMENTED salsa. (I am a strange person, I know). I am also not a fan of using whey…

How to Make Traditional Sauerkraut

sauerkraut

When I was pregnant I read about the health benefits associated with the regular consumption of fermented food, especially during pregnancy. In South Korea, kimchi is available everywhere, so I ate it a lot. But I wanted some variety and I was terrified by the idea of “doing it myself “, (thoughts of food poisoning or botulism ran through my mind).  Then I thought about the situation logically. I had been consuming kimchi for a few years and I…

How to Make Korean Kimchi

kimchi pots

I finally bought some authentic Korean pepper flakes to make kimchi. It’s an overcast day, and my daughter is napping, so it’s a good time to try it out. (With the flu going around again, the timing is perfect). Health Benefits of Kimchi Kimchi is loaded with beneficial bacteria which can strengthen your immune system. It is a great food to consume regularly to make sure the population of “good bacteria”, (probiotics), outnumber the pathogenic bacteria and…

Milk Kefir – My Gateway to Fermented Foods

kefir

Many of my friends have asked me to teach them how to make fermented foods, in fact, it is one of the reasons I started this blog. Kefir contains probiotics as well as many vitamins that are made bio-available by the fermentation process. Lacto-fermented foods are an inexpensive way to obtain probiotics. (Good quality probiotics can be expensive, especially if you have a large family). Kefir was the first fermented food I experimented with. I…

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