[MikeCF]

Great thread man!

Sauerkraut is great. It's a nice sour addition to a lot of dishes. It can really "dress up" boring chicken breasts and is fantastic in omellettes or as a side dish with eggs.

You can make a "hash" of sorts. It's low-carb and nutrient rich. Fill a bowl with some kraut. Cook eggs over easy.

Put the over easy eggs on top of the kraut, pop the yokes, and mix it all together.

Add some spicy curry powder for a taste and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory boost.

[edlefou]

I've been making kombucha for a few years and it seemed intimidating at first, but now it's so routine I don't even think about it.

Kombucha is a good way to start experimenting with fermented foods because it's cheap and easy: all you need is water, sugar, a few tea bags, and a bottle of kombucha to use as a starter (or you can order a SCOBY online, but it's not necessary).

My routine is to boil around 2 liters of water (64 ounces) on Wednesday mornings, then add 130 grams sugar (3/4 cup) and 3-4 tea bags. In the evening, when it's all cooled down I take out the tea bags and pour it into a big glass jar along with some of the previous week's batch and the "mushroom". I put a paper towel over the jar and put the jar under the sink. Next week I pour the liquid through a sieve into a couple of plastic bottles (along with flavor extracts sometimes) and let the bottles sit for another week or so. After that, it's usually good to consume, although sometimes it needs to sit a bit longer.

Instead of paying $4 or more per bottle of kombucha, I can make a two week supply for under $1. You can add different fruit extracts before bottling and make all kinds of crazy flavor variations, as well as use different types of teas.

Also, I'm surprised nobody's brought up kvass. It's made from fermented rye bread and is huge in Eastern Europe/Russia. Any Russian lizard would know about it, although I've found women tend to dig kefir more.

[Aliblahba]

Pasteurization does kill all microorganisms in the food, right? Or am I totally off the mark? I almost had a meltdown at the store yesterday looking for proper yogurt.

[Sonsowey]

Best guide for simple home-made Kefir? I like it but have never made anything like it before, always just bought it.

[Cincinnatus]

(11-27-2013 10:43 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

For the players in ATL, check out Buford Highway Farmers Market:

The other night I was watching the Atlanta episode of The Layover with Anthony Bourdain, and a few minutes of the show was dedicated to that place. If I lived in the ATL I'd probably never shop for groceries anywhere else.

...

One fermented food this thread has neglected thus far... Cheese.

[Aliblahba]

^^^I know pinays that carpool and drive 3+ to go down there. That's dedication.

[Sombro]

(11-27-2013 10:43 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

You can get kimchi at any Korean store. For the players in ATL, check out Buford Highway Farmers Market:

http://www.aofwc.com/index.aspx

There's also the Super H Mart which is like an Asian Sam's Club.
One in Doraville and one off I-85 in Gwinnett. I think there's another somewhere closer to ATL.

A Whole Korean deli section devoted to pickled goods sold by weight.
Food court area. Massive fish market.
Some stuff is expensive while lots is really cheap.

One of the few places I can find Makgeolli.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makgeolli

[BIGBOY]

(12-09-2013 09:40 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

Best guide for simple home-made Kefir? I like it but have never made anything like it before, always just bought it.

You need to order kefir grains or get some from a friend. I used http://kefirlady.com . Website is a bit of a disaster and you need to send her a $20 dollar bill in the mail, but the grains have worked great for me. She sends you a packet that includes directions and recipes along with the kefir grains.

Once you receive the grains you basically just cover them with milk in a bowl and leave it on the counter for 24 hours, then you strain the kefir grains out of the milk and you have kefir.

The grains will keep multiplying, so you'll have enough kefir grains indefinitely if you keep them alive, which just entails making sure they are always covered with milk.

[kosko]

(11-27-2013 12:02 PM)basilransom Wrote:  

Kombucha is fermented. It takes a little prep and equipment but its vastly cheaper to make yourself than to buy in a store for $3-4 per bottle.

Is it worth making yogurt if you use pasteurized non-pastured milk? Ideally I'd use raw pastured goat's or sheep's milk, but it's expensive. Would using a starter culture make pasteurized milk worth using, or should I just stick to fermenting vegetables?

Yogurt is quite easy to make. You just would "inoculate" your base to give it new beneficial bacteria.

You can make cultured butter along the same lines also by just adding yogurt to fresh cream and letting it sit for a day or two.

This is a great thread. Fermented foods and gelatin are my two health food-Heath journeys for 2014. Every culture in its classic form has a fermented food as a staple. Only Westerns have not and we are easily the most unhealthy in history.

(12-09-2013 09:37 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

Pasteurization does kill all microorganisms in the food, right? Or am I totally off the mark? I almost had a meltdown at the store yesterday looking for proper yogurt.

Pasteurized milk is dead. With yogurt though the pro bacteria has to be added to get the yogurt constancy unless its pumped full of binders. The bacteria feed of the milk fat and then sours into yogurt.

[Mon]

Another benefit of fermented food is that, since they help to optimize intestinal flora, they play a key role in estrogen metabolism. If the "good"-to-"bad" bacteria ratio in your gut is off, you will likely have excess levels of estrogen, which of course, will result in lowered testosterone.

I thought about this thread as I was working on my e-book lastnight. Here's a quote from the e-book that relates to this topic:
"Of great importance in this fight against chemical castration is healthy intestinal flora. The first phase of estrogen-detoxification by the liver consists of a process called hydroxylation. This means that a hydroxyl (-OH) group is added to one of the carbon atoms on estrogen. When the intestinal flora is imbalanced (more putrefactive ['bad'] bacteria and yeasts than 'good' bacteria), the -OH group is added disproportionately to the '4-carbon' (creating 4-hydroxyestrone) and the '16-carbon' (creating 16-alpha hydroxyestrone). As we have seen, both these estrogens are considered bad estrogens, being linked to uncontrolled cell division—cancer. When gut flora has a higher friendly bacteria-to-bad bacteria ratio, it is the '2-carbon' that receives the –OH group in higher numbers. This creates more 2-hydroxyestrone, which protects against cancer.
If you have ever taken antibiotics or if you regularly shower in chlorinated water and/or drink chlorinated tap water, it is a virtual guarantee that you have imbalanced intestinal flora. Pharmaceutical antibiotics do not discriminate; they kill both beneficial and disease-causing bacteria. The key is the proper balance of good-to-bad bacteria... The optimal balance is 85 percent good bacteria to 15 percent bad bacteria. The scales will quickly tip in favor of bad bacteria if friendly bacteria get too low, which is what happens with a course of antibiotics. Chlorine also kills the friendly bacteria. Of course, chlorine is found in tap water, so if you drink this water regularly, you are killing your friendly bacteria. Furthermore, research has revealed that during a warm, ten-minute shower in unfiltered water, you will absorb more chlorine (in the form of inhaled chloroform) than if you were to drink eight glasses of tap water."

So here is another reason to include more fresh, homemade, fermented/cultured foods & drinks in your life.
AND QUIT WITH ALL THE GODDAMN UNFILTERED TAP WATER!!!

[Aliblahba]

(12-10-2013 10:16 AM)kosko Wrote:  

Pasteurized milk is dead. With yogurt though the pro bacteria has to be added to get the yogurt constancy unless its pumped full of binders. The bacteria feed of the milk fat and then sours into yogurt.

What I got is working, and I'm assuming they add pro bacteria after the pasteurization process. On a side note, ACV helps with the good bugs in your gut. They go hand in hand. Who would've thunk it?

Quote:

Apple cider vinegar is not a probiotic, but it is made with an ingredient that is helpful to probiotics, according to research done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. The key ingredient in raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar is fermented apples, which contain pectin -- an essential for good digestion. The vinegar is often confused with probiotics because the pectin in the apples promotes healthy digestion by encouraging the growth of good bacteria, whereas probiotics are the good bacteria.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/508833...probiotic/

[JayJuanGee]

(11-27-2013 06:56 PM)Sombro Wrote:  

Though I've been to Japan and love the food I've never had the opportunity to try natto.

Anyone?


From what I've heard, you either love it or hate it.

First: The above looks like marshmallow rice crispies to me. Temperature - HOT with melting marshmallow!



Second: one of the confusing points to me is that the acidity of the gut may kill off some of the beneficial effects of fermented foods. Accordingly, recently there has been a lot of discussion of the benefits of resistant starches.. in order to allow the passage of the beneficial materials (the pro-biotics) into the lower gut.

K Galt started a thread on resistance starch:

http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-31408.html


Third: I have been pondering over some of this in the context of the ACV thread, and that is regarding the roll of vinegar in fermenting. My understanding is that fermentors do NOT use vinegar b/c vinegar would kill off the beneficial bacteria in the fermenting process. But, how about using ACV - ACV is fermented vinegar? I am just wondering b/c it seems to me that there still may be some health benefits in NON fermented vinegar, as long as it is NOT used in large quantities.

[RexImperator]

Bacteria (acetobacter) covert ethanol (the alcohol in apple cider) into acetic acid (vinegar).

I make my own apple cider (hard cider) but not the vinegar...well, I try to avoid it turning into vinegar.

Technically ACV would be twice-fermented. The first fermentation is when the yeast converts the sugar (in apple juice) to ethanol. Second is done by the bacteria mentioned above.

Just to make it clear, by apple cider I mean the fermented alcoholic beverage. In the US you can buy unfiltered apple juice called "cider" which isn't really a cider, until you add yeast to it...

[germanico]

I thought acetic acid was the product of a different kind of yeast, not bacteria.

[RexImperator]

(01-30-2014 04:03 PM)germanico Wrote:  

I thought acetic acid was the product of a different kind of yeast, not bacteria.

Bacteria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetic_acid_bacteriaAcetobacter

Quote:

The acetic acid bacteria are usually airborne and are ubiquitous in nature. They are actively present in environments where ethanol is being formed as a result of fermentation of sugars. They can be isolated from the nectar of flowers and from damaged fruit. Other good sources are fresh apple cider and unpasteurized beer that has not been filter sterilized. In these liquids, they grow as a surface film due to their aerobic nature and active motility. Vinegar is produced when acetic acid bacteria act on alcoholic beverages such as wine. Fruit flies or Vinegar eels are considered as a common vector in propagating acetic acid bacteria[2] in nature.

Total non-sequitur here but this reminds me of that Ukrainian TV show with Roosh on it...the way they said "why you no longer study bacteria?" or something in that strong accent was just so funny.

Anyway, in wine and cider making you go through a lot of effort to avoid contamination by acetobacter, and also make the environment as unfriendly for them as possible (i.e. minimize contact with oxygen).

[Clint Barton]

I've been making my own kefir for the last two weeks. using kefir grains purchased from fusionteas on amazon.

2 cups whole milk + 1 heapingtablespoon kefir grains/culture + 24 hours fermenting in glass jar in dark area = sweet. creamy, tangy probiotic goodness

I actually strain the kefir milk after the first fermentation, remove the grains, and leave in fridge tightly covered for 24 hours for a secondary fermentation. This results in a smoother and less tart kefir. I then add 4tablespoons of raw potato starch(shoutout to Keoni Galt, +1 rep going your way soon)and drink with a meal or protein shake.

Results include: great digestion, better energy levels even after a huge meal, awesome shits on the regular, and way less bloat overall. I'm def leaning up but that's because I've been IFing and working out well too.

[Basil Ransom]

Haha when I read your post Clint I thought for a second I wrote it. I've been drinking kefir for several weeks now, and have a very similar process.

I put in a quart or five cups in a half gallon mason jar for a day sealed with the grains. Take the grains out after 24 hours, leave the kefir out for a secondary fermentation of 12 hours. I was even putting potato starch in mine too, but even two tablespoons makes mine taste a little gritty.

My kefir grains have multiplied to the point where I need to cut my fermentation time to 12 hours or triple the volume of milk, or give away some grains. By the time I get to it the kefir separates into whey and curds, and the kefir is sour. I like to have the curds with chilled berries, but I'm going to try some more savory recipes soon.

If you want to make cheese with it, pick up a flour sack cloth and then you just pour the kefir into a cloth lined colander, tie the cloth into a ball and suspend it to let the whey drip out. You're left with a tangy cheese with the consistency of cream cheese. You can make a hard cheese by putting the cheese under weights but I haven't done that. The whey is where whey protein comes from so you can use that instead of water for your protein shakes, though it can be pretty sour depending on how long it fermented.

I couldn't drink milk but with some adjustment I have a quart of kefir daily no problem. I did get a tiny bit of acne.

If any local vetted forum members want some grains, PM me (Los Angeles).

[Clint Barton]

Excellent information Basil. Thank you, sir.

I will now have to make an attempt at making cheese soon.

BTW, have you read about cutting up the grains unto little pieces using a sharp knife or blender? I heard that these chopped up little kefir grains lead to smoother kefir milk. I'm looking to try this once my kefir grains multiply enough.

Similar to BR's offer above, for locally vetted members in NYC, feel free to PM me in a few weeks if you want your own starter grains. Kid Strangelove tried a shot of one of my first batches of kefir, and liked the taste of it. #nohomo

[Basil Ransom]

I hadn't heard that about smaller kefir grains. I did hear that smaller grains ferment kefir quicker because the ratio of surface area to volume is greater, so more of the culture is exposed to the milk, which is its fuel. I never slice mine up with a knife or blender - I keep reading warnings about exposing it to any metal besides stainless steel. I do mash it up a bit with a plastic spatula before transferring to a different jar. I started fermenting mine anaerobically, in jars that are sealed and 30-50% empty.

I think to really make the cheeses something, you want to flavor it - think compound or herbed cheese. I never got to that stage, I just had mine with berries.

If you want a creamier texture, use non-ultra pasteurized half and half instead of milk. It will have less body due to the diminished protein content, but will be richer and fattier.

My phone is slow right now, but there's a website called Dom's kefir that has extensive info on kefir making.

[Clint Barton]

Does anybody in NYC want some kefir grains?

Mine have grown over the past few months and I'm down to give 2 tablespoons away for free for the first person who PMs me and is down to pick up around my office near times square or near my pad in the LES. I got these from Amazon and they originally cost $15. I'm happy with the quality of the kefir I've made from these grains.

[ilostcount]

I just bought some pickles and garlic the babuskas make in eastern Europe. I felt great energy after a few. I'm getting into fermented foods now after learning a lot About gut bacteria, fermented foods, and the positive Impact it has on immune system. 60% + of the immune system, I read, is in the gut. I'm doing a lot to build up gut health now after taking antibiotic. I'll try to make some fermented foods this week and see how it goes. What are the good bacterias that forms from just using water and salt as the base for cucumbers?

[ilostcount]

I tried them today after 4 days waiting and they are disgusting. My pickles rotted! Don't know where I went wrong...

[RexImperator]

Not sure, but with sauerkraut, the trick is in keeping oxygen away from the cabbage. Otherwise, it floats to the top and you get a mat of mold forming on it.

Did you add a cultured bacteria to it, or just go wild?

[RexImperator]

^^^ edit: OK I just read the previous post. I would recommend you get some brine from fermented pickles to start off with. "Bubbie's" is a good brand.

[kosko]

To 'Pickle' something I believe is different from fermenting, even though you can have fermented pickles with pro-biotics in the brine I believe there is a step you have to be attentive to to prevent mold. If I make pickled red onions its just a matter of me making the brine and letting it sit sealed in the fridge and it does the trick but to actually ferment that brine would be a lot different.

Read up on Kosher pickling recipes as the Jews ferment the brine while they make their pickles.

fermented "Kosher" Dill Pickles Recipe

Quote:

Ingredients

5 tablespoons sea salt
2 quarts chlorine-free water
4-6 grape, oak, or horseradish leaves
6-9 cloves garlic, peeled
2 large heads of dill

Spices to taste: black peppercorns, red pepper flakes, mustard seeds, etc. (Secret ingredient: for an extra bite, add a few strips of fresh horseradish to the spice mix!)

Enough pickling cucumbers to fill a ½-gallon jar

You notice in this recipe the addition of having grape leaves of some sort on the top. My guess is the leaves help to keep out oxygen away from the pickles and brine solution by keeping the pickles in the brine so they don't get exposed to much air.