Whew! Where to begin!! Right now I feel like a TV salesman, except I'm not selling anything. I just want to share with ya'll how much fun I've been having making tons of gut goodness in our cowboy inspired kitchen. Let me start by saying I had no idea what lacto fermentation was until I picked up a book at the library called Nourishing Traditions. To be honest, it showed up on the hold shelf under my name but I have no clue how it got there..Insert: twilight do do do do...Maybe it was the Lord, maybe I just stumbled on it and forgot, either way, I was HOOKED! I began to read about how for pretty much all of time, peoples all over the world have been very creative in the kitchen with good tasting, healthy foods and drinks that actually fight off disease and heal! Not only that but by fermenting foods with different starters such as whey and salt, some foods can be kept for long storage such as Captain James Cook who took 60 barrels of sauerkraut on his second voyage around the world. They lasted 27 months and not one crew member got scurvy! (Healthly Benefits of Fermented Foods)
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| Right to left: Fermenting cauliflower, carrots,peach kvass, jalapenos, ginger soda, and making whey from yogurt |
Enter, REAL FOOD!!! Wow, what a thought- to allow the foods we eat to NOURISH us and keep us in balance! With all the processed foods found in stores and restaurants, it's no wonder the Probiotic industry is expected to reach close to $50 BILLION dollars by 2018! Wowza!! It would seem that all this processed food, in order to be more convenient and have a super long shelf life, is not treating our digestive systems all that well! 60- 70 million people in the US suffer from some digestive disorder.
Great News!! You can transform your kitchen in just a few simple steps, into a complete, nourishing, digestive haven that tastes great, is easy to prepare, and will give you time to do other things then spend too much time on the porcelain throne!
I started out with pickles and boy were they ever good! Here's a GREAT fermented Pickle Recipe!
Lacto Fermented Mixed Vegetables and Sauerkraut
Pickles and cabbage are by far the easiest to start out with as all they require is a bit of filtered water and salt- you can add some spices like garlic, dill, and peppercorns to the pickles that will make them taste like Clauseen's and make your gut sing praises to your Maker!
TIPS TO REMEMBER:
1. Make sure your veggies (or fruit) are completely submerged until the brine. You want to keep the oxygen out so the lacto fermentation can begin to eat away bad bacteria
2. Use glass or ceramic cookware, not plastic as it leeches chemicals. I'll use plastic items a time or two to keep my veggies submerged.
3. Have fun, be creative, and don't be afraid! Following a few simple instructions like the brine ratios (salt and water) will keep things healthy and safe!!!
4. Use filtered water as water with chlorine in it can stop up the fermentation process
On with the show!!
So here are some pictures and recipes of what my family has been trying out lately!!!
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| Garden Peaches being boiled to help get skins off |
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| Pureeing peaches to make fermented recipes: (click links!) peach sauce/apple sauce or Fruit Leather |
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| Here's our home grown ginger! Ginger is used to make a soda water which I'm soo excited about!! Fruit Soda Recipe!!! Yum!  Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pudding 2 cups of the cream cheese leftover from making whey 1 can Pureed Pumpkin 1 large package vanilla Pudding 2 cups milk 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 Tbl Cinnamon, 1 tsp ea: ginger, all spice, ground cloves Optional: Maple Syrup drizzled on top!!!! 1.Combine cream cheese and pumpkin with spices 2.Combine milk, pudding, and condensed milk 3.fold together Enjoy a healthy alternative you don't have to feel guilty about!  I also took some other recipes and adapted them to what fruits we had. I made fermented Pear Butter out of a Lacto Fermented Apple Butter Recipe Salt helps to keep bad bacteria away and it has a slight salty tinge to it. I've been adding it to apple cider and mixing it with a little extra ginger and cinnamon... and it's FANTASTIC! It's also great knowing it's so good for us! I don't have a picture but the Lacto Fermented Salsa Is a Hit!!! Everybody likes it, even Matt, who helped make it. We added some pears to ours and ground cherries. It's one of those recipes you can do by volume just making sure you add the recommended whey, salt, and lemons or limes!! I have to say, this one was FUN FUN FUN and QUICK to make! I then mixed the salsa with my good probiotic cream cheese along with some roasted jalapenos from the garden for a queso like dish- being careful not to heat the cheese just kinda melt it a bit- don't wanna kill the good gut buggies!!!  HOW TO MAKE WHEY FROM YOGURT Take full fat plain yogurt and put it in a cheese clothe or strainer. I found I needed a thinner cheese clothe or to have dampened it first as on my first attempt I got cream cheese alright but my towel soaked up all the whey!!! Then, I found if I just put it in a strainer but itself, no clothe, wa-la!! whey out, cream cheese left in strainer. I think I'm going to invest in some high quality stainless steel ones for larger production! 
So, here's another recipe. Fruit Kvass
Michelle and Matt got a good big glass of this Peach version this evening. They've been working hard outside and I thought I'd take them something that was good for them, cold, and tasty! I like the idea of the Kvass as it is easy to make and has a nice fizz to it. You can add some extra sugar like I did or leave as is. Here I'm pouring the whey over the peaches. You can see the "cream cheese" left behind. And, yes, it tastes just like cream cheese from the store, only it's better for your gut!
Oh man!! This one is my FAVORITE- and another tweeked recipe.
Leah's Lacto Fermented Pumpkin Dip!
It's actually the same ingredients as this recipe- apple cider vinegar, sea salt, maple syrup, and whey, but instead of tomato paste- we added pureed pumpkin! Man oh man! Tastes great as is, can't wait to eat it and know I'm putting good little probiotics in my tummy for good digestion and healthy...well...you know!
There is SO MUCH healthy goodness going on in the kitchen right now and the fam is having a blast testing it all out. I look forward to sharing more with ya'll on new recipes, tweaked ones, successes and misses! Please leave a comment or suggestion. I'm a canning veteran but new to lacto fermentation but getting the hang of it pretty quick. Thanks for reading ya'll!
Just a quick run through, in case you missed the recipes reading through, here they are again!:
HAVE FUN!
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